Have had my PS-2a working with my zmacs rig. 4 amps. It has worked perfectly for a couple months. Suddenly, I had it engaged. No sound. Bypass. Sound is 100%. Turn it back on no sound. So the Ps-2a is definitely the culprit.
No sound at all. Tubes? How do I troubleshoot the unit?
Hi @DanielSeriff and welcome to the forum!
It does seem the PS-2A but it would help if you go through the No Sound checklist here Power Station: Troubleshooting Guide
It happens quite a lot that actually the problem is something else. Make sure you don’t have anything in the FX loop. Might also be worth disconnecting from the ZMACS.
Once confident we can arrange the fix or advise further
Hey Dan. Sorry for the length of time on this. I’ve been swamped with projects and just unable to trouble shoot.
It’s 100% the PS-2a. I went through all the steps. Just amp and Ps-2a. No ZMACs involved. Gotta be the powerstation.
Welcome back!
No worries, so you went through all the no sound steps?
Also,
Check the mains fuse, and replace if necessary. If it blows again, let me know. Make sure you are using the top TO SPKR output, this must be used first.If you have gone through the checklist and steps above, yes it’s time to suspect the tubes.
Do you have a spare set of tubes and fuses, see the information here on what you need and how to replace:
Followed the video and got it working by just replacing the fuse. The tone was a bit edge of breakup and unlike the amp so I just replaced all the tubes and letting them burn in on standby. Thank you for the quick responses and detailed video. This was incredibly helpful.
Update. When the PS-2a is engaged, there is a boost in edge of breakup. Kinda interesting. I replaced all 3 tubes and the fuse. It’s not like an overdrive pedal, but it’s quite different.
I replaced the 6l6 with sovtek and the 12ax7 with a tung sol. Thoughts?
Sounds like variations caused by the new tubes. Do you still have decent clean headroom if needed?
Doing a bit more testing.
Original problem was the fuse.
I just went ahead an replaced the tubes because thought it might be time for a fresh set.
Sovteks have been in since.
With Original Ruby JJ 12ax7…dirty.
Significantly more than when the PS-2a is bypassed.
Same with the tung sol I tried.
Same with an JJ ECC81 I tried.
Just loaded the Fryette branded 6L6s back in.
Same problem.
Seems like something internal got funky? It’s significantly overdriven compared to the clean tone when the ps-2a is bypassed.
And to clarify, volumes are matched, so it’s not really even attenuating.
Hey Dan. Hope you had a great holiday.
Wanted to follow up on this. The unit is causing the amp to overdrive no matter what choice of tubes I put in it. Is there a chance something got damaged when the fuse blew with my original problem?
If you toggle between operate and bypass, are you saying that when in operate, you get a lot more overdrive sound through the speaker?
I am assuming the PS-2 is at low-ish volume level, so this is not a natural override of the PS-2 power amp. But let me know.
Did you try toggling HI/LO button and the put toggle switches to flat?
If we can’t unravel this, I suspect a service might be the way forward.
@dan Hi Dan.
Yes, when I toggle between bypassed and operate, there is a significant more amount of breakup/compression with the PS-2a engaged that does not happen with the amp itself.
I put all switches to flat. I’ve also matched volumes of ps-2a engaged, and bypassed. Also did try both hi and lo options.
It feels oddly broken up in comparison to before I blew the fuse. Thanks!
The fuse might be a clue, they should not blow. Was that mains fuse or internal fuse? If it’s internal fuse that is tube related. This could be as simple as a re-tube. If you have tried that then it’s probably time for someone to see it.
You can follow these steps to get an RMA for a service How can I send my product to Fryette for a repair (RMA Request)?