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Do new tube amps have an odor?

N

Natal

New Member
I purchased a new hybrid tube amp which emits a pungent odor. It reminds me of ozone but it irritates the nasal passage. I was told that the odor is from the oil in the transformer that is settling in and that it is normal for higher quality tube gear during it's burn in period and should be gone after 150 hours of use. Right now I have about 200 hours burn-in and it is still present. In my research I've been unable to substantiate about oil settling in. So I'm turning to people here for their experience and knowledge about this phenomena. Any feedback greatly appreciated.

Natal
 
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Most of my tube gear is older than I am so not sure what smell you are getting from a new amp. Mine usually smell of old dust, and deoxit. It could be many things, but not sure about the oil theory. It could be plastics, wire insulation, solder flux...
 
Well,
You used the word "odor" which has a negative implication. Now if you had said aroma, Iwould have said yes.

Seriously, I have not had a tube amp yet that didn't give off some form of a scent. There is a distincitve high temp, electonic smell I always get. I have aquired a desire for it too, funny huh?

Mark
 
It is somewhat reassuring Mark that you have had a similar smell. But the amp doesn't run that hot. The casing feels warm but not abnormally. But still oil in the transformer would imply some leakage or exposure for it to be exposed to the air. Perhaps I'll take it out to the garage and leave it on continuously and see if it eventually burns off whatever is heating up.
 
If the hybrid is using the chassis/case as a heatsink you are going to get a odor everytime you run it. But yes it should lessen over tiime.

It could be worse. When I use laquer instead of epoxy paints on the larger amps with with multple tubes in the first stages (MC 275, Citation II, etc). I paint all of the metal parts both on the outside and inside. And WOW are the first couple hundred hours of break it are pretty rough.

When I fired up my Citation (which runs hot as hell anyway, the first 25 hours it made the whole shop smell. But I painted EVERYTHING down to the capacitor clamps. So that combined with all the resistors and such heating up made for a "stank"!

As you can see, even the tube socket rings are painted. But after a few hundred hours there is no smell but dust cooking on the tubes.

forum2vq.jpg
 
Jcricket said:
Well,
You used the word "odor" which has a negative implication. Now if you had said aroma, Iwould have said yes.

Seriously, I have not had a tube amp yet that didn't give off some form of a scent. There is a distincitve high temp, electonic smell I always get. I have aquired a desire for it too, funny huh?

Mark
Click to expand...

Same here. I kind of like it.:D
After a couple months of use my new tube amp still has a slight smell to it. When it was new it was pretty pungent.
 
Yes Goldenpath, the aluminum chassis on the amp is used as a heat sink. But I don't understand why they don't use some sort of air ventilation instead of sealing it completely. Wouldn't it be more efficient? Nice colorful insides in your amp.

PS I like your proverb. Music does enliven the subtle regions of the physiology to enhance self-realization IMHO.
 
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All my tube amps, vintage and new alike, have some sort of "scent" (as Mark put it), which has never been pungent to my nose. Sometimes the scent emitted by a piece of gear would brought back memeories of other gear I used to own.
 
Natal said:
I purchased a new hybrid tube amp which emits a pungent odor. It reminds me of ozone but it irritates the nasal passage.
Click to expand...

It shouldn't smell like ozone. Usually ozone happens around arcs and sparking, which may mean that something inside is close to dielectric breakdown. As there is a few hundred volts inside tube amps.
 
wa2ise said:
It shouldn't smell like ozone. Usually ozone happens around arcs and sparking, which may mean that something inside is close to dielectric breakdown. As there is a few hundred volts inside tube amps.
Click to expand...

I'll continue the burn-in and see what happens. If it breaks down I can always return it under the warranty.
 
Transformers don't normally have oil in them. They are usually varnish dipped though, and that has a scent when it gets warm. Output transformers and filter chokes are also usually varnished, and can emit a bit of aroma, though they don't normally run as hot. Fresh paint has a smell to it tho. I fitted a new set of output transformers to one of my 1960s vintage amps, and it smelled like hot paint the first few times I ran it.
 
I went to yard sale a couple years back. There was a bunch of stuff outside and inside.

This place was a older trailer with additions, and there was a couple few nice console tube radios and a couple tube TV's. Cheap too...

Only problem was this the inside of this place had INTENSE old man/poop/urine/sweat from hell smell. It was really bad! One pass through the joint real fast before one passes out kind of thing...

Outside was a Penncrest tube stereo console. I bought it for two bucks, and convinced the seller to just to grab the all-in-one receiver and leave the rest.

It rained the night before, and figuring between the rain and being outside, it would have dissipated some of that nasty smell. As soon as I got it in the car I realized I was rather wrong...roll down the windows...

When returning home I cleaned the tube reciever up the best I could outside,(nasty)and brought it in to see if it worked. It kinda worked, whatever...
But it when got warmed up, here came that old man soul rotting of death.

YUK!

I pulled the tubes, and gave the unit shed duty.
 
Yes, they do. Once I was working on an old Tektronix tube O-scope in an Army barracks. Set off the fire alarm. Was warned. Kept working on it. The alarm went off again. Was really warned! So I worked on it in the large rec. room. No more alarms.
 
My Leben gives off a nice odor from the varnish on the transformers.
I love the smell but it seems to be lessening after a few months
 
Natal said:
I purchased a new hybrid tube amp which emits a pungent odor. It reminds me of ozone but it irritates the nasal passage. I was told that the odor is from the oil in the transformer that is settling in and that it is normal for higher quality tube gear during it's burn in period and should be gone after 150 hours of use. Right now I have about 200 hours burn-in and it is still present. In my research I've been unable to substantiate about oil settling in. So I'm turning to people here for their experience and knowledge about this phenomena. Any feedback greatly appreciated.

Natal
Click to expand...

Man this one had me laughing from a person experience. I've built at least couple hundreds of what I call high quality tube amps and I've never had an irritating smell come out of any.... except when I used a set of the plastic 8 pin octal sockets when Cinch quit making the ones I prefer. Man did those things stink:tears: I ripped them plastic jobs out in quick order and replaced with some gold plated ceramic jobs... Still like the Cinch brand better... Sure wish Cinch would produce some more sockets.

So to answer your question no the amp should not put of much of an oder when new. As far as I know no transformer I've ever seen had oil in it... the winding are often dipped in varnish but that doesn't take long to setup and I've never smelt the varnish. Potted transformer have a substance similar in consistency to tar but that should not put off any odor after it sets up.
 
GoldenPath said:
If the hybrid is using the chassis/case as a heatsink you are going to get a odor everytime you run it. But yes it should lessen over tiime.

It could be worse. When I use laquer instead of epoxy paints on the larger amps with with multple tubes in the first stages (MC 275, Citation II, etc). I paint all of the metal parts both on the outside and inside. And WOW are the first couple hundred hours of break it are pretty rough.

When I fired up my Citation (which runs hot as hell anyway, the first 25 hours it made the whole shop smell. But I painted EVERYTHING down to the capacitor clamps. So that combined with all the resistors and such heating up made for a "stank"!

As you can see, even the tube socket rings are painted. But after a few hundred hours there is no smell but dust cooking on the tubes.

forum2vq.jpg
Click to expand...

Very impressive job!
 
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