To say I'm bummed would be an understatement. Part III, the solution..

War_in_D

War_in_D

Well-known member
Got the Nitro back today. Pulled the back off of it to put the KT88's in it... and I'd like to stop right here and just say that these KT88's are WAY bigger than I expected them to be! Anyway, long story short, the two tubes closest to (what I assume) is the output transformer come into contact with the transformer when I try to put them in. I can get them into the tube sockets just fine, but they touch the transformer enough that I don't feel comfortable playing it like that. I'm thinking this can't be good for the tubes, especially when this thing is vibrating all over the place.

I took the chassis out to get a better look, and I can see where the mounting ears have bent upward on one side causing the transfomer to get all cock-eyed and lean toward the tubes. I'm about 110% sure that the amp was like this before I shipped it to Scott as I remember thinking to myself when I first got the amp that it looked like it was leaning. However, with the EL34's in there there must have been plenty of room because they never touched anything. Now that it has those momma-honking huge KT88's.. there isn't enough clearance. I guess I'm going to have to take it to a local tech and have them pull the transformer out, and flatten out those ears so that they sit flat on the chassis so that'll (hopefully) give enough clearance for the KT88's. If it doesn't, then I guess I'll have to have them set it back up for EL34's.

Regardless, I don't want to play it like this so it's going to be a while before I can try it out.
 
Some pics of the transformer ears. Looks like someone, at some point tried to take a flat screwdriver and hammer that ear back down. All it did was give it some pretty nasty "love marks". lol

Nitro Transformer Ears 2.jpg


Splawn Transformer Ears.jpg
 
What did Scott do to the amp again?

Was this the one that had to be modded back to KT88 spec or something? Wouldn't he have had to test it with KT88s? Honestly, I don't think it is going to hurt anything but I can see why you would be worried. I'd just call Scott and ask him what to do. Hind sight is 20/20 but it would have been nice to tell him about this ahead of time so he could maybe either fix it or test and give you a thumbs up. If he was smart, he would have taken a picture of this to keep himself in the clear. I would have.

He helped me confirm that I could remove all the tube retainers off my QR a long time ago. Those springy tube retainers were driving me crazy.

Why not run it in half power for now. You never know - you might like it like that.

And yeah that it is the OT. The PT is almost always closest to the power cord/power side of the amp.
 
Also, you could probably stick something in between the tube and OT temporarily.

I'm thinking those rubber hand pads for taking hot things out of the oven. I have several. You know what I'm talking about?
 
311splawndude said:
What did Scott do to the amp again?

Was this the one that had to be modded back to KT88 spec or something? Wouldn't he have had to test it with KT88s? Honestly, I don't think it is going to hurt anything but I can see why you would be worried. I'd just call Scott and ask him what to do. Hind sight is 20/20 but it would have been nice to tell him about this ahead of time so he could maybe either fix it or test and give you a thumbs up. If he was smart, he would have taken a picture of this to keep himself in the clear. I would have.

He helped me confirm that I could remove all the tube retainers off my QR a long time ago. Those springy tube retainers were driving me crazy.

Why not run it in half power for now. You never know - you might like it like that.

And yeah that it is the OT. The PT is almost always closest to the power cord/power side of the amp.
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This amp was modded to the "fully loaded" options, and then during the process I talked to Scott about adding the KT88's. I emailed Scott yesterday, and he got right back to me. He figures (and I agree) that the transformer probably moved a bit in transit. He said that he tested it with the KT88's before it left and there was room for the tubes. I believe him, there is no reason not to as far as I'm concerned. One thing I do disagree with, on a general note, is that Scott likes to pack his amps laying on their back. I'm not sure of the advantage of this, but he ships way more amps than me so I would defer to that. However, gravity only works in one direction and by packing amps on their backs, as long as the shipper keeps it flat and "right side up" it would cause the transformer to lean in the direction of the tubes if they do move. Scott told me it wouldn't hurt anything to try to bend it back out of the way, so I'll probably try that before I take it to anyone. If the PC board wasn't covering two of the mounting bolts I would just try to loosten it up myself and straighten the tabs, but the innerds of an amp concern me a bit. I've done a lot of tube changing and biasing, and always followed the safety advice but I've never actually messed with what's on the boards. Ain't looking to get zapped. LOL
 
Well, I bent the output transformer out of the way enough to get the tubes in. They have about an 1/8" or so clearance now, so I felt comfortable enough to fire it up and see what it sounded like.

DEAD.. Completely and utterly dead. No pilot light, no tubes lighting up, no nothing. I started checking the obvious. Fuses looked good, but I swapped them out with my QR fuses just to make sure. Still nothing. Thought maybe the cable was bad, so I tried the QR cable.. Nothing. Thought maybe something was going on with the outlet in the wall, but my QR fired right up and other things I tried work in both of the outlets. I haven't pulled the chassis yet to see if there might be a fuse on it somewhere but I'm really starting to regret this whole endeavor. If there's no fuse on the PCB, then it looks like it's going to the tech here locally to see what's up with it. I just hope it's nothing too serious.
 
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That sucks...did you check if it was working out of the box before you started messing with it?
 
No, I didn't. I pulled the chassis again last night, no fuses on the PCB board so that's out. I also put the EL34's back in it, just to see if that would make any difference and still nothing. I didn't figure it would, since it appears that there is no power even making it into the amp. I guess it's off to the tech to see what's up. Good thing I got this Nitro cheap. LOL
 
Sorry to hear that man, and yeah - I trust Scott's word. Hope my response earlier didn't appear otherwise.

I can't think of any benefit of shipping an amp on its back though. Those transformers are massive as you know. But then, in shipping, who knows how many different ways boxes get tossed around and stacked and packed.

But didn't you say it was bent like before you shipped it to Scott? Are you guys saying that it just got bent more? F'd up.
 
311splawndude said:
Sorry to hear that man, and yeah - I trust Scott's word. Hope my response earlier didn't appear otherwise.

I can't think of any benefit of shipping an amp on its back though. Those transformers are massive as you know. But then, in shipping, who knows how many different ways boxes get tossed around and stacked and packed.

But didn't you say it was bent like before you shipped it to Scott? Are you guys saying that it just got bent more? F'd up.
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Nah, I didn't take it that way at all. I believe Scott to be a stand up guy, so if he says everything was cool when he tested it before it shipped back to me then I'm good with that. I also agree with the "how many different ways boxes get tossed around", which makes me wonder if something didn't happen to it in shipping with regard to why it's not working now. I don't think my moving the OT had anything to do with the amp not working. The shipping box didn't look bad or have any obvious signs of being abused, but that being said it was the oringal box my QR shipped in. I re-used it when I shipped the Nitro back and then it was re-used again to ship it back to me. So, it's fair to say that the box has been through the ringer somewhat.

And, yes... When I bought the Nitro, the OT was leaning (but more from a left to right orientation as you looked at it from the back) and I could see where the tabs had lifted some on one side of the OT (same ones in the pic above). I noticed it when I was in there rolling some preamp tubes long before I ever sent it to Scott, but everything was working fine at that point so I didn't worry about it. Actually, my QR that I bought brand new had a similar lean to it so I kinda just thought it was "normal". LOL I'm not sure how much (if any) it had lifted more in the left/right axis on this trip back to me, but there must have been some front to back movement as when I tried to put the KT88's in they wouldn't clear the OT and Scott said they fit before he shipped it. Those KT88's are HUGE compared to the EL34's that came out of it. So, the tolerances are much closer inside the amp. The pic below shows how much larger they are.

KT88 vs. EL34.jpg
 
Yeah, they are some big ass tubes.

As far as your amp not starting up all, you'd think that would be mains fuse. You said all of those were good. I thought there some more fuses though inside?
 
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I would just call Scott and ask him, if you can get him on the phone he is very helpful (I know this from direct experience LOL )
 
kmanick said:
I would just call Scott and ask him, if you can get him on the phone he is very helpful (I know this from direct experience LOL )
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Thanks for the suggestion. Scott and I have been communicating through email, and he thinks that whatever happened during shipment that caused the transformer to move, must have messed up something else in the amp. He's issuing a call tag for the amp so I can send it back to him for repair. Scott's customer service has alwasy been second to none, and this experience has been no exception! I'll keep ya posted.
 
:yes:


And after looking at the owner's manual it appears there are only those two fuses. Mains and High Tension (slow blow). I don't get how a bent OT affects the mains fuse but I'm no amp tech. Good luck and nice of Scott to bring that back in.




Edit: I see what you are saying now about the OT. Probably unrelated directly.
 
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311splawndude said:
:yes:


And after looking at the owner's manual it appear there are only those two fuses. Mains and High Tension (slow blow). I don't get how a bent OT affects the mains fuse but I'm no amp tech. Good luck and nice of Scott to bring that back in.
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Thanks. I'm not entirely sure that the bent transformer had anything to do with why the amp wasn't working. I think that the theory that Scott has is that whatever event(s) happened during transit that caused the transformer to move (getting dropped, rough handling, etc.) probably caused the issue that's keeping the amp from turning on as well but I don't know that they are necessarily related. That being said, I'm clueless when it comes to electronics so... yeah, I'm not an amp tech either by any means. LOL

Anyway, it's on it's way back to North Carolina. I'm really grateful that Scott offered to help me out with it. Super stand up guy, no doubt!!

In anticipation of getting this amp back, I'd been watching some vids of the Nitro with KT88's and it's killin' me not to be able to try it out. No worries though, I just have to put my "patient pants" back on for a little while longer.. LOL
 
headlessdeadguy said:
Mine are pretty close but never effected anything. Works fine.
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Yeah, pretty close I'm cool with. Touching, not so much. LOL

After I bent the transformer back, it had a good 1/8" or so of clearance, which I think would have been plenty. How do you like the KT88's in the Nitro?
 
Got an email from Scott yesterday with an update and some pics. Turns out that the fuse holder got busted in transit when it took the hit that bent the transformer. That's why it was DOA. I hate it that it happened, but glad it wasn't anything major. He also removed the OT and straightend out the legs, so it's sitting flat and flush on the chassis. Looks a TON better than it did and there is plenty of room for the tubes now. I mentioned something to Scott about possibly bracing the OT with something during transit, so hopefully it doesn't happen again but not sure how feasible that it. I just hope the goons that handle it coming back treat it better this time! LOL

Splawn Nitro Repair 2.jpg


Splawn Nitro Repair.jpg
 
Nice, I've had a fuse holder get damaged on another amp as well, cool that it was something minor and easy to fix, can't wait to see what you think of it when it's cranked up :)
 
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