so my jvm410c gets hot, the combo configuration is kind of odd in terms of heat dissipation in the 410c the head is turned upside down and the tubes are below the chassis so there isn't a way for the heat to escape thru the top of the cabinet, just the rear grille. thoughts on using fans or will that cause other issues
100%...absolutely! 7 sets from 10:30pm to 5:30am @ Pop’s in Sauget, Il. Your tubes will love you for it!
My dsl401 got blisteringly hot, and fans helped, I use two 80mm mains fans wired to the mains switch. But I wire them in series so they each get half the supply volts and so run quietly . One blows to the tubes, one at the other end sucks out Both mounted inside the rear grill. This system has been in place and has worked reliably since 2006.
Any air circulation is better than none. It doesn't have to be pinpoint precise, just get outside air moving into the cabinet.
Mesa includes such fans in all their amps.....get a case fan for computers (aimed at the tubes in the pre-amp)
When I built my first and only combo the design required the knobs to be on top. This put the tubes on a 1987 amp pointed forward and devoid of any passive ventilation - no way I was going to cut vents in my bizarre masterpiece. So went to the computer parts nerd store and picked up a 6 volt fan rated at 19dB as fan noise annoys me and rigged up a wire frame to hold it the bottom back plate angled at the power tubes. I drilled in some cool air intake ports. Sorry no pics of the fan. One of these days - HAHAHA - I plan to wire it to the amp but for now since the amp chassis is living elsewhere I'll stick to the selectable wall wart if it ever goes back in. Russ
I've used a little ( about 2") PC style fan on the back of some tube amps to evacuate air out and it works great. It's super quiet, efficient and never noticed any unwanted noise in the amp from them. I just attach it to the rear vent screen or air holes right on the back of the metal chassis (the best spot IMHO). I prefer to suck it out than blow it in, just seems to work better IMHO and it usually introduces less dust into the amp. I just use universal power supplies I got from Radio Shack back in the 90's to power the fan . I know on my Crate v33h I had benefited greatly from it since that thing ran really hot. It really doesn't take much to cool an amp down a decent amount.
I had a piece of furniture built to hold my home setup. I put fans that draw air from from front to back on the back wiring/vent slots. Draw the heat out and cooler air in. They're 3 speed.
I have two fans attached to the back of my JCM 2000 TSL combo amp; they're setup to exhaust the hot air from the tube area. At the time I made temperature measurements; I do recall that the temp results were good, although I don't recall the exact numbers. I have been through a lot of issues with this amp, but since adding the fans, it's been sweet.
