I have an Engl Fireball and recently it did something very odd. When I turn it on, and turn the volume up, it only peaks at about 20 - 30 decibels. The tone and everything is the same, but for some odd reason the amp is not loud anymore. Has this ever happened to anyone?

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Buy a new set of power tubes.. If it doesn't fix the problem, you will still have the tubes so you can replace them later so you wont gain any kind of loss there

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Yeah chances are one of your power tubes went.

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Hmm, the Fireball has two lights on the front that light up when either power tube fails. I have played the crap out of it though, maybe thats what it is regardless of the led's.

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Chances are, is that the tubes haven't 'failed' but they're just on they're way to tube-heaven

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Heheh, ok, sounds good. I don't know what the term "bias" means, but I have heard that new power tubes need to be "biased" before they are put into an amp - ?

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http://www.eurotubes.com/index.htm

Tubes are prebiased for you. Great customer service, you deal directly with the guy, and he is very helpful. Plus JJ's are the shit.

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the tubes are prebiased? the amp is what needs to be rebiased whenever you change the powertubes tubes. if it's a fixed bias amp in a certain range, like say a mesa, he can get you some tubes to suit that range.

i go through doug at www.dougstubes.com as i find he's got a better selection and his prices are as good as bob at eurotubes. plus i trust doug's opinion more. bob sells only jj's. so of course jj's are the best tubes in the world if you ask him. but doug also sells other brands like tung sol and sovtek, plus a bunch of nos and reissue tubes.

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i'd recommend SED 6L6 for the fireball
got em in my powerball..
jj's would make the tone a little softer, the SED's are pretty neutral

Bah not bias, I meant another term that escapes me right now. It means the tubes are matched for eachother.

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then you'd call it a matched pair or a matched quartett

Got new tubes.

Same problem.

Suggestions?

ps. I'm pissed.

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damn!

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I CANT TAKE IT MUCH LONGER

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loose connection somewhere?

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Possibly, I am going to take a look at the all the electronics this evening to see if anything is visibly wrong.

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maybe ask an engl dealer like derek at rock solid amps if they know what could cause those simptoms.

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He is useless. I asked him but he didn't seem to want to help.

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I checked out the innards... everything looked normal. And I must say, this amp is built like a tissuebox, whereas my old Peavey VTM 120 head was built much like an anvil :/

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Whahaha!

smart to buy tubes and then locate the problem. you did exactly the thing i mentioned
here
its prolly a resistance which is borken soaking up the power. or maybe you check the cab. if a speaker is broken or even 2 you wont get ure usual volume as well

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I had this problem with my peavey 60/60 couldnt work it out so I bought an Engl 920, much better. I think im gonna take the peavey to a shop to get it fixed so I can sell it though.

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Ask if he has the schematics or point spec manual he could share with you. We will help you fix it if he does. Do you know what a bad cap looks like?

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Hmm, I do not. Tell me!


I tried the amp with a really good cab and it sounded exactly the same

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Turn it in to a tech and have him look at it!

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silly question, but you made sure it wasn't any of the gear before your amp?
pedals or active pickups with a dead battery?
cables with a bad connection? whatever.

i had a similar problem, which was killing me untill i figured out my boss noise gate was crippled. truth is i forgot it was there. i pissed around for hours with the head the cab the guitar and the cables before getting the answer.

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A capacitor has a X or cross on the top of it if you look close. I will explain why in a second. "Most times" when a cap begins to go bad they will swell up and bulge. The X or cross on the top is a weak point in the casing that allows the cap to swell without exploding and to let you know just by looking at it that it is bad or going bad. In some cases the cap may even burst the through the X and leak, or in other cases may look completely normal.

The appearance is only a tool to help determine if a cap is bad, but a helpful one. A normal cap will look completely flat on top and symetrical. A bad one will be deformed or leaking in most cases. The only way to be 100% sure is to remove the cap and test it but if it looks bad then you already know.

Visually inspect the componants very closely. Most times this can give you a clue what the problem might be. Look for bad caps, anything burned, anything deformed, anything that desoldered, anything that broke loose, anything discolored, anything melted or shorted together.

Just be careful and keep it unpluged. Don't touch anything until you are 100% sure it is safe. Even though that amp is unpluged it can still store a huge charge in the transformers and caps. If you provided a path to ground then ZAP! It might kill you and might damage the amp future.

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God no!Not the amp!

God forbid, but yes The amp could get damaged if he gets fried while rutting around inside of it.

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I had Amerok's guitar teacher look at it. It had one bad pre amp tube. FINALLY IT'S GETTING FIXED.

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Preamp tube,aye?

I never would have guessed it. I didn't think the symptom matched up.

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