If you own an amp and want to keep amp repair costs to a minimum, there are certain things you should avoid doing. Here are ten things to keep in mind: Never wrap a blown fuse with tin foil and continue using the amp. This is a temporary solution that will eventually lead to more serious problems. Don’t gig with your amp for years without changing the valves. This will increase the likelihood of output […]
Folks ask me about how to make a 100 watt amp less loud. They want the amp “singing” but they need to have the output valves starting to clip and this means LOUD. Usually they are amps with outputs north of 60 watts. Exceptions are Vox AC30’s which are 30 watts. The discussion here is focused on amps that four or more output valves. First thing to keep in mind is that a 100 watt
We now own the trademark ” Zaerix”  name along with the logo. Zaerix is an old name in the UK market. We are working to bring the brand back to life while upholding the values of this famous name from the past..  Zaerix was the brand name of a company called Z and I Aero Services.  They did not make valves themselves but they did source high quality valves from manufacturers around the world and
A friend has an ACOM 1000 amplifier. It is used on the HF bands( short wave bands) . Â It uses one valve for the output and the valve is a Svetlana 4Cx800A. Â It produces 700-800 watts from a 30 watt input. Â The valve runs on 3000 volts. Â You can imagine if something goes wrong in the amp the bang would be BIG ! Â The designers built a whole load of monitoring circuitry around the valve
Here are a few things to watch out for when buying second hand valve amps. Valves are very old technology and so valve amps inherit the unreliability of old tech. Keep in mind the 6L6 output valve was launched on the market in 1937. Just think about driving a car today that was designed in 1937 and is unchanged today. Cars back then broke down all the time and dissolved in the rain. So don’t
This post has nothing to do with valves or tubes but it is how to update your keyboard or midi player that currently has a floppy disk drive ( remember them ?). we have posted the because I am sure their are many folks out there that like to use Midi files  as a way of ” playing with a band” at home.  I try to play guitar and the Midi player keeps me motivated