Amp Vs. Phone?

iplaybasstexas · #1 05-24-2009, 06:01 PM

here's my problem.

I have a Markbass SD800.

so my band had practice yesterday, in my garage. I had my 610 laid horizontal, with my SD800 and wireless on top.

At a point in the practice, i sent my phone down a little to the right of the center of the amp. My amp made an odd noise, kinda like a loud, muffled, low note and awkward. So i quickly picked my phone up. My amp is fine, but my phone has been acting really wierd. The incident happened, at about 4:30. Some of my phone's function, i.e. text msging,opening programs or files, are screwed up. But in the morning my phone worked perfectly. But then, around 4:30, it started being messed up again.

Is it just a coincidence, or did the amp do something to my phone?

i_got_a_mohawk · #2 05-24-2009, 06:04 PM

What happened was your phone was looking for signal (if it wasnt sending or recieving anything).

Always leave the phone off at band practice

.

The same will happen if you leave your phone sitting ontop of any speaker or an amplifier.

OxJohnson · #3 05-24-2009, 06:08 PM

Yup,

I had mine on my amp once at practice and got a call. It made an odd rumbling sound. Amp fine. Cab fine. Phone fine. But... I leave the phone in the car now. That was a year ago, but it scared the poop out of me at the time because no one was playing and it sounded like an 850W elephant in heat.

[EDIT] : I am voting for coincidence, but as a member of the TB community, I will take the SD800 for testing for you and give you a detailed report back.

Ox.

archer121 · #4 05-24-2009, 06:09 PM

If it keeps happening and you have a service plan that includes replacement if damaged, take the phone back to wherever you got it and you might just get a free one with an upgrade. Just tell them the phone acts weird at around 4:30 and you think something's screwed up with the software or something.

akaTRENT · #5 05-24-2009, 06:11 PM

This is normal. its the phone gettin a signal. Always leave cellular devices off around speakers.

David1234 · #6 05-24-2009, 06:11 PM

Once I had my phone too close to my laptop's power supply. I didn't have a battery installed at the time either. The phone received an SMS (and phones have to transmit an acknowledgement when they get an SMS) and the resulting transmission made a "pop" sound come from the power supply. The computer wouldn't boot for 10 minutes, but after than and apart from a lost file everything was fine.

Phones and other electronic devices can't be friends.

BassmanPaul · #7 05-25-2009, 11:56 AM

Big amps have big transformers with large magnetic fields. Those and memory modules tend not to mix very well. A friend placed his phone on a CRT type colour TV. When he switched the TV on, the degaussing coil burned his phone out.

Paul

lunarpollen · #8 05-25-2009, 12:03 PM

When you picked your phone up suddenly you may have semi-degaussed some of your phone's sensitive bits because of a magnetic field in your rig.

**B-string** · #9 05-25-2009, 01:32 PM

Shut your phone down, remove the battery for 10 minutes, reinstall and boot the phone back up. Check with your carrier for any firmware updates. Don't do that anymore.

HogieWan · #10 05-25-2009, 01:43 PM

the signal from the phone is inducing a signal into the preamp (actually all of the wires around, like an antenna) then it's getting amplified just as much as your bass. Leaving your phone in you pocket while you play can do the same thing if the signal is picked up in your bass and then amplified.

coreyfyfe · #11 05-25-2009, 01:51 PM

We get a lot of randomness like that in our practice space if people keep their phones in their pockets. It used to be me when I had my old phone, lately it's been my guitarists iphone causing the issues. Usually he gets like a morse-code sounding buzz when the phone is sending/receiving. We usually leave the phones off the stage when playing gigs to make sure something like that doesn't happen.

RickenBoogie · #12 05-25-2009, 03:42 PM

I nominate this thread for top rated title. I was willing to put 20 bucks on the amp, if it were a death match between the two. But really, not even an Iphone would stand a chance against even a Peavey Bandit, right?

**Kelly Lee** · #13 05-25-2009, 06:26 PM

This isn't a thread about amps, really, but of a phone being affected by one.

Moved to Misc.

iplaybasstexas · #14 05-25-2009, 06:42 PM

Yeah guys, my amp is fine...its my phone. It won't recieve calls or texts anymore, and doesn't open normal running programs. I have turned it off and removed battery for about 20 min, six times, and still no work. and now it doesn't work all the time :/