Amp starts with low volume then full volume

[JohnnyThunders]

Amp just has on and off switch, turn it on and it use to come up right to full power after short while. Now it comes up to a very low volume fwhere it stays for a minute or so then goes to full volume,

Posiibly tubes? Output Transformer. Someting else? I would take to my amp guy but he's 45 minutes away and will keep it for 2 months.

Thanks

[marcnorth]

Sounds like the tubes needing to heat up before it will crank full volume.

[Armitage]

Time for a cap job if you ask me.

[tomteriffic]

Power supply caps get my vote.

[JohnnyThunders]

Thanks, will it hurt to play it his way or cause more damage?

[Armitage]

It's kind of like asking if it's OK to drive a car with bad struts... you can do it, until it fails.

It may simply fizzle out, or the caps can go bang.

[triodecr]

What amp is this? Does it have a tube rectifier?

[JohnnyThunders]

Custom Built Matamp, based on singe 6v6, GT4 gain mode, 4 watts,, combo, no tube rectifier. Great little basement amp, I play it totally cranked, crunchy with very cool feedback. Had it about 7 years with no issues so far. My tubes came in so I'll swap them if its still a problem then I'll take it in and have it looked at.

Thanks for all the help.

[JohnnyThunders]

New tubes and its working great, here a picture of it.

[triodecr]

Glad the tubes fixed it. Looks pretty cool. Got a shot of the controls? Don't know much about Matamp other than a connection to Orange I believe.

[JohnnyThunders]

Matamp built the first Oranges when the face plate said Matamp/Orange then Orange went their own way and Matamp went nowhere. Matamp also built the mid-90s Orange OR120 re-issue and some other stuff along the way but not anymore.Matamps are still built in a little cobblestone streetted village in England by elves.

Don't have a picture of mine, but looks like this reversed. The 2 drives are a little odd, left one if you have it on clean has one pre-amp, move to the left cuts in the second one. This amp is only 4 watts but man does it crank some serious low volume tone, semi-dirty clean to extremely dirty. Great for early 70's stuff or twist the drives up and you can get some good stoner sounds but without the low end grunt like my old rig.

[BlueRedWhite]

Is it a good idea to always warm up your tubes before putting the volume up? That's what i heard and that's what i do....

[Caddie]

That was my nickname for a while: Mr. Warmtubes. I was very popular back in the day.

When they start to fade replacing your power tubes is not easy. Something about a spoon going up your...........hey yeah! Thats what that old coot in Australia was doing. Replacing his (2) 6v6! Scheesh, he oughta go for some slimmer el-84 tubes. Although changing the sockets would be a real bee-yotch.

Cheers,

caddie the impaler