i have a very small rig... mim tele and a 25 watt automatic amp with a few pedals.
joined a band for the first time in my 51 years... so i decided to invest in a bigger amp.
bought a used crate g120c from a music store i've been doing business with since noah stepped off the ark... apparently noah used the same amp. it had some issues, after "fiddling and diddling" (amadeus) with the thing for 3 plus weeks, finally brought it back to the store today and shelled out a few extra bucks for a vox, 60 watt valvetronix with a tube preamp... YEAH!!! NICE AMP!!!

...til i got the thing home and it didn't work. having been doing business with the guy for many years, i never plugged it in at the store. (yeah, stupid me, i know). the only way i got sound out of it was to plug my guitar into the "return" end of the effects loop. the other thing i noticed was that the tube wasn't glowing.
i'm new at this sort of thing, so... the guitar plugs into the tube preamp. the preamp involves all the modular circuitry, then the signal goes to the effects loop, and then to the speaker?

i'm hoping it's just a bad tube.

anybody have any suggestions?

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I'm not familiar with this particular amp, and I'm no guru, but...

It has an input on the top panel, yes? And your guitar isn't making a sound when plugged into that input... Does the amp have a "Standby" switch of some kind? A hybrid tube preamp/solid state amp such as yours usually wouldn't, but if it does you need to throw that switch before the power switch so that your tubes (or tube in this case) can warm up.

I'm sure any number of things can go wrong with an amp, but it seems strange that it should prove a dud right away. You should go back to your friend at the store if you can't get the problem sorted out, unless it turns out that it is just the tube that's at fault.

That 12ax7 tube should definitely be glowing, though. Some makes (like the Sovteks Mesa/Boogie uses) have their filaments right up under the opaque silver "flashing" up the top of the tube, so it can be hard to see those glowing unless it's dark. I know I've had tubes that I thought were defective for that reason.

You won't cause any damage if you unplug the amp and use a cloth to grab the tube and gently wiggle it back and forth until it comes out (VERY important that you unplug the amp first!). Take a look to see if there are any loose-seeming components or any white powdery residue in there. If the dull silver opaque part up the top has turned white to any degree, the vacuum inside the tube has been lost and it won't work. If it looks O.K. to you, return it to its socket and see if it's functioning. Perhaps it's just sitting loosely in its socket.

If it looks like you need to do anything more complex than try a few different inputs, throw a switch or two or remove/replace the tube, you definitely need to get your rapidly-becoming-not-such-a-good friend involved! (just joking, I'm sure he's fine)

Frankie why dont you just bring it back and have someone in the shop show you how it operates.If it was a used amp I would believe they checked it out before they bought it so they know how it works and even if it is new someone should know. Besides you said you have been doing buisness a long time with these guys so I think your just embaresd to ask. Hey you have been out of the loop a while I think they will be glad to help.

the manual came with the amp, and being the type of guy that i am, i actually read the whole thing before i plugged it into the wall and tried it. no standby switch like a hot rod.
i'll try a tube.
trouble with bringing it back right now is my ol' friend is setting up for the big festival this weekend. he produces 2 days of music... jonathan edwards on saturday, foghat's coming on sunday.... lots of other bands too.
thanks for the input. i'll let you know.

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No suggestions on the amp, but I'm pretty sure the quote from Amadeus is "It's all up here... in my noodle. All the rest is just... scribbling. Scribbling and bibbling..."

i stand humbly corrected... at least i don't sh/t marble ;)

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lo and behold!...
finally got in touch with my ol' friend earlier today and told him about my troubles. he said "highly unlikely that there's something wrong with the amp. do me a favor, turn it on and see if it works and call me back in a couple of hours."
so i agreed (skeptically)... EVERYTHING WORKS!!!
i've been pushing all the buttons, turning all the knobs, and bangin' out the tunes all day! WOW!!! (no disresect to fender... but YEOW!!! NICE AMP!!!
i'd heard about tube amps being a little more "fussy" than their younger solid state brethren... i guess i just didn't understand how sensative the thing is.
i called a few hours later to let him know all is well. he told me if anything seems to be working improperly, he knows the guy who traded it in. the amp is still under warranty and can be returned to the manufacturer to be repaired free of charge, and he'd give me a loaner while it's being fixed.
friends is friends. business is business. kinda nice when the two meet together.

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That's a relief... I've had that kind of thing happen before, where I can't get something working , and I think I'm checking each potential factor in isolation -- but then it turns out I had my guitar plugged into the Out instead of In jack all along, or similar. Or I've reached around the back of my amp and flicked the Negative Feedback toggle instead of the On/Off... heh. I don't think tube amps are much more fiddly than their solid-state counterparts once you've used it a couple of times. Unless you had an all-tube behemoth and you wanted to start tinkering with the reverb, tremolo, preamp, power amp and rectifier tubes...

Now shut up and play yer guitar, mondo

I've seen that movie, like, 20 times. An amazing piece of work.

i have the "director's cut" version that has all the deleted scenes. excellent movie!
... i think there's a thread right now on "what movie about a musician should i see"... maybe we ought to throw a reply that way (if someone hasn't already).

i can't believe the difference in my two most recent amps. the vox blows the crate away. the house emptied out for a little while yesterday and the windows were rattling... and i'm not exaggerating. WOW!!

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Us, too! On Blu-Ray, no less! One of the few where I actually prefer the so-called "director's cut:" the deleted scenes were clearly cut solely for time, as they all deepen the story.