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AGP's Pignose Hog 20 Practice Amplifier

Have any of our learned members on this site ever owned, or have a bit more Electrical Nous than me about the “Pignose Hog 20” Practice Amp, I purchased one quite a few years back, it never came with an Owners Manual or instructions of any type, and because it had a full back cover I was unaware of the warnings on the battery’s “Keep Me Charged Or I Will Die Young”, which is exactly what happened, they Died Young, at the time I looked at replacing them with original replacement Pignose Battery’s, but they were unavailable in Australia, and the cost of buying them from the USA at that time, with the exchange rate and postage, was about the same amount as what I paid for the new Amp, so the has Amp sat there unused for last the 4 or 5 years.
So I thought with the passing of time, and a better knowledge of researching Google & Utube, I would try and fix the bloody thing, I did find some Battery’s at a reasonable price in Aus, which appear to me?, to be the same type of Battery, when they arrived I put them on charge overnight, and fitted them the next day, but Alas no go, then done a bit more research to the problem, and learnt how to check the Pignose Charger, and the Voltage in the Battery’s, they were all fine, so then opened up the Electronic side of things to check if there were any obvious loose wires etc, but couldn’t find anything visibly wrong, but when doing all these checks etc., it was pretty evident that this Amp was very shoddily built in China (of course).
So any ideas about how to fix or modify this bugger of a thing would be greatly appreciated.

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Comment by AGP # on November 26, 2023 at 12:55pm: Yes BQ, it was bought new, it did work, the power indicator light doesn't come on, yes it does have a fuse which seemed fine when I opened up the board, and as far as I know the Battery Wiring is Correct, no manufacture date, both new Batterys read 6.33V individually, and 12.66V when wired together, and the old used Batterys, after recharging read 2.08V and 0.63V individually.

Thanks for the interest and reasons for why it should or shouldn't work, have been a bit pushed for time lately, but will open the wiring board up again soon, and have another look, particularly the power switch, which I didn't check before, unfortunately my in depth knowledge of most things electrical, is limited to say the least. :-(

Comment by BrianQ. on November 22, 2023 at 3:56pm: Forgot to ask, did it ever work? was it new or used? If it came used, it may have a burnt power transistor (happens quite often on low power solid state amps)? does it have a power indicator, does it light, can you do a continuity test on the bulb? Does it have a fuse, have you checked that? If the fuse is bad, then it probably means a power transistor is failing & will probably keep tripping the fuse? I will go as far as to test the power switch too? Did you make sure the battery wiring is correct?

Comment by BrianQ. on November 20, 2023 at 5:27pm: I usually do a continuity check on the cables connected to the battery? Hook a pot up to one end & twist it back n forth, if it doesn’t show any resistance, then the cable has a short somewhere? Also wiggle the cables where they connect to the terminals, those are famous for hiding wire breaks? Do the replacement batteries you bought have a manufacture date, they could be old too?