How to restart tube amp and pre in boxes for 2yrs

Hifigeek1,

You are far braver than anyone I know when charging up questionable caps. A friend had a cap blow up when he turned on an old amp and he said the explosion was unbelievably powerful. He is a gun person so he knows what loud is, and he said the cap going up was louder than any gun he has fired.

Larryi I've been doing that kind of work for 25 yrs. Actually a cap will give you warning signs. At low voltage they can heat up and/or sizzle or tic from arcing. That's why you run the amp up slowly. Never bring an amp with caps that make noises up to full voltage. Also if the cap is leaking from the vent.

I'm too much of a chicken to be close by looking for warning signs. I lend my stuff to a friend who can power it up on a variac for me.

Well that works. lol

It’s always a good idea to use a Kill-A-Watt energy monitor (available on eBay or Amazon for $20-$30) in series with the Variac to monitor the current draw of the amp as the voltage is slowly brought up.  If everything seems fine at first, I always leave the Kill-A-Watt hooked up for a few hours while running the amp to make sure current draw doesn’t start creeping up which usually indicates a power supply cap about to give it up.