Ceriatone Forum

Hi All,

I have built a DC30 for a customer. Made a nice headcabinet in Matchless style for it.
When he plays it for a longer period (he is a professional guitarist), the chassis gets really hot.
To the point that he can barely touch the ON/OFF and STDBY switches.

I have tested the chassis upsidedown out of the cabinet for a couple of hours and it doesn't get that hot at all.
The PT warms up a little, but nothing to worry about.
So my conclusion is that it's really the tubes producing the heat and because the chassis is hanging, the hot air can't go anywhere.

I was wondering if more people experience this and what there solution is. Probably the best solution would to replace the wooden front with something like a grill so air can flow freely, bu that would change the look of the amp. Besides, the real DC30s are built the same way.

Or am I looking at a different problem?

Thanks.

Nothing unusual for a class A amp- they need to run hot or it up-sets the cathode bias (according to a Matchless amp manual anyway) the essential thing is not to restrict the airflow in any way to the rear of the amp - the manual also says to avoid fan cooling too!   ???  also try and avoid leaving on standby or leaving switched on but silent (no guitar input) for long periods- apparently this runs the amp harder than playing constantly through it!  I switch mine off between sets or if I'm not playing for any longer than a 5-10min period... my Ceriatone DC30 is no different btw...

I run mine for 2 hours at rehearsals with no problem. Only gig it has done it was running flat out for about an hour and again no problem. It is in a Combo upside down.

Thanks for your comments.

In a combo, there is of course a lot more room for the air to flow.....

I think I'll replace the backplate with an alu strip to cover the tubes and leave the rest open.

Yea try that :D :D