OH!
a quick PS-
this is to help with the detective work.
i'll try to be brief.
initially the amp came to me with bent relay contacts, (bent by a person messing with them) and a need for re-capping.
i replaced the relays, re-capped it, replaced a bunch of old over heated (looking) ceramic disc caps, tested for 10-20 minutes of talking on it, and gave it back.
it smoked on the owner the first night he really talked on it, and he probably used it for over an hour at least.
the meter plastic had melted (it sits right in front of the driver tube and is lit with a 12v bulb)
upon initial inspection, i found the top of one of the HV electrolytics blown out.
after disassembling the amp, i found a burnt trace where the 12v enters the bias line.
my question is, could this 12v winding have jumped up on him like i just saw, and the increased voltage on the bias line burnt the trace?
could the increased voltage have caused that bulb to melt the meter?
for reference, i didn't see the bulb get any brighter today when i keyed the mic so not sure on that, maybe the driver tube just got so hot before the HV cap finally blew that it melted the meter.
ok, thanks for following along.
LC
