S.E.X. 3.0 C4S died? [resolved]

onelivewire · 1518

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Offline onelivewire

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on: October 15, 2021, 04:34:58 PM
Today I was sitting in my office where my SEX resides. After listening much of the day, I left the room and came back to neither tubes glowing, no light from the LEDs and the amp producing no sound at the speakers. The transformer was still hot and the fuse still intact.

Thoughts on where to start troubleshooting? Is best course to simply begin running through the checks in the assembly manual?

This amp has been very reliable for the past 2+ years - I recently moved it across the country and had no issues in the months following.
« Last Edit: October 16, 2021, 10:35:33 AM by Paul Birkeland »



Offline Paul Birkeland

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Reply #1 on: October 16, 2021, 05:37:45 AM
came back to neither tubes glowing,
This has to be resolved first.  If you post some build photos, I may be able to point you to where to look.  A voltage check of the "H" terminals is in order.  Something is no longer connected between the "H" terminals and the 12 pin sockets, or there's a short somewhere drawing that supply down.

Paul "PB" Birkeland

Bottlehead Grunt & The Repro Man


Offline onelivewire

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Reply #2 on: October 16, 2021, 07:47:14 AM
Thanks Paul.

I'm reading 0V from H1 to all H2, 5, 4 and 7. I've included some pictures as well and noticed the green wire going to the 7-tap of the transformer appears to have burnt (visible in the last photo). Let me know if any specific visuals would be helpful.

Pictures would not play nice with the forum uploader, so including a shared link: https://photos.app.goo.gl/yqYAgdcRmBLZWf1C9



Offline Paul Birkeland

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Reply #3 on: October 16, 2021, 09:01:41 AM
Can you do the power transformer secondary test on page 35 of the manual?

Just looking at your photos, the green wires need to be wrapped around the terminals and then soldered.  It is not good enough to just have them poke through and then solder.

Paul "PB" Birkeland

Bottlehead Grunt & The Repro Man


Offline onelivewire

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Reply #4 on: October 16, 2021, 10:04:01 AM
Measured within spec (5.9VAC across 7-9 and 179.4VAC across 11-12). I noticed that the tubes would glow with a clip on terminal 7, and took your advice to fix this joint. Everything is back up and running! :)

Thank you for the quick and effective resolution. This is what keeps me coming back to bottlehead!



Offline Paul Birkeland

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Reply #5 on: October 16, 2021, 10:35:24 AM
Thank you for coming to the forum for help and I'm glad we could help you get it sorted out.

-PB

Paul "PB" Birkeland

Bottlehead Grunt & The Repro Man