tulk1 Posted July 29, 2016 Posted July 29, 2016 Hey amp gurus or anyone that is smarter than I am. I had the guide pin break off a Sovtek 6L6GC in my Lonestar. The guide pin is still in the tube socket, the rest of the tube is on my desk. Any suggestions on how to remove the guide pin from the amp? Precautions, etc? Can I drop the chassis and just push it out from the other side?
kbp810 Posted July 29, 2016 Posted July 29, 2016 If you're talking about the center plastic guide pin; absolutely! You should have a good size hole from the inside of the socket to push it through. If you're talking about a regular metal pin, then not so much... or at least it will be a much more delicate procedure. I would still exercise caution and drain the capacitors when dropping the chassis before attempting the procedure. Or make certain that you're pushing with something non-conductive, and your fingers won't be going anywhere near the socket. That's prime zappin' territory.
tulk1 Posted July 29, 2016 Author Posted July 29, 2016 Well, while hoping you'd reply I dropped the chassis. Mesa = lots and lots of circuit boards. Couldn't even see the socket. And yeah, those caps scare the .... out of me. May have to see how the boards come out. And yes, it's the plastic center pin. Don't know how to drain the caps.
Kuz Posted July 29, 2016 Posted July 29, 2016 Mike always told me the best way to drain the electrolytic caps was to hit an open chord with the amp playing, and then pull the power chord out of the wall. The volume on will die down and the caps SHOULD be drained after 10 secs or so.
kbp810 Posted July 29, 2016 Posted July 29, 2016 Ahh.. yes... didn't even catch that you'd referenced a Mesa. Not easy to get to those sockets, and the potential to due more harm than good while moving stuff exists. Perhaps a better alternate solution - dab of carefully applied hot glue on something roughly the same diameter or slightly smaller than the guide pin. Give it a bit to set, then give it a good yank. To drain caps - the method Kuz references above does work in most cases; also many amps, the Mesa likely included, self drain when powered off. In either case, if you have a multimeter, set it to volts, and double check to see if there is high voltage coming off the caps (a negligible amount is expected).
tulk1 Posted July 29, 2016 Author Posted July 29, 2016 Well ............... I didn't have to drain the caps. This time. I pulled the chassis again, making sure I stayed well clear of the big blues. Sure enough, the sockets are set in the board, which is below another board in which both boards have multiple connectors, knobs, etc hanging off the front. I'm looking it over when I hear a "clink clink", thinking great what next!! Turns out, the nib fell out on it's own!!! I was thinking along the lines of the hot glue when I noticed the hole was empty. I dunno. But, new tube in and glowing. Really appreciate the quick replies. I'll keep JohnBoy's idea in mind. I have no problems hitting loud, open chords.
HANGAR18 Posted July 29, 2016 Posted July 29, 2016 Well I'm glad I didn't die when I used a precision tip needle nose pliers to extract a broken plastic alignment tip like that out of my Archon when I was changing out the tubes from 6L6's to EL34's.
kbp810 Posted July 29, 2016 Posted July 29, 2016 Well I'm glad I didn't die when I used a precision tip needle nose pliers to extract a broken plastic alignment tip like that out of my Archon when I was changing out the tubes from 6L6's to EL34's. If there was enough exposed to grab onto, I would have done the same thing. I've even picked one out using a scratch awl before. Thing is though, regardless, I'm still always going to advocate safety (detecting mild levels of sarcasm in the above post).
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