[41Venom14]

Hello all audophiles,
 
I hope to reach into the pool of knowledge that is hidden away in Head-Fi.
 
I purchased a DarkVoice and have had it for about a month with no issues. I have been tube rolling and getting experience with different sounds.
 
However, today I dropped in some new tubes, fired her up, and sound was only coming out of the right channel.
I figured, okay bad tubes, annoying, so I switched back to tubes that I know WORK.
Still have the same issue.
 
I've read somewhere that possibly discharging the capacitors may be the option, but I do not know how to do that. I popped open the back, there was nothing in there that signified burned out or broken connections, I am very confused and worried.
 
At the moment the DarkVoice is being left unplugged from the wall in hopes to drain the capacitors. Any information or ideas would be appreciated.
 
Thank you all.

 

[atarione]

ugh... lame..
 
I just got my DV336 sorry I'm not able to be super helpful...but I googled and I found this:
 
ampmaker.com/discharging-capacitors-946-0.html
 
seems relatively easy I guess... (if you have the parts)..   just be careful a broken $250~ ish amp is less sucky than electrocuting yourself?

 

[41Venom14]

Awesome, thank you. I unfortunately don't have a resistor on hand, I might actually...I'll have to go search.
 
Its just so upsetting and at the worst time. Just picked up a Sylvani VT-231 and RCA 6AS7G.
 
I thought it was the tubes, but I swapped back to tubes that I know work and the problem is still there. If I cannot find a resistor I'll just have to leave it unplugged. What makes this slightly daunting is not having a multimeter on me so I don't even know where to attach the positive...I know I can attached the negative to the case to ground it, but then it gets SKEEETCHY lol. 

 

[atarione]

this is about guitar amps... but hmmm..  it seems to say that if you let the tubes get up to operating temps / voltage or whatever and then turn the amp off the caps actually drain pretty fully pretty quickly ... I honestly do not know if that would hold true for something like the DV however???
 
having a multimeter would certainly be helpful... don't suppose you have a harbor freight near by or anything?
 
 
http://billmaudio.com/wp/?page_id=1150
 
 
 
ideally someone with more of an idea what they are doing will show up and jump in... I sure hope there is a easy solution for this issue for you... it certainly seems like it would be a disheartening turn of events indeed. 
 
So far so good with my DV ..I swapped out the stock tubes for a RCA 6SN7GT and a GE 6AS7GA everything seems good so far..

 

[41Venom14]

It's just strange, it happened out of nowhere. I put the new tubes in and let them get up to temp, left them on for like 30 mins or so before listening to anything and I get this wonderous experience. I should have just turned it on before I swapped tubes and made sure, but I was not ever expecting this to be a problem.
 
I swapped cables, nothing, changed tubes, nothing, left it unplugged for a couple hours, nothing. Someone on Massdrop had this experience and they discharged the capacitors and it worked just fine after apparently. Same exact issue, left channel just died for no reason. I just don't understand how discharging the capacitors would solve the problem? It is actually quite annoying how little information is out there on the DV. 
 
From what I hear the DV is like the go to novice tube amp, that and the Crack, so it's strange that there is so little on it. 
 
Also note, the hum was definitely the tube, so just the left channel is dead for no reason.

 

[atarione]

out of curiosity ... have you tried a different cable from your source to the DV??
 
and or just checked all the connections?   or try swapping the L/R cable around and see what it does?
 
 
 
 
also... yeah I've noticed there doesn't seem to be a ton of tutorial type stuff on how to trouble shoot or work on this amp?    It is surprising since there are a ton of them out there especially since Massdrop drop's  them every other month or whatever.
 
 
edit... I wonder if it is because the bottlehead crack gets all the dudes that want to actually tinker buying it instead???

 

[41Venom14]

Well I'll be ******* damned....I swapped the cables from one DAC to another and it works just ******* fine.
 
Thank you so much for suggesting to flip the cables.
 
I plugged my right channel into the left channel and my left channel worked...what the actual hell. Well my DV is fine. I feel bad for spamming the power button now.
 
Apparently my DAC went on the fritz and killed any sound exiting the left channel. God damn I'm a happy camper.
 
Thank you very much atarione for suggesting the absolute obvious.
 
Time to swap some tubes. I have like 3 on the way. Kenrad VT-231, some JAN RCA 6AS7G (I know its the same as the ones I have now, but the JAN just gets me off lol) and TungSol 6SN7GTB.

 

[atarione]

  Well I'll be ******* damned....I swapped the cables from one DAC to another and it works just ******* fine.
 
Thank you so much for suggesting to flip the cables.
 
I plugged my right channel into the left channel and my left channel worked...what the actual hell. Well my DV is fine. I feel bad for spamming the power button now.
 
Apparently my DAC went on the fritz and killed any sound exiting the left channel. God damn I'm a happy camper.
 
Thank you very much atarione for suggesting the absolute obvious.
 
Time to swap some tubes. I have like 3 on the way. Kenrad VT-231, some JAN RCA 6AS7G (I know its the same as the ones I have now, but the JAN just gets me off lol) and TungSol 6SN7GTB.

 
 
cheers mate.. awesome.. glad i could help.. and glad the thing is working ..    if you remember please let me know how you like the tubes?  I've been browsing the ebay for more tubes for this thing myself.

 

[41Venom14]

   
 
cheers mate.. awesome.. glad i could help.. and glad the thing is working ..    if you remember please let me know how you like the tubes?  I've been browsing the ebay for more tubes for this thing myself.

 
Absolutely, so far right now for tubes..
 
Tungsol Grey T-Plate + RCA 6080 and TungSol 6080. Tried both combos, no hum but it sounded very similar to solid start, which obviously isn't the sound I'm going for since I bought a tube amp for that reason.
 
I feel the pre-amp tube has a lot more effect over the sound than anything else.
 
Right now:
Sylvania VT-231 and RCA 6AS7G - Love it. I need to listen to it more, but already I noticed this very warbly low end. May be too over pronounced for some, but it tickles the ear drums and that warmth. Definite winner so far, but the right channel does hum. After some burn in I expect the hum will go awat, but if not I think I will have to do the Fitz Mod sooner rather than later. 
 
I plan to test out the Sylvania VT-231 with the 6080s and see how that sounds eventually.