Amp trouble!! fixed and a WARNING!!

[mooncobra]

Well, on the flip side. We are in a free capitalist market. He can ASK for what ever he would like for whatever product. It's up to the end buyer if they are willing to pay that ASKING price or not. It's really up to the buyer to shop smart OR convenient . Now, Mike made the decision to pay about $15 to have the ability and convenience to be able to play through the weekend, and also not have to travel to another store during the week to buy the same product for $15 less. Personally, I agree with Mike. I would have bought it. I am there, it's in my hand, $15 is worth not having to chase the same part down at another store on a different day.

if I waited til Monday I would have had to most likely go to Petaluma, which is pretty far. Guitar Center in san fran always has a crappy tube selection. And Bananas at Large and their sky high prices always has the oddest tubes I have ever seen.

 

[mooncobra]

thanks for the help guys! it was a bad pre amp tube. I pulled the tubes and took them to a local electronics store. they have the mother of all tube testers. my amp died earlier after a couple days of volume drops. so, I found out the bad tube and bought a new one at the store I was at.

BEWARE
if anyone is in the san fran bay area NEVER EVER go to electronics plus(san Rafael, CA). they have the most ridiculous prices ever!!and the owner is a prick!! when I said I would take a ruby/jj 12ax7, he said, "that will be 28 bucks." I asked if he was sure he had the right price for the tube and he said, "i have to make something on it man!" I told him they are 9 and 11 bucks at the other local places (they aren't open on the weekend), and he actually threw my money back at me and ripped the tube out of my hand and said, "DONT BUY IT THEN!!!" if I was a patient person I would have waited til Monday, but the thought of not playing guitar all weekend was too much, so I bought it. I told the owner that the price was ridiculous, and he proceeded to go ballistic! this dude was such a prick! I usually am a calm and mellow person but when he ripped the tube out of my hand I was very close to snapping!! there is only one other guy who is somewhat local who has tubes on the weekend. I called him and he said he had some used mesa 12ax7s with a few hours left for 17 bucks each and I quickly decided to pass on that.

how do you think you would have reacted if a store employee/owner threw your money back at you and ripped the tube out of your hand?

Man, I'm planning on taking the wife out west and do a little Sonoma CTY sightseeing. Gonna have to stop at this store and maybe secretly record the exchange....I'm gonna play it up.....what a complete fn douche. And he's got you over the barrel since its the weekend....ugh. Glad you got it fixed though!

Sonoma is only about a half hour from San Rafael. The owner is bearded with glasses. Sonoma is nice. I am stoked the amp works again. If you go there check out the tube tester in the back. its huge and made to test every tube ever invented. The thing must have close to 60 sockets! I found a pic online of the model they have. I will try to post it. there is a list above it with literally thousands of tubes and it tells you how to set it and what socket to plug it into. that list you see above it, it flips from page to page and the list is endless. I never knew so many different types of tubes were made, there are thousands!! The owner is a cock man, beware of him!! I was speechless when he chucked my money at me and ripped the tube from my hand. its about 30 seconds off of the 101 in san Rafael. right at the start of 4th st. Bananas at Large is about 7 blocks past that. They always have cool gear in there but it is pretty costly. Especially Neil Schons used gear. He unloads a ton of used gear in there. Then they upcharge the crap out of it because he had it or a couple weeks. He tries every new amp company and all the boutique companies then sells it at Bananas. Satriani has used stuff for sale there also. They usually have a ton of nice amps and a crap ton of pedals.

Aargh! I've heard of that store!! He gets product in, is buddies with Schon right? Schon tries it out, never intends on keeping it..just a ploy to mark it up and re-sell. Wow. Gonna try to pull this trip off later winter so.....

yep!! Schon brings it home and plays it, then resells for huge profits. Sometimes the amp companies send him the amps directly and then he brings them in and sells them for astronomical prices after getting the amps for free! Last time I was in there Satriani had some pretty cool guitars for sale, but like Schon they were way over priced because he owned them. Its too bad Black Market Music in San Francisco is gone, it was a giant warehouse filled with tons of really cool gear at amazing prices.

 

[JTyson]

thanks for the help guys! it was a bad pre amp tube. I pulled the tubes and took them to a local electronics store. they have the mother of all tube testers. my amp died earlier after a couple days of volume drops. so, I found out the bad tube and bought a new one at the store I was at.

BEWARE
if anyone is in the san fran bay area NEVER EVER go to electronics plus(san Rafael, CA). they have the most ridiculous prices ever!!and the owner is a prick!! when I said I would take a ruby/jj 12ax7, he said, "that will be 28 bucks." I asked if he was sure he had the right price for the tube and he said, "i have to make something on it man!" I told him they are 9 and 11 bucks at the other local places (they aren't open on the weekend), and he actually threw my money back at me and ripped the tube out of my hand and said, "DONT BUY IT THEN!!!" if I was a patient person I would have waited til Monday, but the thought of not playing guitar all weekend was too much, so I bought it. I told the owner that the price was ridiculous, and he proceeded to go ballistic! this dude was such a prick! I usually am a calm and mellow person but when he ripped the tube out of my hand I was very close to snapping!! there is only one other guy who is somewhat local who has tubes on the weekend. I called him and he said he had some used mesa 12ax7s with a few hours left for 17 bucks each and I quickly decided to pass on that.

how do you think you would have reacted if a store employee/owner threw your money back at you and ripped the tube out of your hand?

Man, I'm planning on taking the wife out west and do a little Sonoma CTY sightseeing. Gonna have to stop at this store and maybe secretly record the exchange....I'm gonna play it up.....what a complete fn douche. And he's got you over the barrel since its the weekend....ugh. Glad you got it fixed though!

Awesome
DO IT
This has some real potential... Remember DBU's Bogner REV Blue tranny douchebag thread??

 

[Oblivion DC]

I have a rule - if someone acts an ass, always have them ring the item up. Then tell them to fuck off. This way they have to void the sale. It's a small pain in the ass but it's still a win in my book. If you can get them to put the tube on the counter while they're ringing it up you can grab it and have yourself a two-fer. Take it to the back of the store, nowhere near the exit, and toss it behind a big display. If they want it they can tear it down to get it. Then walk out.

I'm very petty.

 

[mentoneman]

that tube would have become his suppository, prongs first

 

[HilltopExplosion]

that tube would have become his suppository, prongs first

 

[RJF]

that tube would have become his suppository, prongs first

Better a 12ax7 then a KT88.

 

[glip22]

I have a rule - if someone acts an ass, always have them ring the item up. Then tell them to fuck off. This way they have to void the sale. It's a small pain in the ass but it's still a win in my book. If you can get them to put the tube on the counter while they're ringing it up you can grab it and have yourself a two-fer. Take it to the back of the store, nowhere near the exit, and toss it behind a big display. If they want it they can tear it down to get it. Then walk out.

I'm very petty.

I like this. Maybe in his situation it would have been a bad idea with this particular store clerk/owner. He might have shot him. You don't know Mike. Mike would have got shot. Just messin with you Mike But..... You might of got shot. Am I right?

 

[mooncobra]

I have a rule - if someone acts an ass, always have them ring the item up. Then tell them to fuck off. This way they have to void the sale. It's a small pain in the ass but it's still a win in my book. If you can get them to put the tube on the counter while they're ringing it up you can grab it and have yourself a two-fer. Take it to the back of the store, nowhere near the exit, and toss it behind a big display. If they want it they can tear it down to get it. Then walk out.

I'm very petty.

I like this. Maybe in his situation it would have been a bad idea with this particular store clerk/owner. He might have shot him. You don't know Mike. Mike would have got shot. Just messin with you Mike But..... You might of got shot. Am I right?

you are right, no doubt about it.

 

[southpark tube lab]

loud and clear in cotote has tubes alot of gear

 

[dfrattaroli]

I'd never have given my money. I'd have politely invited him to feast on a bag of throbbing dicks and then thrown some of his shit on the floor on my way out.

 

[Oblivion DC]

I have a rule - if someone acts an ass, always have them ring the item up. Then tell them to fuck off. This way they have to void the sale. It's a small pain in the ass but it's still a win in my book. If you can get them to put the tube on the counter while they're ringing it up you can grab it and have yourself a two-fer. Take it to the back of the store, nowhere near the exit, and toss it behind a big display. If they want it they can tear it down to get it. Then walk out.

I'm very petty.

I like this. Maybe in his situation it would have been a bad idea with this particular store clerk/owner. He might have shot him. You don't know Mike. Mike would have got shot. Just messin with you Mike But..... You might of got shot. Am I right?

Weeell, getting shot is definitely not on the agenda. I guess the old comedian's adage of "know the room" comes into play when you want to show your ass in public too.

 

[VoodooChild24]

I wouldn't bother with testing them Mike. That sounds like an intermittent problem. Just swap them out one by one with another tube until you hopefully find the bad one. Clean your jacks. Does the amp have a loop that is always active?

I can turn the loop on and off. so far over about 2 days the volume drop has occurred about 3 or 4 times. It is not that big of a drop in volume. very slight, but I just don't want it to get worse and want to take care of it asap. I guess I will go pick up some pre amp tubes and start with those, most people are saying it is probably a pre amp tube.

Hopefully it is. Most issues like this are usually tube. How do you like the amp compared to the Gower? Wonder where Dan has been

I love the Masotti, and I loved the Gower. I have been lucky, the last 3 amps I have had were just amazing, the CCV, Gower Rockmonster, and the Masotti x100m classic. This amp has 7 pre amp tubes. I have to go through them and try each one swapped out with a new pre amp tube, yeah? Could it be the power tubes, is that possible also?

What can I say? I got good taste in amps. Glad you got it fixed. Next time hit me up and I will lend you my tube tester. I just gotta find it.