# Ozone smell from a tube amp?



## gtone (Nov 1, 2009)

Anyone ever experience this? I've gotten it lately when shutting down my Vintage47 Ric Supreme combo. A vacuum tube thing perhaps, or am I maybe getting some arcing somewhere?


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## Adcandour (Apr 21, 2013)

What does ozone smell like?


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## gtone (Nov 1, 2009)

Don't laugh, but it smells to me very much like the same smell of the air released out of an old tire. You can smell ozone in the air often after an electrical storm, around Van de Graaf generators and, of course, you'll smell it emanating from many air cleaning systems and (duh) ozone generators used by companies that specialize in smoke/water damage. It has a smell that's somewhat hard to describe, but it's unmistakable all the same.


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## LaRSin (Nov 27, 2006)

I wonder if it's bad cap..


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## bolero (Oct 11, 2006)

burnt dust, perhaps?

someone should concoct "old amp smell" and sell it to old farts like us, as cologne


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## NorlinNorm (Dec 31, 2016)

bolero said:


> burnt dust, perhaps?
> 
> someone should concoct "old amp smell" and sell it to old farts like us, as cologne


In a can..lol


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## gtone (Nov 1, 2009)

bolero said:


> burnt dust, perhaps?
> 
> someone should concoct "old amp smell" and sell it to old farts like us, as cologne


As cool as old amp smell is, it's not the case with this amp as it's only a few yrs old. I'm familiar with burnt dust too as I've been playing tube amps since '74.


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## BSTheTech (Sep 30, 2015)

Ozone usually means arc’ing. You may want to get it checked out.


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## gtone (Nov 1, 2009)

Thanks for the advice - will do...


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

adcandour said:


> What does ozone smell like?


Mountain tops.


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## Robert1950 (Jan 21, 2006)

Back when there were no three prong plugs, I remember the smell of ozone when there was a little electric arc on some home appliance or when one was buggering around with some electrical device. I can't really describe it but it is very distinct. My mother, who work in electrics assembly during WWII and when I was growing up, told me what the smell was when some appliance sparked if there was a short when you tried to plug it in. Haven't smelled it at least 4 decades +/-


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## ZeroGravity (Mar 25, 2016)

You can get it if you have an old corded drill. Those brushed motors arc'd like crazy


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## bolero (Oct 11, 2006)

yeah, or it's there if you smell a newly unpackaged PC motherboard


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## butterknucket (Feb 5, 2006)

Not sure, but I like the musty moth ball scent old amps give off.


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## gtone (Nov 1, 2009)

I've played it a dozen times since I wrote the OP and it doesn't give off the ozone smell anymore. It did about 3X then quit - go figure...

Still probably get Bill Gill to check it over when I get out his way (Medicine Hat, AB).


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## jb welder (Sep 14, 2010)

Suggest you at least remove the power tubes and give the sockets a wipe with a dry cloth. Could have just been dust arcing at the socket, but an arc can damage the socket permanently.


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