REPLACEMENT VALVES

[BrianD]

I don't know if I was previously just lucky, but in over 40 years playing through a variety of valve amps I only occasionally had to have an amp serviced and the tubes replaced. Usually when I started to notice a deterioration in volume and the appearence of background noise. Unfortunately, since switching to Blackstar Artisan amps this has changed dramatically. I first bought an ARTISAN 30 two and a half years ago. I fell in love with the sound but the first one went back within a few weeks as it became increasingly noisy. It was replaced uner warranty.

Bear in mind I only play a coulpe of gigs a year as I retired from regular gigging to concentrate on yachting, so the amp really had very little use and then only at home volume. November 2008 I was due to perform one of my 2 gigs per year. The night before the gig I started to go through all my gear. I warmed the amp up in the usual way and after about a minute I switched the standby switch to ON. Immediately the power light went out and the amp was dead. I found it had blown one of the fuses in the back panel. I found a spare, changed the fuse and repeated the warm up. Again when I switched the amp out of standby the fuse blew. I was worried. Next morning I rushed the amp back to the store in Worthing from where I had bought it. They checked everything and went through the same process with the same result. Fortunately they had another brand new one in stock so they kindly loaned me that while mine went back to the manufacturer under warranty. I won't bore you all with evreything that went on. But over the next two years I had two replacement ARTISAN 30s and 5 reoccurences of the same fault, the last being in January of this year. I was told that the cause of the problem was the rectifier valve and each time they replaced it with a different manufactuer's tube - of better quality.

In February this year I bought an ARTISAN 15 to act as a back-up unit. Since then I haven't had a gig but will be playing in three weeks' time. I put the band back together for this dinner-dance function an dwe got together three weeks ago for our first rehearsal for 9 months. The aftternoon before the rehearsal I checked through my gear and to my horror found the ARTISAN 15 was working at about half volume and distorting badly even on clean setting. I rushed it back to the store where they checked it and found that one of the valves was not heating up. They changed the valves but couldn't get it to work so back the amp went to be sorted. I got it back ten days later but after just one day it had gone wrong again. I still don't have it back and have been loaned a small Fender to practice and rehearse with. A local amp specialist has had a look at the unit and informed both the store and myself that he considres the amp to be beautifully made but the reason they get such a great tone is that they are driving the valves way beyond their intended limits and therefore the life expectancy is severely reduced!! I have only turned the 30 on a coulpe of times since getting it back from repair in January as I almost feel it is like a cat with 9 lives and every time I turn it on I have used up one of its lives.

I love the sound of the BlackStar Artisan amps but am seriously concerned about their reliability. The store I deal with tells me they have had numerous similar instances and will no longer stock them. I am perservereing - for the moment, but need to ensure I have a stock of back-up valves and fuses!! This has lead me to look at the web to see where to get tubes and the prices. I see that prices can vary enormously. For example I found ECC83s ranging from just under £10 to around £50.

What recommendations do you have for replacement tubes?

By the way the ARTISAN 30 uses 3 x ECC83, 1 x EF86, 4 x EL84 and 1 x GX34.

Brian

[dave robinson]

I'm pleased that you took the trouble to post this news Brian, I was going to go and try the Artisan with a view to maybe buying, but as good as they sound they are totally useless to me without reliabilty. That said I won't even bother trying one out. I have the Blackstar HT1 to practice with and will leave it at that until further development with the Artisan series. Thanks for the info:|

[BrianD]

Yes, David, I have been very frustrated and disenchanted recently. In the good old days I just used to carry one amp with me to gigs. Since buying the Blackstars I need to ensure I always have two amps and spares!! Now I know if I was a professional musician with regualr gigs that would probably be the norm anyway, but shouldn't be at my local fun level.

Great shame as the sound is first class

[Tab]

Hi Brian,

If ever you're stuck for an amp etc., I'm only a phone call away.

Must catch up again soon.

Terry

[BrianD]

Thanks, Terry.

The ARTISAN 15 has now been re-valved, and sounds as wonderful as ever. However,..............

Time will tell.

Brian

[RogerCook]

Hi Brian

If the reliability issue is caused by the output valves running hot (temperature wise) it may be possible to change values of or install additional components to get them to run cooler. However the amp may not sound so "hot" afterwards as it would change the characteristics of the output stage. As another possibility, I believe Watford Valves do matched sets of EL84s that run physically cooler and are intended for AC30s .

Also if the amp has a standby switch be wary of using it. See here viewtopic.php?f=11&t=2308&p=16533&hilit=standby#p16533 and here for a detailed technical discussion http://vintageamps.com/plexiboard/viewt ... dby+switch

Roger

[roger bayliss]

I was actually wondering if the Standby circuit is the problem ? it has been on some Vox amps. I have caused valve problems on my Heritage when I first had it by switching to Triode mode whilst still on. Now I find it's best to switch it on and just turn the volume down between playing although the Heritage does not have a standby mode anyway ! Switching on and off without letting the amp stand for about 30secs is another thing that can cause problems with valves. So maybe that might help you Brian as I have not heard much about Blackstar amps having reliability probs and some pro players have been using them...

[BrianD]

Many thanks for your comments and suggestions, guys.

Firstly, ever since I first bought and amp with a Standby switch I have always been careful to switch on the power first and then give the amp a good minute to warm up before switching the standby to ON. I have alsways assumed the designers / manufacturers put this into the system for a good reason!

My Artisan 15 has just been re-tubed and I used it in a band rehearsal yesterday for the first time since buying it and it certainly sounded superb. My band plays a mix of music including a number of well known Shads tunes, Buddy Holly, Eddie Cochran, Chuck Berry, Beatles, Quo, blues, jazz, country and some songs requiring a modern overdriven rock sound. I use a pedal board equipped with, amongst other things, a Blackstar HT DIST pedal, a Cry Baby, BOSS CS-3 Compressor and a BOSS OC-3 Super Octave pedal. My main guitars include a Strat (Custom Shop '56 in the classic red, gold, maple configuration), a '59 Les Paul, a Gibson 355 and a Gibson Tal Farlow. As you can see from this, I am after a range of tones. In this I am very pleased with both the BlackStar Artisan 15 and 30 and both give me exafctly the sounds I am after, far better than any amps I have used for a long long time.

In truth, it is probably unfair to critisize the reliability of the amps themselves as it has always been the tubes that have failed. For many years I have heard increasing concerns that the quality of tubes ain't what it was in the good old days! The guy who has just carried out the retubing of my amp and looked into why it has given me problems so early in its life commented that it is a beautifully built amp, one of the best he has ever seen, but the design is based on driving the valves very hard. He described it as having a car that is built to do 100mph max, taking it on the motorway and driving with the foot hard on the accelerator all the way so it is always at 100mph.

I suspect the reason many professionals are using BlackStars is that the amps are giving the sounds they are looking for but they are also in a position to change the tubes on a regular basis. A mere amateur like me expects an amp to go on for a long time without needing the tubes to be replaced on such a regular basis!

My intention, now I understand the issue, is to live with the need to replace tubes and ensure I have a ready supply - which brings me back to my original question.

Brian