2. amps-preamps
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Sonic Frontiers - A Score or a Flushing?

I may have scored or I may have flushed $50….

A couple of weeks ago I picked up a Sonic Frontiers Power 2 tube amp at a garage sale for $50.00. It was openly disclosed to me that it did not work and the seller had no idea as to why. So, my question is are there any preliminary tests with a voltage meter (or other instrument) I can use to narrow the problem down?

My hope is that the tubes are bad; my worry is the transformer is bad. But, I don’t know how to make this determination. While I am a handy guy, I am limited in my knowledge of electrical problems. If it is salvageable, I will certainly find a professional to make repairs, but I would really like to make a preliminary determination as locating and lugging it to a shop to tell me
jb8312
mingles
791 posts
 
Anyone who works on your amp will want the circuit schematic so they can test voltages. You should contact Anthem (new owner of SF) and ask for a copy. It's usually standard practice to release schematics when a product is out of production. Anthem has been good about doing this in the past.

Best of luck in your efforts.
alpha_gt
155 posts
 
Do your surfing and find a certified service center for the amp, send it to them and get an estimate. If the estimate is high at least you will find out what the problem was and try to fix it yourself, but chances are getting them to fix it will be far cheaper than buying a working model. Be sure to check the fuses and just look for obvious problems, like burnt parts or wires if you haven't already. Plenty of times I have come out the hero for replacing a fuse.
knghifi
1,668 posts
 

I would just contact Chris Johnson and ship it PCX. Their hourly rate is reasonable and probably take several hours at most to examine the amp.

If repair is inexpensive, check out the SE+ mod. Roll some NOS, GL Reissued KT88 and you got an excellent tube amp.
sibeliusfan
1 posts
 
If you haven't already checked, the first thing to look at is the fuse. I've blown a few fuses in my Power 1.
jb8312 OP
247 posts
 
Thanks for the comments...I will let you all know how it works out...jtb
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