LJ20 Help Please!

JerkMoans

McToot said:

Mr Moans - it's a bummer that your new (old-ish) toy hasn't allowed you to play just yet, but threads like this surely serve to re-affirm that there's nothing quite like great customer service, especially from high-profile booteekers. You might pay quite a bit for the amps, but that's a seriously good response from JH.  

I couldn't agree more.  Astonishing customer service: considering I bought an old one off eBay, no profit in it for him, yet within approx 30 mins of me posting a thread on the LJ Facebook group he was in touch with me.  And happy to chat through options, AND to let me rock up tomorrow so he can take a look. 

JerkMoans

Wazmeister said:

Whe I visited Jess' place I got the impression he was quite excited about the 'older' ones for some reason...

He's a top man and will get you sorted.

He repaired my pedal as well in a jiffy. 

You guys are almost making me feel happy that this has happened

IvisonGuitars

For what it's worth @JerkMoans, I have one of the very early ones, picked it up recently and out of the (rather embarrassing) 6(!) that I've had over the years, I think it's by far the best sounding one i've had.

JerkMoans

miserneil said:

For what it's worth @JerkMoans, I have one of the very early ones, picked it up recently and out of the (rather embarrassing) 6(!) that I've had over the years, I think it's by far the best sounding one i've had.

I shudder to think how many your brother @spendthriftneil must have worked his way through, but many thanks for the encouragement, old bean

IvisonGuitars

JerkMoans said:

miserneil said:

For what it's worth @JerkMoans, I have one of the very early ones, picked it up recently and out of the (rather embarrassing) 6(!) that I've had over the years, I think it's by far the best sounding one i've had.

I shudder to think how many your brother @spendthriftneil must have worked his way through, but many thanks for the encouragement, old bean

Hahaha!! 

JerkMoans

+++Exciting Update+++

A jolly 6 hr round trip incl a good couple of hours chewing the fat with the good Mr Hoff and my amp is back in his hands for a thorough going over and general tweakery.

It seems that the power transformer is fecked so something is shorting on it, hence blowing the RCD before even being switched on, as wise men above predicted.

At the same time it is one of his very early jobs, dating from 2009. Jesse believes the wiring has been tinkered with over the years, to who knows what effect, and as mentioned above it doesn’t have an extension cab outlet jack or a bass cut switch. The VAC is old spec., lacking the click to bypass and there’s no push pull for mid boost. A good deal of fettling to be done to bring it up to current LJ20 specs, but it seems that that’s where we’re headed.

Thanks again for all the help, advice and interest above. Turning into quite an interesting journey...

Lebarque

Glad you're feeling more upbeat about it. Looking forward to your NRAD report (new repaired amp day)!

JerkMoans

Lebarque said:

Glad you're feeling more upbeat about it. Looking forward to your NRAD report (new repaired amp day)!

Thanks!

Once you get over the disappointment, you can either let it ruin your day, or get on and embrace the search for the solution.  

Might have to have a word with the vendor about vulgar fiscal issues, mind you

ICBM

JerkMoans said:

Might have to have a word with the vendor about vulgar fiscal issues, mind you

I was wondering that - whether the seller could have known about it, and if the amp could possibly have been working previously.

I was trying to think if, and how, this could be caused by shipping damage - and I think it could be, partly. I'm fairly sure the fault is a short from somewhere near the neutral end of the winding to the transformer frame, not a shorted winding - because a shorted winding would blow the fuse and not trip the breaker.

For this to happen the primary side of the winding must have rubbed or cut through its insulation and be touching the frame, which could possibly happen if the amp was shaken or dropped, but I think only if the transformer was *also* poorly made in the first place.

It would be interesting to know, just out of curiosity - I admit to having an obsession with knowing *why* things break, not just that they do .

JerkMoans

ICBM said:

JerkMoans said:

Might have to have a word with the vendor about vulgar fiscal issues, mind you

I was wondering that - whether the seller could have known about it, and if the amp could possibly have been working previously.

I was trying to think if, and how, this could be caused by shipping damage - and I think it could be, partly. I'm fairly sure the fault is a short from somewhere near the neutral end of the winding to the transformer frame, not a shorted winding - because a shorted winding would blow the fuse and not trip the breaker.

For this to happen the primary side of the winding must have rubbed or cut through its insulation and be touching the frame, which could possibly happen if the amp was shaken or dropped, but I think only if the transformer was *also* poorly made in the first place.

It would be interesting to know, just out of curiosity - I admit to having an obsession with knowing *why* things break, not just that they do .

Well I couldn't agree more: I like to try to understand things, even in such baffling (to me) matters as electronics. 

The seller is adamant that it was working when it left him, and I must say that he seems genuine, as far as one can tell from an exchange of messages, and the thing was wrapped in exemplary fashion, to the extent of sheets of mdf cut to size between the layers of bubble wrap and corrugated cardboard.

So either:

(1) I was sold a pup, and it was fecked before he sent it.

(2) The couriers threw it about and something broke.

(3) There was a latent/old age defect and I was just unlucky that it manifested itself just as I plugged in.

It's in the probabilities between these alternatives that we spreaders of peace and harmony operate

ICBM

It would definitely not surprise me if the cause is a combination of 2 and 3.

I remember a similar thread about one that was sent to Australia which had similar damage to the speaker...

mal1971

I have a J20 and a J80 in head and cab format. I love my J80... it’s like a fender twin with lots of character... warm yet still sparkly.  My experience has been great... one of the best and most helpful builders around.

DJH83004

ICBM said:

It would definitely not surprise me if the cause is a combination of 2 and 3.

I remember a similar thread about one that was sent to Australia which had similar damage to the speaker...

Having just read the thread, l agree IC it does look very much like a neutral to earth / chassis fault taking out the breaker, when I last looked at a J20, I’m sure they were Heyboer transformers, so would be surprised if it were a QA issue, but as for couriers - don’t get me started

ecc83

I once had a very early HT-60 blowing bias supply fuses (no, I wouldn't fuse a bias supply either but I don't know world wide requirements)  and that turned out to be a winding short to frame (run the traff on a bench, perfectly ok.) which took me a while to find! But that is the only PT failure I can recall save an A30 where the GZ was arcing but the guy kept feeding it ever bigger fuses all night!

Dave.

RiftAmps

If it is indeed a neutral-earth short, ask Jesse to replace the power switch with a DPST so both the live and neutral are switched (now a legal requirement if the device has a captive mains cable) and the amp will be much safer should it fail again.

ruoma

I've got a question too about my J20.

Lately I've noticed that with volume on 3 and vac@4watts I get a nice clean strat sound, but when I dial the vac@20watt the sounds gets gainer/hairier, all other knobs remain. I thought I remember it being the other way around? Cleaner sound with more wattage or am I going crazy? Can anybody compared with theirs? 

hotpickups

ruoma said:

I've got a question too about my J20.

Lately I've noticed that with volume on 3 and vac@4watts I get a nice clean strat sound, but when I dial the vac@20watt the sounds gets gainer/hairier, all other knobs remain. I thought I remember it being the other way around? Cleaner sound with more wattage or am I going crazy? Can anybody compared with theirs? 

Just hooked up my J20 @ruoma and all seems to be working as expected. Set my levels etc and reduce the VAC it just goes quite. VAC higher just seems louder but bloody hell friggin' loud Couldn't have it on that loud for long in the house with windows open etc

ruoma

@hotpickups Thanks, just to confirm with these sound descriptions: you're saying the tone wasn't "hairier" or more distorted with vac@20watts vs 4watts?

hotpickups

ruoma said:

@hotpickups Thanks, just to confirm with these sound descriptions: you're saying the tone wasn't "hairier" or more distorted with vac@20watts vs 4watts?

Not to my ears no. Maybe deceptive as it so much louder

Lebarque

If anything, the opposite. Hairier with VAC on full.