Help please. GK Goldline 500 sound loss.

[Doc Ellis]

I experienced a massive drop in volume last night at practice. Freaking me out since we have a gig Friday night.

Here is my current set up. SR506/GK goldline 500/blx 4x10 and 1x15.

Usually have no issues with volume and such, but it dropped way down to the point of not being heard over guitarist, and seemed to get a bit better after unplugging the effects loop. Just a tuner and fuzz on wall power in the loop, BTW. I have a new battery in the bass, strings could be changed I guess, a few months old, but something else seems to be going on here. Thought it sounded "off" the last practice as well, but just chalked it up to one of "those practices".

Anybody have any ideas as to what could be happening? Maybe battery terminal/wiring in bass? Head issue?

I would appreciate any thoughts, suggestions, to aid in my troubleshooting... thanks in advance, everyone.

[chokeslam512]

Well, change one variable at a time. I would first try a different bass through it with everything the same as when it crapped out, then a different instrument cable, then unplug the effects loop, then check speaker cables, then try the head through other cabs, try another head with you cabs etc.

Identify the root cause and eliminate it.

[jelwood]

Dear Doc,

I experienced a similar problem as yours with my GK Goldline 500. The volume would drop significantly and seem to come back at random times, however, I discovered it was a problem with my connection-particularly, my instrument cable. A volume drop would indicate to anyone, IMHO, that there's either a decrease in signal reaching the amp or a decrease in signal reaching the speakers, which in the easiest case means a bad connection or cable somewhere. Of course, that's just a first guess. There are lots of other, more complicated things that could happen, but knowing GK, lets go ahead and assume its your connection. Have you tried wiggling your cable around to see if that makes a difference? Perhaps something might have shorted in your guitar (this would also cause some crackling noises)? The goldline series is indeed made in China, but from what I've read, Mr. Gallien has put in a lot of effort to oversee that all his products coming from China are in fact genuine GK products, made with his exact specifications and designated parts.
I would try cleaning out your connection ports with a dry, lint free cloth. Go ahead and give the ends of your cables a good cleaning too. Make sure the power supply you're plugged in to isn't something of ancient origin.
If all of these don't help, I would try different instrument and speaker cables altogether, and if you're still having issues, contact brian@gallien.com - He is THE man to go to when you have a GK issue, as many of us faithful GK users know.