Ashdown Essex Blonde 8W - Preamp Positions

SRich

I've had this loud little thing since 2005 when they were launched with all the smoke & mirrors surrounding the apparent Matamp C7 but with cheap build.....and  I have enjoyed it. It's been sitting unused however for a couple of years, and i decided to give it a whirl and it's buzzy, all the pots are really scratchy and it's quite unusable at the mo'. I have booked it in with Dave Smart but he can't take it till Sept, so I thought I'd whip the chassis out and have a look'see. The preamp tubes haven't ever been changed to my knowledge......although a tech looked at it a few years back and changed the Belton reverb tank......which still doesn't work. That could be a cap I seem to have gleaned from historic posts.

My main q at this point is which is the P1 preamp position here:

Anybody like to weigh in?

Clearly I know nothing about circuitry but I am aware of the lethal voltages involved etc etc. 

garfy

Give Guy at Ashdown a call, i was there last week getting my ABM EVO head serviced...great company. 01621 857853

ICBM

V1 will be the valve closest to the input jack.

SRich

ICBM said:

V1 will be the valve closest to the input jack.

See.......^'s what I'm talking about.

Thank you so much and have a Wiz.

SRich

And result.......

Changed all the preamp and the KT88 , servisol'd the pots.....and, to quote a Steely Dan, I'm through with buzz.....

Almost whisper quiet, but I'll still get the reverb looked at, I reckon that's beyond me.

Thanks for the help.

Dykeneuk

Hi, I've just got one of these. Really buzzy. So was your buzz just the pre-amp valves needing replaced?
Cheers

SRich

They're worth persevering with.....the preamp valves made a change for sure.

Dykeneuk

Just got mine repaired by a great amp tech. The internal grounding needed work and a few component values were wrong. What a great amp though. Loud but not too loud.