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WT-800 torqued over Peavey VB-2

Munjibunga

Munjibunga

Total Hyper-Elite Member
May 6, 2000
37,499
14,776
San Diego (when not at Groom Lake)
#1
So I got home with my new VB-2 and set it on top of my WT-800B in my practice room so I could try it out. After playing the VB-2 through a D210XST for a while, I decided to plug in the WT-800 to compare tones. I set the WT-800 to bridged mono (before turning it on) and fired it up. The sound was awful, like it was trying to sound like a tube amp with heavy distortion. I tried it in stereo and bi-amp with the same results. It even sounded like that in the headphones.

So I thought maybe the preamp tube was kaput. I tried three different ones with the same result ... sucky distorted tone. I used all the proper connections, did all switching with the amp off, as always, and turned the balance knob all the way to the left in bridged mode.

So the WT-800 is getting revenge for my bringing in an all-tube amp (Peavey, no less) and setting it on top of the rack case. Now it has to go to the shop, which totally blows. This is the first issue I've ever had with Eden in over 10 years with three amps. I'll give Eden a call on Monday, but I'm not optimistic.

Am I missing anything? Bob?

Picture of the crime in question:

attachment.jpg
 
#2
Your Eden is obviously suffering a textbook case of powertube envy and its now simply to embarrassed to ever perform again.

Did you try patching a cord across your Edens fx loop jacks?
(It'd be nice if it was just dirty switching contacts in the return jack...)

You could also use the Edens fx loop to substitute other pre's/poweramps to confirm if its a front end or power section issue.
 
#9
Did you try the wt800 in dual mono mode to see if both the channels are operating?

If you are going to call Eden make sure you talk with Stacy Puckett or Tim McCarthy ONLY!!!
Don't waste your time dealing with anyone else in there service dept, these are the two that will get things done for you.

If they don't send me a PM.
 
#15
Vinny D said:
Did you try the wt800 in dual mono mode to see if both the channels are operating?

If you are going to call Eden make sure you talk with Stacy Puckett or Tim McCarthy ONLY!!!
Don't waste your time dealing with anyone else in there service dept, these are the two that will get things done for you.

If they don't send me a PM.
Click to expand...

Thanks Vinny. I think I've narrrowed it down to the right channel power amp. I took the effects send and ran it to the input of the VB-2 (another sinful thing, I'm sure), and both channels sounded fine. In stereo, the Eden sounds fine through the left side, but the right side blows. I also cleaned all jacks, including the effects sends and returns, and shorted the sends to the returns, and it still has the distortion. The closest Eden service shop is about two blocks from my company's Burbank office, so I may have to find an excuse to go up and visit them.
 
#16
Welcome to the dark side. The place where love is lost.

I hope you're good with schematics and a soldering iron.

After several trips with a WT-400 to a "service center" I still had a nasty intermittent. As much as I wanted to hand them their heads on a platter, I remained cool. Finally got motivated to fix it myself. It is now repaired, but I ended up buying alternate equipment to get me through the summer gigging season. It was an expensive lesson. Fortunately, there isn't anything too complex in them. I hope things go better for you.

I'm still pretty torqued.

Spurned in Madison.
 
#19
Interceptor said:
Welcome to the dark side. The place where love is lost.

I hope you're good with schematics and a soldering iron.

After several trips with a WT-400 to a "service center" I still had a nasty intermittent. As much as I wanted to hand them their heads on a platter, I remained cool. Finally got motivated to fix it myself. It is now repaired, but I ended up buying alternate equipment to get me through the summer gigging season. It was an expensive lesson. Fortunately, there isn't anything too complex in them. I hope things go better for you.

I'm still pretty torqued.

Spurned in Madison.
Click to expand...

Well, this won't turn me against Eden. All manufacturers have occasional problems. I used to teach electronics but, without a schematic and manual to tell me what should be at the test points, all I can do is look for opens or bad solder joints. I've had it apart and looked for burnt resistors and any indication of poor connections. I re-seated the wires going into every one of those funky multi-pin connectors. I cleaned the connectors for both outputs. That's about as much troubleshooting as I could do without documentation.

How did you manage to track down the cause of your intermittent? Intermittents are some of the toughest things to fix because you'll often get the "could not duplicate fault" from the shop.

As far as alternate equipment, it won't hurt me to be without the Eden for however long it takes. I have plenty of "back-ups" (see profile).
 
#20
Chef said:
btw: whadyathink of the VB2?
Click to expand...

Well, I'm kind of surprised that it has the tonal diversity it does. The clean channel goes from a really nice growl to a very creamy, full sound with lots of bottom. Others seem to complain about the dirty channel, but I can get some useable crunch to distortion by fiddling with the EQ a bit. You need to keep the Presence and Treble turned down a bit. I don't use that sort of tone much anyway, though, so I don't consider myself a connisseur of crunch.

I've only tried a few basses with it (RB5, fretless 55-94 and JO5) and they all sound good through it. It seems to like the passive RB5 a lot.
 

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