Help with peavey 6505 problems

[eric86]

Hi, just wanting some advice before taking my 6505 to a tech. I think i have to, but would be keen to hear from anyone with a similar experience.
My 6505 is about 2 years old, and rarely used. A couple of weeks back, while i was playing at bedroom volume, it just gradually dropped in volume until i could have it on full volume, and still be not very loud.
It has also lost tone, being a thin, treble filled mess. The gain is sometimes decent, and after it warms up, dwindles away to a shitty crunch.
I was told to replace power tubes, and possibly preamp tubes, and to also clean the effects loops with electrical spray.
I did the spray, and exercised the jacks, no difference.
Now comes the real problem. Today, while swapping out power amp tubes to test for a faulty one, there was a pretty loud bang, and good amount of smoke coming from the preamp section. It, didnt loose power, didn't blow a fuse either. It still turns on, but there is a sizzling sound coming from the amp, and in the brief time it was on, i could see sparking like something was shorting.
Im not an expert obviously, so i won't touch it. Im just hoping someone can tell me what to expect.
Cheers.

 

[budda]

Take it to the tech asap. Did you have the power on when you pulled the tubes? Don't.

 

[Larrikin666]

You should be VERY thankful that you are still alive. Seriously, this stuff isn't a joke. People without a proper electronics background shouldn't be putting their hands inside an amp.

 

[eric86]

The only thing i have done is remove the tubes, and yes the amp was off lol.

 

[Seanthesheep]

Did you replace the power tubes in their matched pairs or just individually?

 

[eric86]

I just bought an individual one to test if there was a faulty one in the set. Only got to the second one when it went pop and smoked from the preamp section.

 

[incinerated_guitar]

There may have been a charge in the amp while you pulled the tubes. Did you turn the amp on and let the amp play for a minite then shut it off power first without touching standby? You might have wanted to do that, because it releaves the amp of its charge. Standby will keep that electrical load just floating around in the amp

 

[glpg80]

Cheap chinese parts. Ever since Hartley Peavey sold the company when his wife passed away that entire place has forgotten what made in USA was all about.

since it is a 6505 model then it had to be made post-2004, since the name means 1965-2005 once eddie took the EVH name after leaving peavey.

IMHO it sounds like an electrolytic filter cap vented/faulted. What caused it could be either a defective part, improper installation, or something else defaulting causing a chain reaction.

Take it to a tech, it should be obvious if there was a catastrophic failure. However the real damage comes from labor replacing anything else that might have been damaged because of one particular part's demise or was the original cause of the problem.

 

[eric86]

Thanks dudes, I flicked it on briefly today to see a dead power tube. Swapped it over and it powers up fine now, just the original shitty tone, and low volume. The Clean channel is basically non existent too. I will test the preamp tubes one at a time before a tech.

 

[glpg80]

Thanks dudes, I flicked it on briefly today to see a dead power tube. Swapped it over and it powers up fine now, just the original shitty tone, and low volume. The Clean channel is basically non existent too. I will test the preamp tubes one at a time before a tech.

I would be careful, a dead powertube might have been the result of something else and not the cause directly - anytime you hear popping/sizzling it is definitely more than a tube change needed.

Keep us updated

 

[eric86]

There was definitely some sizzle! Im worried :/
Tech it is, i don't want it completely fucked!

 

[creep66]

I had this problem with a 5150 and it was the tube seat.