[Cankin]

I just got my Darkvoice 336i few days ago. Every time I turn it on for about an hour, there are some kind of smell coming out from it, is it normal? and it is more than just warm on the surface, it's hot, and even hotter when I use 6080 at the back, does anyone else get the same experience?

 

[Roam]

That's probably the smell of a roasting transformer, it's only a matter of time before it goes **** up.

 

[swt61]

Stop using it to heat up your bean burritos!

Seriously though it could just be the paint and coatings heating up, and burning off. They do run somewhat hot. Several hours of use should solve that. If not you may have a more serious issue.

 

[Cankin]

Do all tube amps smell like that?
that smell is pretty annoying, and it is in my bedroom also...

 

[swt61]

It's hard to know what kind of smell it is. If it's that annoying though it doesn't sound right.

 

[Brewmaster]

I think it's just the initial smell of the tranformer.

Mine had the same thing. Went away in a couple of days.

 

[Cankin]

Mine arrived about 5 days and around 20hrs

 

[mrarroyo]

Manufacturing oil or simply new paint/varnish. Also the vinyl cover on wires will give that kind of smell sometimes when new and being aroung a heat source.

 

[Fitz]

How close do you have to be to notice the smell? I notice most electronics that run really hot do smell funny up close, but I've never had any that you could tell except when you were trying to smell it. The Darkvoice I had, before and after mods, never had any weird smell except the usual "hot device" smell. It does get pretty hot after being on a while, yes.

 

[Cankin]

About 2 - 3 feet away if it's hot, and if it's cool and turned off, I have to smell right on top of it.......

 

[Pete7]

Maybe the former owner had a gas problem? Or are you the first owner?

 

[Cankin]

I'm the first owner, i just emailed casque_hifi(I got mine from him) and he said it is normal for new tube amps.

I tried different tubes but it still gives me that kind of smell....it's not really strong but it's not pleasant.

 

[laxx]

My Darkvoice 332 had a funny smell when I took it out of the box. I'm not exactly sure how long it took since I was burning it in on the opposite side of my bedroom (decently sized at about ~14x18). It goes away after some time. =]

 

[jamato8]

There is a coating on the wires of the transformer that put this off. Also the paint on the exterior, when hot, can gas. Who knows what is in the varnish used for coating the wiring of the transformer. I assume the amp is from China and there are almost no controls and when there are some they are most often ignored. A good tube amp should not run hot, though even from some top manufactures they do. I have had many pieces of tube equipment and some just runs Hot but that doesn't mean they sound any better, just near the rating of the transformer and it depends upon the biasing of the amp.

I would vent the amp near a window as I would not want to breath in the fumes being gassed. After living in China for a year and a half in areas that are away from any control of the Central Government, you would not believe what goes on.

 

[003]

Most tube gear has a slight smell if you put your nose to it. Since I can not look at your amp in person I can't say if it's normal or not. What kind of smell? Burning? That would be a problem.