So much for saving up for other things. This isn't my amp, belongs to a friend, so I'm honour-bound to repair or replace it, haha. Face, meet desk. Repeatedly.
That's the nightmare scenario for us audiophiles. Gives me additional audio nervosa just hearing about this sort of thing! May luck protect my equipment (and hopefully yours too, for it seems like you need it).
Eh, I don't know what it is with me but I have horrible luck with audio gear. Apparently *could* be transformer failure, which I'm sure is going to be a very affordable fix /s
FML.Reached out to Drop for possible recourse anyway, fingers crossed.
@tommytakis I did, much as I feel bad bothering him over personal shiz for the nth time. He's the one who suggested possible transformer failure, plus suggested I get a multimeter and test, plus over pics of the PCB for troubleshooting. I'm inclined to find a competent EE near me and ask for help because my history with tinkering has me very nervous.
@Lyander LOL I know how you feel. He's such a nice guy I feel bad sometimes asking him so many questions. I hope things work out for you and the ZDT Jr.! Bummer it's such a good sounding amp.
Front panel LED has me thinking it's not the tubes and the amp could be deader than that Bad Luck Brian meme, which is very much fitting given my current situation it seems.
Might be crass, but my mood right now can be summed up as "For the love of f**k are you yanking my asshairs right now".
@elmoe Tubes and front LED all dim, currently waiting on values to test for with a multimeter from resident Russian mad genius so i can confirm, but visual inspection (via photos) show no damage to PCB components or internal bits where the power cord plugs in
@elmoe Sorry, bilingual brainfart again. Not so much dim as completely dead, no light at all. Kinda forgot what dim meant specifically, the panicking isn't helping :))
See how under the socket where the cable plugs in, you can pull off the plastic to reveal a fuse? You can take the fuse out and check the filament inside to see if it is burnt/broken
@Lyander the fuse socket is combined with the IEC (power) socket on the back of the amp. I took some photos of my Night Blues Mini for reference. There is a notch to pry on to remove the fuse holder. Some moderate force may be required. It slides straight out and you will feel it give as the fuse unclips within the socket. The fuse values should be 0.25amps 250volt. https://imgur.com/a/5S8uVto
Can you remove the fuse from the plastic fuse holder? Then hold it up and look at the middle glass part. You should see a wire inside. Does it look burnt/broken?
@elmoe there's an extremely thin strand left connecting them but that's about it. GDI I didn't know where to look for the fuse so this scared me for a second. https://i.imgur.com/BysC1ed.jpg
Oh yeah that looks like a blown fuse alright. You should be able to read the fuse rating on one of the metal ends (ex: 15A) and go online/to any electronics store to purchase a replacement (they are cheap, unless you want some uber audiophoolery type fuse).
While there may still be an underlying issue with the amp, if you replace the fuse you should be able to get the amp to turn back on at least, and see if it works fine or if the new fuse blows also (get a few fuses, they're a few cents each). With some luck you just had a surge which blew the fuse and replacing it will get the amp back in working order.
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