took 10 years before I ever had a problem

Now just before practice I went into my basement to warm up a bit and after a few minutes low end went out, inner 2 6l6's glowing bright red then the rectifier tubes started flashing then pop!

And then the dreaded smell of something burning.

I opened her up and flipped her over to check out if I had blown anything on the inside. Looked good. Put another fuse in and tried to check and see if any tubes were still good.

My question is can you run the amp in silicon diode mode without rectifier tubes in place safely?
It's been a few years since I've had to look into a situation like this and can't seem to find the info.

Thanks.

Yes, you can. There's no need to have them in place if you're going to use the diodes.

Yeah I was 99% sure it was ok but I was a bit apprehensive for fear of smelling fried amp with a show 2 days away haha! 15 minutes after I posted this I said screw it, crossed my fingers and fired it up. 2 6l6's started glowing after 5 minutes of test play. Time for a total power section re tubing.

Luckily I had the Mark IV for practice tonight. :wink:

Went out and bought all new power tubes and rectifier tubes today.

Before testing my luck with all new tubes I looked inside again to double check the guts and came across this.





Looks like I'll be taking it in for repair before I fry $140 in tubes.