[metropolis4]

So have to share this story.
Two weekends ago I was playing a weekend youth retreat gig up in the mountains. I had just put a new set of tubes from Bob at Eurotubes in there and couldn't wait to check them out and really open that thing up and see what it can do.

Well, I got everything plugged in, turned the amp on and it was crackling kinda weird like a bad cable might do, but the lights were also flickering and geting really bright then going out. Then, smoke started coming out of the amp and I ran over and shut it off. I didn't have time to mess with it so I just put it back in it's road case and pulled out my spare head (always always always have a backup kids!) and used it for the retreat.

I took the amp to an amp tech fearing the worst and just got the word in today. He told me there was a short in the rectifier tube that caused a surge of power through the amp. Someone had replaced the 3amp fuse with a 15amp fuse so it didn't blow when it was supposed to and let around 15amps into the transformer! He told me that the transformer smelled a bit so he ran some tests expecting it to be fried, but to his surprise there was absolutely nothing wrong with it! It worked fine and barely even got warm when operating. The tech was amazed. He said that that much power surging through the amp should have fried the transformer, but this one seems so well built it didn't even phase it!
So, what could have been a huge bill to replace a transformer for another amp turned into simply replacing a rectifier tube for the Matchless

The other lesson learned from this experience: When you buy something used always check it over thoroughly before using it. I don't know who the genius was who replaced a 3amp fuse with a 15amp fuse, but if I would've caught it before I could've saved myself some grief down the road.