tulk1 Posted April 4, 2011 Share Posted April 4, 2011 I keep my custom 5E3 at rehearsal. Light, easy to move, great tones. It has vintage Magnavox tubes, mullard and telefunken pre's, vintage correct P12n speaker - upgrades made after the build. Just oozes all sorts of goodness. Last week it just quit. Playing along ........... then nothing. Popped a fuse. Okay, no extra fuses there so took it home. It popped every fuse put in, immediately upon power up. With tubes, without tubes ......... pop!! Called the guy that built it for me and took it over to him today. .............. Fried PT. Okay ....... but wait ......... fried rectifier. Oh wait ......... power tubes are cloudy, not reading well on the tester (no clue what tester he's using, makes no difference). Looks like it suffered some sort of cascading failure (my term, not his). Grrrrr If you want to see it right after it was built, it's Right Here on Weber's kit pics. Ted thought enough of Steve's build to put it up top. We added the Telefunken, Mullard and speaker after the pics were posted. Man, am I bummed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H Posted April 4, 2011 Share Posted April 4, 2011 Bad news I hope my saying the circuit is fairly simple, aiding a rapid rebuild, doesn't go down the wrong way. Good luck getting it back into shape. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FredZepp Posted April 4, 2011 Share Posted April 4, 2011 Hmmm. Numerous issues suddenly occur . But it's nothing that time and money can't fix. Good luck with the repair and resurrection of your amp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoNameBand Posted April 4, 2011 Share Posted April 4, 2011 It's not the end of the world even if you can see it from here. It will be okay in the end. May the Force be with you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kbp810 Posted April 4, 2011 Share Posted April 4, 2011 It should be a quick and fairly painless repair... I did a complete tear down and rebuild of my 5E3 in a matter of just a few hours It sounds to me like an internal short likely developed in the PT; that could cause a chain reaction of calamity such as that which has been described. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
koula901 Posted April 4, 2011 Share Posted April 4, 2011 sorry to hear about your amp trouble, Tulk. But if what kbp810 is saying, is the case, then it's not hopeless. Let us know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fxdx99 Posted April 4, 2011 Share Posted April 4, 2011 Ah, I see the source of the issue, Kenny - you've got those dang knobs that go to "12". That's just too much for a 5e3, not designed to go past "11". That's too bad, tho, not a lot of miles on that amp. Similar thing happened to my '56 GA6, recall it was a couple hundred to fix. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smurph1 Posted April 4, 2011 Share Posted April 4, 2011 Sorry to hear that Kenny..Hope you get her up and rockin real soon!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pegleg32 Posted April 4, 2011 Share Posted April 4, 2011 Man that's a shame Kenny, I can see why you are bummed out. I'm would imagine it is fixable, but of course the hassle and the expense of doing that is a pain also. There will be better days when it is back home and humming again. Well, hopefully not humming, many singing!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steiner Posted April 4, 2011 Share Posted April 4, 2011 Perhaps this time you can get it fortified with extra power so it can go to 12! As FZ said; it's just time and money. When you break it down, it's just pennies per note. That's a pretty good deal in my book . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
golferwave Posted April 4, 2011 Share Posted April 4, 2011 That's a shame about the malfunction and damage to your amp....but the TUBES...I've been trying to build up a small inventory of vintage 50's & 60's pre-amp tubes and you about need a second mortgage for Telefunken, Mullard, and Bugle Boy tubes. Good luck with the rebuild and let us know how it turns out! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tulk1 Posted April 4, 2011 Author Share Posted April 4, 2011 Thanks guys. Just what I was hoping for -- sympathy!! Yeah, the tubes. I think that's a big part of the bummer. Not like they're just sitting around on a bench waiting to be put in my amp. I think we're going to replace both the IN/Out transformers. Was looking at these from Magnetic Components. Fender/Tweed 5E3 OT and PT So far we're looking at about $250, including the trannys and bench time. Not sure on the tubes, just yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kbp810 Posted April 5, 2011 Share Posted April 5, 2011 Oh yeah, big plus on the Magnetic Components Transformers; I've been using them with excellent results, including my own 5E3 rebuild! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest HRB853370 Posted April 5, 2011 Share Posted April 5, 2011 It should be a quick and fairly painless repair... I did a complete tear down and rebuild of my 5E3 in a matter of just a few hours It sounds to me like an internal short likely developed in the PT; that could cause a chain reaction of calamity such as that which has been described. What exactly is a 5E3? A kit amp? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kuz Posted April 5, 2011 Share Posted April 5, 2011 Sorry to hear that Kenny. You probably remember me saying at PSP2 your Tweed amp had the best tone I heard that day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tulk1 Posted April 5, 2011 Author Share Posted April 5, 2011 Sorry to hear that Kenny. You probably remember me saying at PSP2 your Tweed amp had the best tone I heard that day. John, that was the 5F4 Tweed Super. And it's still kicking at every gig. And thank you. I know you liked that amp. This is my 5E3 Deluxe, like you had ('59 reissue?) that we got the P12N vintage speaker for. Will, a 5E3 is the circuit designation for an early Fender amp - the Deluxe. Which went on to become the Deluxe Reverb. And yes, it's from a Weber kit. Period correct wiring, very simple circuit design. The Tweeds were just amazing in their simplicity --- and their tone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TalismanRich Posted April 5, 2011 Share Posted April 5, 2011 Sorry to hear the bad news, but like they said, it's repairable. That's pretty unusual for a transformer to go out that soon. Weber should use decent components. Good luck with the rebuild. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tulk1 Posted April 12, 2011 Author Share Posted April 12, 2011 Brief update on the rebuild. Was putting it off during the past budget debate. Since that seems to be a go-go, so is rebuilding my 5E3. We're going with a Hammond transformer, rather than the Magnetic Components. The tubes test good, so I lucked out there. Plus, Steve is going to beef up some areas on the build. My 5E3 was his first ever kit build, so we did it pretty much stock. He's built 5 since then, says he's learned a bit more about that circuit. Guess he's going to "harden" it a bit. Says two weeks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
koula901 Posted April 13, 2011 Share Posted April 13, 2011 Well, that's good news! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Genericmusic Posted April 13, 2011 Share Posted April 13, 2011 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DetroitBlues Posted April 13, 2011 Share Posted April 13, 2011 Oh yeah, big plus on the Magnetic Components Transformers; I've been using them with excellent results, including my own 5E3 rebuild! I believe KPB810 put those type of transformers in my new RD amp.... Things sounds awesome! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJLII Posted April 15, 2011 Share Posted April 15, 2011 Sorry to hear that Kenny. You probably remember me saying at PSP2 your Tweed amp had the best tone I heard that day. That 5F4 kicked ass. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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