ampage Tube Amps / Music Electronics	For current discussions, please visit Music Electronics Forum.

ampage archive

Vintage threads from the first ten years

weird output Xfrmer question

:

10/30/2005 3:21 PM
Dai Hirokawa	weird output Xfrmer question is it possible for a fan (the kind you use to cool yourself--a small one operating on AC) that is operating near (right next to actually) an OT for a long period of time to have some sort of negative effect on the OT? Maybe it's just my imagination or something unrelated but the amp seemed to sound better before.

10/30/2005 8:51 PM

Electronically - no.

Thermally - yes.

An AC fan might induce hum into an OT by magnetic induction, but the effect would disappear when the two were moved apart. An AC fan can't magnetize the core or the like. And even if it could, transformer iron is designed to be hard to magnetize (that is, it has low magnetic memory), and on top of that, the next time AC was applied, it would demagnetize the core.

However, you could get some additional failure prone-ness if the fan somehow heated up the OT so the winding insulation failed. But that would not be subtle at all, not a loss of tone kind of thing.

10/31/2005 12:31 AM

thanks for a definitive answer R.G.! I figured I was probably being paranoid, but that it wouldn't hurt to ask. I was thinking of Andy Summers' pickups being de-magnetized by a (strong magnetic field from a train?), but a transformer didn't seem magnetic (just when the power is on), plus I couldn't recall anyone being warned off from putting DC fans too close--that's about as far as I got with my "analysis"--which of course wasn't very far...

10/31/2005 2:12 AM
Greg Simon	Dai, I had heard Andy Summers pickups were demagged by an airport scanner in some European country. Wonder which one is true? Ever since I read that, I was scared about bringing my guitars anywhere near an airport! greg

10/31/2005 3:10 AM
Dai Hirokawa	I forget where I read that originally (must've been some gtr. mag.), but a quick google said "train"(motor?), so I'm not sure what it was.

10/31/2005 5:36 PM
Enzo	Not sure what in an airport would have such a strong magnetic field it could degauss a pickup. Xray machine certainly would have no effect, and the metal detector has not strong fields. What's left?

11/1/2005 5:55 PM
SpeedRacer	I heard it was a vacuum cleaner...

Page 1 of 2