Radii MPP-M8 tube amp

[treitz3]

Anybody know a reputable place to get one repaired? Mine just bit the dust.

My wife noticed a strange smell while we were cooking today and after about three or four minutes we discovered that the tube amp was cooking along with us. I powered her down and I'm assuming that it doesn't work. It definitely smelled like an electronic failure and the smoke was easily visible. Hopefully it didn't destroy my Focal's.

I don't know a damn thing about this amp with the exception of a couple of CP members have used it over the years. The amp is pictured below.......



Bummed out in North Carolina.........:(

[ohskigod]

AHHHHH ****!!!!!

dude I loved that little amp. I know nothing about who could fix it. Hoping someone else will chime in here. That amp has been around the block. could it be just the tube?

where was the smoke coming from, the back?

[Fireman32]

NO NO NO..... Man I miss that amp and I called first dips on getting it back just last night when talking to you on the phone. Hopefully its something that can be easily fixed.

[treitz3]

AHHH **** is right! The smoke appeared to be coming from underneath the transformers. Black in color. The tubes were still glowing when I powered her down.

I'd really like to get this amp back up and running again. It's a fantastic 8 watts that blows away some of the 375+ watt amps I have had in the same rig. I'm already missing the sound and it's only been a couple of hours. :(

[george daniel]

have you looked inside yet?

[treitz3]

Naw, I don't have the time tonight. I'm off to my best bud's house for a New Years Eve bonfire. Hopefully it's just a resistor gone bad or something that wasn't catastrophic to the innards.

When I go to Google repair shops or any other information, I get nothing but Club Polk threads. Hell, I might give Bob Carver a call and see if he'll fix it if it's not something relatively easy. This amp WILL be brought back to life. She's not going down without a fight!

[mmadden28]

Bring it with ya. I'd imagine Ben would be more than happy to crack 'er open. Just don't let him near any gasoline. ;)

[ben62670]

Yep. Bring it down;)

[obieone]

"Dr. House" has volunteered, I'd say you're in good hands.

[lightman1]

You a dumb motherf*cker Tom. I said DON"T cook grilled cheese on the tubes.

[Fireman32]

Ben bring that amp back to life. I will want that back someday.

[187CAM]

I know a few folks who might be able to help if all else fails.

[treitz3]

Well, upon further inspection, it looks like a resistor and cap have gone bad. No indications as of yet what would have caused this but it did burn the board pretty bad. I'll have to look into replacing the 2 components and see where we stand from there. I can't read the bands on the resistor due to the heat buildup but the other side of the board has the same identical thing for the other channel so it shouldn't be too hard to figure out what the values are.

Looks like this thing may be back in operation without too much effort. Good thing too, I love this little tube amp!

[Jstas]

A bad cap is usually just a bad cap. But resistors don't normally go bad without provocation. A bad cap could have caused but a power surge from somewhere else could have caused the cap and resistor to both go bad.

[Fireman32]

Hope you can get it up and running again. I love that amp.

[disneyjoe7]

A bad cap is usually just a bad cap. But resistors don't normally go bad without provocation. A bad cap could have caused but a power surge from somewhere else could have caused the cap and resistor to both go bad.

I agree, something else is fired along with cap and resistor. Good luck on the repair :)

[zingo]

Do you have any soldering and high voltage experience? I have worked on my tube amp without any problems and swaps like caps and resistors are very easy. (As long as you mind the voltage )

[treitz3]

Oh yeah, plenty of experience including severely burnt boards. Just no schematics. That's the bummer. Something caused it. Just at this point, I don't know what.

I have another set of tubes I will test it with in case that was the issue but other than that and the replacement of known shot components, I'm shooting in the dark.