Broken amp day - share your stories?

christw · #1 12-16-2010, 12:18 PM

After assembling what I dubbed the poor man's B15 setup (Elk Miyuki Custom 30 into a D140) and having two new EL84 arrive this morning to replace the old mismatched ones, it wouldn't power on. No pilot, no tubey glow, and the fuse is fine.

I hope it's something small because I was really digging this setup.

There is a light of hope though. I spoke to Randy of Vintage Amp Repair who did a total overhaul on the head a year ago. He said if there's any problem with the work he did to it, he'd fix it free of charge and was willing to have me drop it off today. I forgot what good customer service is!

Hows about you guys? Any stories to share of excitement turned to disappointment with your amps to comfort a fellow broken amp owner?

It was so cool-quirky looking too!

I<34080 · #2 12-16-2010, 12:29 PM

I bought a vintage SVT and was told it only needed some transformer work. Tech looks inside and the wires are a mess, it's missing caps, and the guy who sold it to me caim clean and called it FUBAR.

:/

christw · #3 12-16-2010, 12:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by I<34080

I bought a vintage SVT and was told it only needed some transformer work. Tech looks inside and the wires are a mess, it's missing caps, and the guy who sold it to me caim clean and called it FUBAR.

:/

Ouch! I bought this amp being told that it only needs minor repair. Uh yeah. It was overheated to where the tubes seared through wires. All the caps were junk (except for the filter caps, ironically!) Tubes were thrashed. It needed a full, full overhaul and after two terrible jobs by claimed techs, I was about to give up. It sat broken for another 2 years. Thankfully I found Randy. It sounds so incredibly 1950's-1960s' with a strat or with a bass and I looooove it. Too bad it's still a PITA.

hennessybass · #4 12-16-2010, 12:35 PM

I got a pretty well used Fender Bassman 100 a while back. The shop I bought it from made a few repairs at the time of purchase - new 3 prong power chord, etc. Took it home played on it a few times, and it started acting up. Took it back, and they put in new power tubes, and fixed a few other items as well. I've been using it as my main gigging amp for a few months now.

You're will get fixed, and it will rock... just give it a little time. As Tom Petty says, "The waiting is the hardest part"

Exploiter8 · #5 12-16-2010, 12:36 PM

I purchased a used Peavey MINX 110 off of Ebay. It was a great price, and shipping was under ten bucks! I powered her up only to be greeted by the nastiest hum I'd ever heard! After MANY music related purchases from Ebay that were fine, I figured I finally got burned. After taking it apart (I always dismantle amps to give them a good cleaning) I noticed the input jack had popped loose from the PC board. I soldered it back, and all is well. I've since replaced the speaker, ported the cab, and made a custom MX 112 extension cab that all fits nicely in my Chevy's trunk. Don't lose hope, it sounds like you've got a good tech-dude to help you through these troubled times!

X8

audiomitch · #6 12-16-2010, 12:51 PM

Back in the prehistoric days, I used to biamp two Sunn 200s heads. One night one of the heads started pouring out smoke. It was so bad it emptied out the room. It was amazingly thick, and the stench was unbelievable.

That's a bad sign. There are worse things than an amp that won't come on.

christw · #7 12-16-2010, 12:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by audiomitch

Back in the prehistoric days, I used to biamp two Sunn 200s heads. One night one of the heads started pouring out smoke. It was so bad it emptied out the room. It was amazingly thick, and the stench was unbelievable.

That's a bad sign. There are worse things than an amp that won't come on.

I played one of those Fender Bassman Ten combos in a pawn shop and that's about an appropriate description. I'm fairly sure one of it's filter caps blew about 2 minutes into trying it out. The hum was a giveaway, but not loud enough for me to expect that.

And thanks for the stories. Makes me feel better about this basket case that makes my instruments sound like they're off of an old Johnny Cash record.

BassmanPaul · #8 12-16-2010, 01:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by I<34080

I bought a vintage SVT and was told it only needed some transformer work. Tech looks inside and the wires are a mess, it's missing caps, and the guy who sold it to me caim clean and called it FUBAR.

:/

There's no SVT made that cannot be repaired. It'll just cost you money is all.

okcrum · #9 12-16-2010, 01:52 PM

Here's my latest festive amp repair story:

NORAD: Warning - SVT content

Rockmusician · #10 12-16-2010, 02:02 PM

I had three things happen. The first was in 1984. I was playing through a 1970 SVT and suddenly couldn't hear myself. I managed to play the last set but it was uncomfortable not hearing what I was playing. The next day, I opened the head a found a blown fuse that was actually soldered in place. I replaced it and it was fine after that.

The next time was in 2002. I let the bass player from a very well known national act use my cabinet because he was having problems with his during sound check. He ended up running an SVT 4 PRO in bridged mode and blew my speakers. He didn't even tell me about it or offer to pay for it. I never let anybody borrow gear since.

The last time was in 2003. I was getting ready to go to on the road for 8 weeks. A couple of days before I left I powered up my gear and found that my GK head was not working. It was already out of warranty so I figured I was screwed. I called GK and they arranged for me to do an exchange at a local Guitar Center.

Burlington · #11 12-16-2010, 02:14 PM

around 8 years ago, in my first band, I was borrowing my dad's old Acoustic head and Sunn 15" cab. Me and my buddies were trying to record drums at the time, so we figured we'd use this setup to mic the kick.

No idea why this happened, but thick black smoke poured out. Such heavy smoke that it just sinks to the floor.

Not sure what model head it was, but it's still in my dad's garage.

coreyfyfe · #12 12-16-2010, 02:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Burlington

No idea why this happened, but thick black smoke poured out. Such heavy smoke that it just sinks to the floor.

Only time I've had an amp smoke on me it luckily wasn't mine (or my father's for that matter). Flipped on my drummers SWR 750 only to have smoke pour out of the front plate.

I did buy a bassman 70 from this guy, he fired it up at home but said he didn't have a cab so he left it on stanby just to show it was working. Should have figured something was up, but the price was pretty good. Got it home and it was pretty noisy, definitely not playable. Had it looked at and the tech said it looked like there was a fire inside at one point, he cleaned up a few things but it was still bad. Brought it to a more competent tech and it was up and running smooth in a few weeks.

I had my V4 in for a cap job and the day I finally brought it to practice after that it was only on for a few minutes before I got this pop and then a big buzz. Apparently there was a mechanical failure in a tube, the amp fired up fine at the shop when I brought it in, but chopsticking the power tubes gave the same noise. A few months later I went to turn that same amp on and the power switch was just flopping around in it's socket. The people we shared our practice space with swore up and down they never used it but it was definitely fine last time I had played through it. Either way, $5 and a new switch later it was up and running again.

I think that's all I've got. Luckily this was all at rehearsals and never at a gig.

rust_preacher · #13 12-17-2010, 04:23 AM

Blew a tube once playing Pearl Jam's "Animal" on guitar on an outdoor gig. Luckily it was the last song in the set... Had amp in storage in my garage. Wife parks bicycle in front of it, pedal through a Celestion... TWICE! And it is a 2x12 combo, I haven't powered it up since. Marshall SL-X, power turn-on WWooooMP! then nothing. Needed a cap and rectifier replacement in filament supply. And so on...

christw · #14 12-17-2010, 07:22 AM

Coreyfyfe, you trust people enough to leave gear in a shared practice space? I started guarding my gear when my brother and his friends started using my Marshall DSL, vintage Ampeg cab, and Kustom Groove Bass head/410 in our garage. I spent all of my money putting together these stacks when I was 16/17 and I hated them using them without asking (and finding the masters WAY up!) The using without asking and blatant denial of use until I locked up my amps set me over the edge.

nukes_da_bass · #15 12-17-2010, 08:18 AM

Crate BT350 was my first "hybrid" head and it failed TWICE two different gigs at the same club.
First time it cut out, had to drive cross town to the drummers house for my practice head.
Second time, same thing- cept i had the practice backup head ready this time.
Amp guru in Beacon NY told me the line amps were cranked internally way past their intended bias or some such-the factory tech did us no favors trying to double the wattage of the line transistors. Would overheat, then failsafe mode.
For a while I played with an external fan, the kind you use to cool your room- bandmates laughed at me eventually I simply bought an Ampeg.
Mesa Boogie buster blew out a preamp tube on me at a gig about 8 years ago.
I never show up at a gig now without a backup head! With these microheads weighing less than 4 lbs its a no brainer.

coreyfyfe · #16 12-17-2010, 09:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by christw

Coreyfyfe, you trust people enough to leave gear in a shared practice space? I started guarding my gear when my brother and his friends started using my Marshall DSL, vintage Ampeg cab, and Kustom Groove Bass head/410 in our garage. I spent all of my money putting together these stacks when I was 16/17 and I hated them using them without asking (and finding the masters WAY up!) The using without asking and blatant denial of use until I locked up my amps set me over the edge.

over the course of 4 or 5 years we shared the space I never had any issues other than the power switch. Usually if people needed to use my amp I'd get a phone call or message online a day or two in advance (sometimes day of in emergency situations), and I did the same. The space was shared (until the last few months of so) with good friends, so it wasn't really a problem. Near the end when the two bands had both split and become like 4 or 5 separate projects it got a little hair with all kinds of equipment in there and moving around but it wasn't really that big of a deal. I think if I was in your situation, where it was your brother and his friends just coming over to beat on your **** because they didn't have (or didn't want to use) their own then I'd be a little more irritated.

Bassman8416 · #17 01-01-2011, 11:46 AM

Blew 2 fuses last night at a gig(New years eve), the current and the back up...8A 125V fuses...to find replacements on a holiday not looking good, plus I fear it might be something worse because I blew the replacement, the power situation at the gig was a cluster &%$@, so hopefully tomorrow or Monday I can start with the fuses and take it from there. oh yeah its a Markbass LMII 2 1/2 years old.

christw · #18 01-01-2011, 12:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bassman8416

Blew 2 fuses last night at a gig(New years eve), the current and the back up...8A 125V fuses...to find replacements on a holiday not looking good, plus I fear it might be something worse because I blew the replacement, the power situation at the gig was a cluster &%$@, so hopefully tomorrow or Monday I can start with the fuses and take it from there. oh yeah its a Markbass LMII 2 1/2 years old.

Ouch! Let's hope it's something minor. My issue turned out to be the old power cable separating. Randy dropped in a new 3 prong cable and checked the bias for the new EL84's while he was at it. It's still kickin' and I'm not sure I want to let go of my "poor man's (super middy) B15" now.