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Aggie TH500.. fried XLR/DI out??

bassmaverick86

bassmaverick86

Guest
Oct 10, 2011
43
2
St. Louis, MO
#1
Hey all looking for some expert feedback!

I recently went to a buddies house to help him feel out the room of his new studio. I brought my TH500 and plugged into his audio interface as i often do in my own studio...

Had I anticipated anything going wrong I maybe would have paid more attention but the next thing I know, I hear a pop and can literally see a bit of smoke from the jack on my amp (due to the awesomely bright blue led's).

From then all he got into his board was a tonne of static and back at my own studio, I get no signal from the XLR out.

I use the XLR out anytime there's a house mix to be played out of, or in studio sessions and never had this issue.. any clue as to what I did wrong and if it is fixable?

I just need to know if I need my own DI box now, or if it's something I could get replaced, I love the conenvience of the XLR out and I'd like it to be functional.. if not only to maintain trade-in value...

Any help would be much appreciated!!:bassist:
 
#3
I wonder if the problem was an electrical grounding issue. For example, if the amp and audio interface were in different power outlets.

If one of the outlets is completely wired wrong, then it's possible each chassis was at a different voltage. You could have ended up with the full mains voltage (120v) between the two units. Worse yet, if that were the case, you could have been electrocuted.

I would get a $10 plug-in outlet tester and check the outlets in his room. And, of course, you'll have to get the amp repaired. Since the TH500 is relatively new, it probably makes sense to have Aguilar do the work.
 
#5
Oh dang... all of this sounds pretty plausible. The house we were in is super old. I'll have to keep outlets in mind in the future.. ugh.. now to get my amphead repaired?!

I was looking for a reason to buy another amphead anyway =)


appreciate the insight gentlemen, thanks!
 
#8
Ah..! I can call them?? haha, sounds silly but I'm new to higher end gear and my stuff usually doesn't have issues.. customer support, what a novel idea. I will do that...

in the meanwhile... I'm having fun scouting out a GB shuttle 6.2 hehe =)

thanks everyone for all the help!
 
#9
bassmaverick86 said:
Ah..! I can call them?? haha, sounds silly but I'm new to higher end gear and my stuff usually doesn't have issues.. customer support, what a novel idea. I will do that...

in the meanwhile... I'm having fun scouting out a GB shuttle 6.2 hehe =)

thanks everyone for all the help!
Click to expand...

Great company, and great service and support. Yes, call them up and you will most likely get either the owner or general manager (one of the ''Dave's'') on the phone. Very rare to hear about a problem with these. Might just be a simple failed capacitor or something like that (it sounds like the rest of the amp works fine). The DI is definitely phantom power safe, so either it was a 'random failure' (happens sometime), or else your buddy's board/interface put something VERY nasty into the amp, which is unlikely.

Good luck. And, the Shuttle 6.2 is a very nice head also... quite different sounding from the TH500... brighter and tighter.

Good luck. Let us know where you come out.
 
#10
quick follow up... I called Aggie HQ yesterday and spoke with Marco, he was great. I just locked down another amp to use while she's being looked at, when that comes in.. (hopefully this weekend) I'll ship the TH500 to them.

KJung - I've been stalking your youtube and TB posts on these amp reviews, appreciate all the feedback and info!!

More updates as they come, expect the amp to be out early next week 2-3 week turnaround time!
 
#11
UPDATE:

I've sent my amphead up to Aggie HQ, dealt with Marco, sounds like a really friendly guy. They have no idea what happened but they said they parts are cheap.. labour, not so much. This is why we all love our auto mechanics right? lol

Anyway, hopefully it'll be on the way back this week, if not early next. The Shuttle 6.2 has been my replacement head. I like the tube pre-amp ok, but it's no that full SVT or SW tube sound, but I'm warming up to it.. small pun. I also like something more simple if I'm not going to have a fully modular head. I'm weird like that, gimmie all options or just few!

Aguilar was really quick to review and contact me so I definitely appreciate that!
 
#15
Conclusion..

Sorry for the delay guys, got the amp back last week, right in time for my gig and I am completely hooked back on my Aggie TH500. So bloody simple for me. Here is the official report from Marco at tech support:

"I spoke to our tech about your amp’s DI – the TH 500 can handle a DI signal with 48V phantom power.



In fact, there are protection circuits for this. However, some DI signal out of those lines was plugged in – the protection circuits were all friend, so some high voltage signal went into that DI.



I hope this helps.



Kind regards,

--Marco "

So.. i'll keep a better eye out for old outlets in old houses next time...
Either way, the company was very responsive. Lesson.. semi-learned! Appreciate all the feedback from you all!
 

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