AMP problem/troubleshooting

[tgriley62]

I have a Fender Rumble (15watt) that is not working properly. When I turn it on it makes a loud pop & then has a lot of static. I have connected my computer to the both the 1/4" input & the smaller auxillary RCA jacks & have played music throught it and at full volume you can barley hear the music. Could this be a minor/inexpensive repair or do I need to scrap it?

Thanks

[skychief]

not trying to be a smarta$$, but what happens when you plug an instrument in it? Is it possible your sound card output on the computer might be bad?

[skychief]

Assuming the line-lvl source is good, The loud pop and static is the signature death throes of a SS amp. I recommend taking it to a reputable tech, and give him a cap on what you can afford for repair.

[Sid Fang]

Does the headphone output sound the same?

[tgriley62]

I have not tried the headphone jack, I will try it later. But I have tried playing the bass through the 1/4" input and I get no sound at all

Thanks for eveyones advice

[scottbass]

It sounds like you're only getting preamp signal and your power amp section is dead. I'm not familiar with that particular amp, but many similar solid state amps use a single chip (integrated circuit) for the power amp section. Those chips are surprisingly inexpensive on eBay - like $30 or less. HOWEVER, the real money in repairing such an amp is the time spent diagnosing, desoldering and resoldering. If you're not a semi-competent amp tech, you're probably looking at a repair bill that approaches the value of the amp. After all, that's a $100 amp.