Long-story short, my PS-100 has killed 4 V1 preamp tubes in 4 of my amps, today, my SLO-30 being the latest victim. I’m using the correct speaker impedance, and my turn-on sequence is as follows: Power on PS-100, power on amp->standby off (if amp has a mode). Powering off is in reverse.
As for the SLO, I’m more concerned that a transformer was damaged based on some noises I heard from it, but after a few minutes, the volume completely went away on the SLO and now I’m here to hopefully get some assistance
And if I am doing something wrong, please call me out, I don’t want to continue damaging my items–this PS-100 is so awesome when it works and I use it in a small venue when I’m gigging. AH, the difference this time around was that I used the PS-100 effects loop, but that shouldn’t blow anything up.
This is an interesting case but I’d like to get a little clarification.
Normally, V1 in an amp is the first 12AX7 preamp tube stage. Your guitar is plugged into your amplifier which feeds directly to V1. The PS-100 is connected to the speaker output of your amplifier and the output of the PS-100 is connected to the speaker cab.
The operation of your V1 stage is fully isolated from goings on in the amps output stage and connection to the PS-100, so there is no chance that V1 is being damaged by the above arrangement.
Can you tell me how you arrived at this conclusion?
So, I’ve come to this conclusion because it’s only after using the Fryette that an issue with tone occurs, and I swap out the V1 and the issue is gone. I literally just swapped the V1 out of the SLO-30 and it’s working again. Using the amps without the PS-100 has never yielded this issue, only when using the PS-100 does this occur at some point and I have to swap out a V1.
I understand your logic, but it is what it is–any other ideas what might be causing this? It’s a brand new house, so I would say the power is “clean”. Using the FX Loop on the PS-100 is another set of problems–it either doesn’t work right, creates a horrid screeching noise, or drops volume.
V1 is not being impacted. It’s only revealing an issue elsewhere. When you change V1 and the issue stops, it just means there is a variation in the gain of the replaced tube or you’ve changed a gain control setting at the same time.
Now that you’ve expanded on the squeal issue, it’s clear to me that you need to deal with a ground loop on your effects chain and pedalboard ground path.
Apologies for the poor terminology. And I thought, as well, that there was something going on with my pedalboard. I failed to mention that going straight to amp but with the PS100, no squeal was present.
If you have another moment, can you expand upon where you think this issue might stem from if not the PS100? Additionally, this seems to only happen when I “crank” the volumes on the amps themselves. I don’t max them out, but I try to get some power tube saturation going at least. But if this is happening to all my amps, it must be something external to the amps themselves.
Now, the commonality with all 4 amps, aside from the PS100, is my pedalboard–the one that caused squealing…would love any thoughts on that!
Oh this is pure GOLD, thank you for helping me become more informed! That is exactly what my problem was for the hum! I really appreciate you taking the time to help me out, this is the best customer service EVER, no lie!
