Strange Terror Bass Problem

rhopper · #1 03-26-2011, 10:26 PM

My Orange Terror Bass 500 has been great for the last nine months but today it seems that it lost about 80 percent of it's volume after turning it on for the second time today. Even with the gain and volume at 12 I still have to open up the volume on my p bass to get a sound out. Could this be a preamp tube failure? I have not touched the ohms switch, active/passive switch and the outlet is giving a steady 120. Any help would be much appreciated.

Thank you

RickenBoogie · #2 03-27-2011, 08:25 AM

Possibly just dirty contacts in the effects loop. Try using a jumper between send/return.

rhopper · #3 03-27-2011, 04:12 PM

Just in case anybody cares, I replaced the original tubes with some Chinese Groove Tubes and all is well again. Turned out that one of the tubes completely failed.

JB36 · #4 03-27-2011, 05:31 PM

What did you use and did it change the tone?

rhopper · #5 03-27-2011, 06:51 PM

I used the Chinese Groove Tube Gold Series and I really have not noticed a difference from the stock tubes. This is great as I like the stock tone as is.

JjjonnyY · #6 03-31-2011, 11:13 AM

Hey I just got my first pre tube amp aka the tb 500. I was wondering how you go about replacing the tubes and how did you know what tubes will work and so forth? I'm not planning on replacing them anytime soon but I think i should find out before I have to do so.

Thanks Jon

BassmanPaul · #7 03-31-2011, 12:40 PM

In normal use pre-amp tubes will last for decades. Most of us will hear little or no difference between brands and certainly no audience members ever will.

That said, in the case of my own designed tube pre-amp, when I replaced the Sovteks I installed when I built it with JJs liked it better. I honestly can't tell you why but I was happier.