Solarus fuse value

[TheLustyGhost]

So, my '68 Solarus combo jsut blew a fuse.  The schematic on this site says that it takes a 3 amp slow-blow fuse, but the back of the cassis is marked 2 amps (no indication of slow vs. quick).  Worse yet, I was in the middle of a practice so I just stuck the blown fuse in my pocket and finished practice on a backup amp.  Now the blown fuse has gone missing, so I can't refer to that.

[Isaac]

My Sunn heads that I can easily get to are marked 3 amps. These are heads with 6550 power tubes. If your Solarus has EL34s, then 2 amps may be correct.

[TheLustyGhost]

Well, I talked to a knowledgable (if overly opinionated) hi-fi amp builder I know a bit and he figured it was probably just the age of the fuse itself.  I dropped a new 2 amp quick blow fuse in about 3 weeks ago and haven't had any trouble ye; in fact, the amp actually sounds louder.  Weird.

[Isaac]

Possible. Fuses don't blow all at once. It takes a certain amount of current for a certain amount of time. If it has enough current, but not for long enough time, then the fuse can be degraded. That can happen with starting surges.

On the other hand, I've been using mine for years, with no trouble at all. Maybe your capacitors are getting old, drawing a bit more current due to leakage? No way to tell from here.