LINE 6 Spider Valve MkII HD100 [40/41] General troubleshooting

Appendix C: Maintenance

C•2

Even if everything seems to be working OK, it’s a good idea to replace power amp tubes

with matched sets every 12-24 months (depending on the amount of use) and have the

bias checked and/or adjusted. Make sure you read and understand the safety instructions

– this work is dangerous and repairs should only be done by an Authorized Line 6 Service

Center! For your convenience, these can be located online at http://www.line6.com/

support/servicecenters or by calling Line 6 Customer Service at 818-575-3600.

Preamp tubes only need to be replaced when they are noisy, damaged, or “microphonic”.

When a preamp tube becomes microphonic it gets highly sensitive to vibration and

becomes very thin sounding and squealy like a microphone feeding back. A good way to

check for a microphonic tube is to lightly tap on the tube with a pencil. If you can hear

it tapping through the speakers, it’s microphonic and should be changed. It’s also possible

for a bad pre-amp tube to simply not pass any audio and be dead, but they usually go

microphonic before completely dying.

General Troubleshooting

Here are some general, non-tube troubleshooting tips:

• Always make sure your cables, guitars, effects and extension cabinets are working

and hooked up correctly.

• If you think something is wrong with your amp, play straight into the amp with

nothing else hooked up other than a guitar. That way you make sure it is the amp.

• Unplug the internal speaker and hook up an external speaker cabinet to make sure

it’s only the amp which is faulty.

Fuses

Your Spider Valve Mk II amp has 2 user-replaceable fuses. Both of them need to be good

in order for the amp to work properly.

The Mains Fuse is located on the back panel below the power cable connection. To release

the fuse holder you need to push the top and bottom latches towards each other with your

ﬁngernails and pull the insert out. If you can’t get it out this way, use a small screw driver

and pull one latch ﬁrst, then the other. The insert will snap out. If the Mains Fuse blows,

it could be just a voltage peak from your power outlet. Replace it and see what happens.

The Tube Protection fuse is located in a separate fuse holder on the back panel. Turn the

fuse holder cap counter-clockwise to remove the fuse. This fuse protects the tube circuitry

and usually blows if your power amp tubes are bad. When replacing fuses, be sure to only

use the exact type and value speciﬁed on the back panel of the amp.