Crate palomino v32 eating el84s

blackba

blackba

Well-known member
A friend of mine has a crate palomino v32. I fixed it for him a few months back. The fuse had blown. I found the el84s overheated and a noisey v2 preamp tube. I replaced the v2 and el84s and everything was fine, but now it is back with micro phonic el84s and they once again loot over heated. The labels on he he tubes are browned. This amp is class a and my bias probe does not fit into the chassis to check. I had my friend run a fan to try to keep the amp cool, but that didn't work.

Anyway, is time I replace the el84s again and the v3 right before the power amp tubes. I am just concerned this amp will fail again. It does it used a good deal, but shouldn't go out this quickly. Any help would be most appreciated....
 
i don't know much about the v 32.. but if it's eating 84's i would tend to think there's a component or two in the power section that's failing. i'd pull the chassis and do a visual and chopstick it.
 
I had a V32. They get hot. The source of the heat is the big white resistor in the middle of the board. Search and you will find info on this and an easy fix to move the resitor to the far end of the chassis eliminating the heat on the board, tubes, and control knobs. Those knobs get hot after the amp is on a while. None of that can be good for longevity.

I had good luck with JJ's in mine. The Sovtek EL84M's were recommended as a tube that handles the heat and voltage and lasts a bit longer. This may be true, but I did not like the way they sounded. JJ's worked for me. Tung Sol's or EH in the preamp sounded good. If it's a combo, a Celestion GK100 makes a world of difference. Great little grab and go combo IMO. Best amp Crate ever made and then Loud Technologies stepped in. Game over.
 
boost":3vwix9sn said:
I had a V32. They get hot. The source of the heat is the big white resistor in the middle of the board. Search and you will find info on this and an easy fix to move the resitor to the far end of the chassis eliminating the heat on the board, tubes, and control knobs. Those knobs get hot after the amp is on a while. None of that can be good for longevity.

I had good luck with JJ's in mine. The Sovtek EL84M's were recommended as a tube that handles the heat and voltage and lasts a bit longer. This may be true, but I did not like the way they sounded. JJ's worked for me. Tung Sol's or EH in the preamp sounded good. If it's a combo, a Celestion GK100 makes a world of difference. Great little grab and go combo IMO. Best amp Crate ever made and then Loud Technologies stepped in. Game over.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info, I will look at moving the white wire wound resistor. The first tubes that went back were sovtek EL84s, the latest ones that lasted a few months were JJ EL84s. The new tubes that are in there now are JJ EL84s.

Last time I had the amp, I already swapped in a Celestion Classic Lead 80, big difference from the stock speaker. Its a 112 combo, I should have mentioned that. Nice sounding amp when its working :)
 
blackba":4yvdp0ov said:
boost":4yvdp0ov said:
I had a V32. They get hot. The source of the heat is the big white resistor in the middle of the board. Search and you will find info on this and an easy fix to move the resitor to the far end of the chassis eliminating the heat on the board, tubes, and control knobs. Those knobs get hot after the amp is on a while. None of that can be good for longevity.

I had good luck with JJ's in mine. The Sovtek EL84M's were recommended as a tube that handles the heat and voltage and lasts a bit longer. This may be true, but I did not like the way they sounded. JJ's worked for me. Tung Sol's or EH in the preamp sounded good. If it's a combo, a Celestion GK100 makes a world of difference. Great little grab and go combo IMO. Best amp Crate ever made and then Loud Technologies stepped in. Game over.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info, I will look at moving the white wire wound resistor. The first tubes that went back were sovtek EL84s, the latest ones that lasted a few months were JJ EL84s. The new tubes that are in there now are JJ EL84s.

Last time I had the amp, I already swapped in a Celestion Classic Lead 80, big difference from the stock speaker. Its a 112 combo, I should have mentioned that. Nice sounding amp when its working :)
Click to expand...

Yeah, Lead 80 is in the same ballpark so that would work too. If you go the Sovtek route again, make sure they are M's. Those were supposed to handle the heat and voltage well. I couldn't tell you as I yanked them after about 10 minutes. I just didn't like the tone. Much clearer, cold and sterile to my ears. Might work well if you're playing cleaner, but I missed the EL84 grind. Put the JJ's back in and it was back. Move the resistor and all should be good.
 
boost":1w4xkqjl said:
Best amp Crate ever made and then Loud Technologies stepped in. Game over.
Click to expand...

Interesting. Everything I've ever tried from Crate was just garbage. I guess I'll have to keep in mind they had a good era?
 
barnesjd":rznihfu9 said:
boost":rznihfu9 said:
Best amp Crate ever made and then Loud Technologies stepped in. Game over.
Click to expand...

Interesting. Everything I've ever tried from Crate was just garbage. I guess I'll have to keep in mind they had a good era?
Click to expand...
The made in USA palomino amps are nice amps. It's when they moved them offshore that they went downhill. Interestingly enough I read that loud technologies which owns crate, now makes tube amps under the blackstar brand.
 
boost":313kocvt said:
blackba":313kocvt said:
boost":313kocvt said:
I had a V32. They get hot. The source of the heat is the big white resistor in the middle of the board. Search and you will find info on this and an easy fix to move the resitor to the far end of the chassis eliminating the heat on the board, tubes, and control knobs. Those knobs get hot after the amp is on a while. None of that can be good for longevity.

I had good luck with JJ's in mine. The Sovtek EL84M's were recommended as a tube that handles the heat and voltage and lasts a bit longer. This may be true, but I did not like the way they sounded. JJ's worked for me. Tung Sol's or EH in the preamp sounded good. If it's a combo, a Celestion GK100 makes a world of difference. Great little grab and go combo IMO. Best amp Crate ever made and then Loud Technologies stepped in. Game over.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info, I will look at moving the white wire wound resistor. The first tubes that went back were sovtek EL84s, the latest ones that lasted a few months were JJ EL84s. The new tubes that are in there now are JJ EL84s.

Last time I had the amp, I already swapped in a Celestion Classic Lead 80, big difference from the stock speaker. Its a 112 combo, I should have mentioned that. Nice sounding amp when its working :)
Click to expand...

Yeah, Lead 80 is in the same ballpark so that would work too. If you go the Sovtek route again, make sure they are M's. Those were supposed to handle the heat and voltage well. I couldn't tell you as I yanked them after about 10 minutes. I just didn't like the tone. Much clearer, cold and sterile to my ears. Might work well if you're playing cleaner, but I missed the EL84 grind. Put the JJ's back in and it was back. Move the resistor and all should be good.
Click to expand...

Found a great thread on what to do. Ordered two 150ohm resistors to mount in the chassis. It will also drop the power of the tubes a touch, since the stock value is 60 ohms.
 
barnesjd":1e1mwpy8 said:
boost":1e1mwpy8 said:
Best amp Crate ever made and then Loud Technologies stepped in. Game over.
Click to expand...

Interesting. Everything I've ever tried from Crate was just garbage. I guess I'll have to keep in mind they had a good era?
Click to expand...


Keep in mind the bar wasn't set too high. ;)

Seriously though I would take the first two V series ( V15/30, V16/32 not the V18/V33 era amps) over Fender HRD series, Peavey Classic, or even some Vox AC30 variants in that range. The amps had a nice Voxy/Marshally grind, good clean sound, FX loop, footswitchable boost, and cleaned up well with the guitar volume control. Made in USA too. Shitty reverb and the heat issue were the two faults of that amp.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top