New RP1000 blowing my power amp tube!

InRP1000hell · January 2010

<div style="displaynone">fiogf49gjkf0d</div>I just bought an RP1000 and have it hooked up via the 4 cable or Amp Loop method so I can place the effects either before or after my amp's preamp stage. This setup is RP1000 amp loop send to amp input, my amp loop send to RP1000 amp loop return, my amp loop return to RP1000 line out, my guitar to RP1000 input. My amp is a Peavey Ultra 112. As soon as I hook it up and power everything on, it blows one of my power amp tubes. I've verified my setup countless times. I thought I had a faulty tube, so I replaced it with a different pair of tubes. My amp worked fine with new tubes. Then I hooked the RP1000 up and the same thing happened. Anyone have any ideas as to what's going on here??

shredd · January 2010

Sorry to hear of your troubles...sounds like a PITA. But the onlyy suggestion I have is TRY SOMETHING ELSE. Unless your wife owns stock in a power tube manufacturing co...

Um...what i mean to say is that i'm not much of a tech weenie. Other guys here do that; I'm just here to meet chix :roll: . So stay tuned, surely some of them there smartish guyz will chime in soon...

InRP1000hell · January 2010

<div style="displaynone">fiogf49gjkf0d</div>Yes, it's a major PITA! This unit's claims to fame is exactly what I'm looking for and no other multi-effects unit can do what it claims. I love my amp's tone and I'd love to have a multi-effects unit that will let me use it's effects without modeling and cab sims coloring things, being able to kick in effects pre or post pre amp, or let me choose an amp/cab sim for a totally different tone. This is what this unit promises. I'm wondering if my amp's effects loop doesn't truly isolate the amp/preamp sections of my amp and maybe that's what's up. I SOOOOO want this to work!

shredd · January 2010

Well...don't sweat it. Chances are there's a way for it to work with your amp the way you want. The RP1K is the top-end unit, so there should be lots of configuration options. I'd advise you, but like I said, I'm not a big tech weenie. And I use up all my bandwidth downloading Megan Fox smut pics :oops:, so I don't have enough left to d/l the manual and help you out... :P

InRP1000hell · January 2010

<div style="displaynone">fiogf49gjkf0d</div>Well, I've been through the manual cover to cover many times. It's of no help, but maybe some fo those pix you've been d/ling may make me feel better

shredd · January 2010

\InRP1000hell\ wrote:

Well, I've been through the manual cover to cover many times. It's of no help, but maybe some fo those pix you've been d/ling may make me feel better

Could be. They don't make me sound any better, but they sure lift the spirits... :twisted:

Guys? Help the brutha out? C'mon you tech wiz's. Wire this guy up; this'll only help so much:

philflood · January 2010

I'm sure you've checked this, but is the amp/mixer switch on the RP1000 set to AMP? Is your amp's speaker connected properly. It almost sounds like when you power on the RP1000, the amp reads no load and blows up. I wonder if G3456 might have some insight on this. IT seems like the kind of technical issue he would have some idea about.

For eveyone's reference, the set-up being discussed is the one shown on page 12 of the RP1000 manual.

guitar3456 · January 2010

Appears you have it connected properly if as stated. Are you using shielded instrument cables? Are they all working? Important since you don't want an open circuit created by a bad or intermittent cable. The other thing is make sure your amp to cab speaker cable is NOT an instrument type cable. I've seen that mistake too many times. Signal cables are not strong enough to carry the power load and current from amp to speaker. They will work, but can make for a bad situation if that cable opens. At gigs, I've seen the amps go fireworks and 9x out of ten, the guitar player has a instrument cable on the speaker output.

The second thing I have seen on some amps are the fx loop shorting plugs on the jacks can go bad, or the internal solder connections fail. Typically you won't notice a problem until you use the loop. On other occasions if the loop jacks or contacts are bad (open during use), the amp may go into oscillation which can cause problems in the output tubes.

Seems to me you have the proper routing, just be sure you follow the details of using the amp mode properly via the RP1000. Other than that, it is possible to have a problematic connection or defect within the amp head. If the amp itself was not maintained and those jacks were seldom used, it's possible to have them inducing problems when in use. Try cleaning them with a good contact cleaner. Use only signal cables in your signal path, and be sure the speaker cab connection is a proper speaker type cable and not an instrument cable.

Just had a guy with a TSL head having problems with tubes red plating. He changed tubes and other things. Turned out the 16 ohm amp output jack connector for the speaker cab was defective (intermittent). If he had been using an 8 ohm cab, he never would have noticed the problem. We were lucky enough to verify both 16 and 8 Ohm jacks operation and determine what impedance he was using... if not, that may have been back in for repairs.

InRP1000hell · January 2010

<div style="displaynone">fiogf49gjkf0d</div>Thanks for the responses. I know it's not an amp to speaker cab cable problem because this is a 1X12 Combo amp. It utilizes the stock cable that came with the amp from the factory. I haven't used the FX loop in ages, so the prob may be there, as you suggest. I could test that out because I have the same amp in a head + 4X12 cab configuration in our studio. I do use the FX loop in the head, so I am sure it is operational, but I'm afraid to attempt it for fear the same thing will happen, and then I won't have any amps to play through until my new tubes come in. I've gone through my spares with the combo amp. What's the odds of my RP1000 being defective, as opposed to it being an amp problem? I guess I'll have to grow some hair and give it a try.

guitar3456 · January 2010

I'd say the odds are very slim the RP causing any damage to output tubes. The RP signal level is common for those connections, but like others said here, make sure the mode is set as required. If that RP is causing the problem, that would be a first I ever heard of any effects unit, rack or otherwise actually damaging the output stage. Are you sure the phase inverter tube is ok?

InRP1000hell · January 2010

<div style="displaynone">fiogf49gjkf0d</div>Sorry it took me so long to reply. PI tube is fine, as far as I can tell. I changed it with the the extra V2 and V3 tubes I had and everything acted the same. On a positive note, I did get the nerve to try the RP1000 on my Peavey Ultra60 Head yesterday. It worked just fine, so it looks as if my combo has something going on in the effects loop, as suggested. Thanks for the input, it's greatly appreciated. As an aside, the RP1000 does a fine job of passing my amps tone relatively unaltered using just the pedal sims. I'm not very impressed with the quality of the moduation type effects, noise redution is only OK, but the others will do just fine. Guess I'll have to use the effects loop on the RP for my chorus. The effects loop is very cool on the RP1000, as I can put my MXR Micro Amp at the end for the same boost effect it was used for in my original effects loop, post preamp. Another thing that is disappointing is that I can't use my ISP Decimator G String noise reduction pedal anymore, as it uses the same 4 cable setup as my RP1000. All in all, Digitech is going in the right direction. Hopefully the next version will give the chorus, phaser, flanger effects a more organic tone.

New RP1000 blowing my power amp tube!

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