So I got a HotPlate. . . .

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GaryMcT

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I picked up a hotplate so that I could debug sound sound issues at home that I've been hearing at practice.

I'm finding that my RM50B sounds pretty farty with the powerstage at 50% or higher. If you pick lightly or turn the knob down on the guitar, it doesn't just clean up, it sounds kinda poopy. What could be wrong? I've tried Plexi and TopBoost so far. The Blackface sounds pretty unusable with the master anywhere near 50%.

Is this what other folks hear, or is it just me?
 
Interesting. My rig is the 50 watt head with a Marshall 4x10 cab and I've never had that. With E34L's and the HotPlate at 8% I was setting the master between 12-2 depending on where we were playing.

With the 6V6's I don't need the HotPlate and am running the master at the same level.

Have you changed the tubes yet? I've always run JJ's in mine.
 
Ned, thanks for the info. I'll pick up some new tubes today and give it a try. I suspect my tubes are shot.
 
I picked up some new tubes today (Ruby 6l6. . same thing that came in the amp) and went about replacing them. As I was adjusting the bias on the first tube, the second one went nuclear and burned out letting out quite a stinch. Now I get tube failure on the second slot no matter what I put in there. :(

Any ideas on what might be wrong?

EDIT: I turned the bias way down before putting other tubes in there in case it was just too high.
 
That may need a call to Randall customer service or an email to Bruce.
 
Bruce got back to me. Seems like the second tube was probably bad and ended up blowing a fuse. I picked up another new set of tubes today. I haven't been able to find the correct fuses yet locally. . . will try tomorrow when more stores are open.

Thanks for the help!
Gary
 
My amp is back from the shop. I finally got a chance to try the hotplate out with a functional amp.

The hotplate sounds really good with my RM50B. To save my ears, I generally have it on the lowest setting at home (-16 dB). It still sounds good at this setting. I use the bright and deep switches so far at this level. I suspect that they are there to compensate for the non-linearity of human hearing. If you turn 'em off, I think a mic generally hears the same thing as with it truly cranked. Going lower than a 16dB drop with the find tune knob starts to really affect the sound in a bad way. It generally sounds better to crank down the master on the amp than to use put this knob on anything but max. I almost wish it had a -32 dB setting, but that's definitely being picky. I'm not sure that the speakers would be working enough at that setting anyways.

I can't see not using a HotPlate (or an equivalent) in the future. The only time I don't use it is at band practice, and I have to wear earplugs there.
 
When I tried a HotPlate immediately I heard tonesucking even at bypass.
The amp (reissue non mastervolume Marshall) started farting out.
Maybe 6V6 as described in an earlier topic is the solution?
Or THDs Yellow Jackets?
 
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