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Marshall 8080 combo blowing fuse and more

Started by Psabin8951, April 11, 2018, 09:36:42 AM

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Psabin8951

I have a poorly Marshall 808 combo come my way.
It was blowing the internal fuse when received and by isolating the circuit I know the +15v and -15v areas of the circuit are ok as is the tube heater portion which leaves the power amp stage. With R84, 85 and TR8 removed from the circuit it powers up fine.
With R84 reintroduced again it powers up fine.
With R85 added too, that resistor severly overheats but doesnt blow fuse.
If TR9 is out of circuit R85 doesnt overheat.
With R85 back out and TR8 refitted the fuse blows.
Can anyone point me to what is likely to be the cause?
I have attached a pic of the circuit in question

g1

I've attached a better copy of schematic.
Did you check the transistors?  TR8 & TR10 good?
TR6,7, & 9 good?

J M Fahey

Agree.
Resistors overheat because *something else* is applying too much voltage to them or passing too much current through them.
First suspects are shorted transistors so check those suggested by G1.

Psabin8951

Ok after a delay due to tonsilitis im back on this. TR4 - TR12 now checked. All ok except TR8 which has now been replaced.
Fuse instantly blowing now.
Any suggestions where to go from here?

g1

There should be no load (speaker) connected to the amplifier, is this the case?
Do you have a light bulb limiter?  (see here: https://www.ssguitar.com/index.php?topic=2093.0).
Something is turning on TR8 too hard, and appears to be related to the TR6 area, as disconnecting R84 was making a difference.

Psabin8951

Correct, there is no load currently connected.
I haven't got a bulb limiter but can construct one fairly quickly.


g1

Fire it up on the bulb limiter with no load (using 40 to 60W bulb).
Take DC readings on TR4 to TR12, E,B,  & C.  Post results.

Psabin8951

Ok results are:-

TR4 B 0.2v, C 0.75v, E 0v
TR5 B 2.9v, C 0.2v, E 3.2v
TR6 B 3.9v, C 3.4v, E 6.79v
TR7 B 6.8v, C 1.02v, E 7.13v
TR8 B 0.89v, C 7.09v, E 1.03v
TR9 B 0.83v, C 1.03v, E 0.76v
TR10 B 0.17v, C 0.02v, E 0.76v
TR11 B 0.35v, C 0.52v, E0.03v
TR12 B 0.7v, C 0.53v, E 0.86v

g1

#9
You have the output transistor b & e's mixed up?  How are you determining e,b,&c for all the transistors?  The bc's & bdv's, and mpsa's have different pinouts.
Correct data is essential, remote troubleshooting is tough enough as it is.  ;)

The best method is showing the voltages on a schematic copy.

Psabin8951

Sorry G1. I tried to make my life easier by getting the wife to write voltages down as in probed components.
Obviously that didnt pan out! Anyway i've now redone them. Pinouts were taken from datasheets, my "helper" put some voltages in the wrong columns doh.

Right take 2:-

TR4 B 0.019v, C 0.75v, E 0.07v
TR5 B 2.93v, C 0.02v, E 3.25v
TR6 B 3.97v, C 6.86v, E 3.42v
TR7 B 6.86v, C 10.2v, E 7.19v
TR8 B 1.03v, C 7.18v, E 0.9v
TR9 B 0.89v, C 1.03v, E 0.76v
TR10 B 0.76v, C 0.02v, E 0.17v
TR11 B 0.35v, C 0.52v, E 0.03v
TR12 B 0.71v, C 0.85v, E 0.53v


g1

Ok, some of those are still wrong.  Example, TR11 emitter is connected to TR12 emitter.  They should both be the same voltage.
Now I hope I don't sound harsh, but if there are errors there, then there may also be errors when you are testing the transistors with your diode checks.
I'd suggest you go through the diode checks again with amp unpowered.  Triple check, and remove any suspicious and check out of circuit.

J M Fahey

Those output transistors, specifically Tr10 are VERY dead, VERY shorted, not sure about your measurement technique.
TR10 must show like a dead short CE ... yet you declare it "good".

Please measure it out of circuit (pull it out), both CE and EC , on Diode scale, NOT resistance scale, buzzer or any other, just the one which has a small diode printed on it, and report what the screen shows, just the raw number, not interpretation, no "it reads fine", not "it shows no resistance" or whatever, just the digits on the screen. Thanks.

Psabin8951

J M Fahey, only reason they were stated as being "ok" was they had been replaced with new components.
Anyway two discoveries now - yes TR10 is dead CE & EC both read 0.02 so that needs replacing. I have also noticed that for the emitters on TR11 & TR12 then one must be fitted the wrong way around. Turns out TR11 is wrong but is fitted as per silk screen which seems odd. Checking all other connections for BC212s apart from that one they fitted correctly which seems most strange. I will make those corrections and report back

solderer25

Hi. Proceed with caution if you suspect a wrong pinout with a transistor as many of them come in different packages. The BC212 for instance, has a different pinout to the BC212L. My data book shows this transistor comes in three different packages, depending on the last letter (or letters) of the type code.