15 Amp Breaker on Back of Amp - Broke

Fair Warning · #1 02-11-2013, 09:40 AM

Last night I had my Ampeg SVT4-Pro just stop. All lights out. Checked the back and noticed the 15 Amp breaker button was popped out. When I tried to pop it back in, it all popped out with a spring and two other little parts. It appeares that one of those little parts broke.

So are these 15 Amp Breaker switches readily available and replacible by the common do-it-yourselfer?

Anyone else have this happen?

will33 · #2 02-11-2013, 10:13 AM

Likely not that hard to replace yourself if you're comfortable with maybe pulling a circuit board, soldering etc., depends on how it's put together in there. I would assume you'd have to order one from Ampeg, or Mouser or someplace, might be hard to find locally.

15 amps is likely the same as the breaker in the circuit the wall outlet you're plugged into is on. Is there another fuse tied to the power input?, might be 10 or 12 amp on an amp that big? I don't know. The 15A seems redundant to me but maybe it needs to be that high, or is an extra sort of "failsafe" or something.

BassmanPaul · #3 02-11-2013, 12:07 PM

Take the amp to a tech. If the breaker blew that hard there is probably something wrong with the amp.

will33 · #4 02-11-2013, 12:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BassmanPaul

Take the amp to a tech. If the breaker blew that hard there is probably something wrong with the amp.

Good advice. Switches, breakers, etc. can and do go bad, but there could also be a short in the amp that caused it.

Paul, do other large amps have 15A breakers? To me it seems redundant, but I'm not the pro here.

Fair Warning · #5 02-11-2013, 02:54 PM

I'm gonna pull the cover off of it tonight. Did some looking on the web. I see that the breaker is a single stand alone unit with slide-on connector tabs on he rear end. Should be easy once I get the numbers off of it.

I think it tripped because I was short of an outlet for my pedal board, so I plugged my pedal board into the back of my amp for power. Not something that I normally do, and I think when the breaker popped, the little widget inside the switch broke, which prevented the switch from resetting.

NTL, I use tape to keep the breaker in, turned everything back on and finished the rehearsal, with no smell of burning wires or explosions.

Jerrold Tiers · #6 02-11-2013, 07:57 PM

The breakers are easy to find, Digi-key has them.

I don't recall offhand the breaker rating, 15A sounds right... if so then this should be the item.

http://www.digikey.com/product-detai...PB192-ND/45076.

The pedal board didn't do it, the convenience outlets are wired before the breaker......

Look at the wiring... while the breakers sometimes do fail, it's a good idea to see if anything looks like it could have caused the problem.

if you remember the amp getting bashed on the back , that might explain it also.

BassmanPaul · #7 02-12-2013, 11:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by will33

Paul, do other large amps have 15A breakers? To me it seems redundant, but I'm not the pro here.

I think that the idea is that the local breaker will go first, somewhat similar to the breakers in power bars. the resistance in the building wiring protecting the building breaker to some extent. I admit to preferring a simple fuse as they can react faster than a breaker.