Is my Tube bad or is the Speaker Blown, need help!

Hi everyone!,

Ok here is my prob:

I have a Fender Champ 12 and when I used to palm mute it sounded nice and tight when it was giving out bass, now when i palm mute on the lower frets the speaker rattles like its blown. The overall quality also sounds alot different! My question is it my speaker or is it the tube that needs to be replaced? I have looked at the back of the speaker and it looks ok from the back so far, im still trying to figure out how to get it out of there to check the front =)(its a 12 inch speaker in this small box with alot of stuf in the way of getting to all the screws and pulling it out)! here are two pictures of the tube what do you guys think? (How do you know when a tube goes bad?) You can click on them and enlarge them: http://community.webshots.com/album/33179732hvCcjI im not sure if those help or not but thanks in advance!

-Erik

[Edited by Erik2005 on 03-14-2002 at 12:28 AM]

I don't know much about the Fender Champ, but if you have an input for an external speaker, plug that in and disconnect your speaker. That should help you determine if the speaker is the problem.

The filter capacitors may need to be replaced. How old is that amp ? The Fender amp field guide ( http://www.ampwares.com/ffg ) says it was made from 87-92 so a cap job is probably due. In any event, take it to a tech who will clean the pots, replace caps, check plate resistors - a checkup so to speak. If you don't know what you're doing the stored voltages in some components of a tube amp can kill you.

Small Fenders are notorious for blowing the factory speakers, Fender kind of skimped on speakers to keep the price down I guess, that's my wild guess, get it checked out and if it is the speaker, do yourself a favor and replace it with a good quality speaker