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Amp blown!!!!!!!

yaksonator

yaksonator

Apr 16, 2011
2,440
1,915
Carthage, MO
#1
In the last month I have purchased two amps from different companies and different brands and both have blown where I play? The first one was an ampeg pf500 which took about a practice and a half to blow,the second was an Hartke lh1000 which blew within five minutes of opening the package (I have not been running them hot either just normal rehearsal/test volume) I never never overload I make everyone else adjust to me pretty much? In the mean time I have been using my beringer 120 Watt kickback amp to power my speaker's and it does fine, lasts all practice long. NEED help immediately please!?
 
#2
Sounds like something is amiss, are you running them with a surge protector? What cabs are you using them with? are they the right impedance? And what do you mean by blown? What is the symptom? check the fuses in the amps...

It's unlikely that you just got two duds. Anyway, Change the title of this thread to Hartke Blown and Larry Hartke will address the issue. Good luck with the Ampeg...
 
#4
Two amps blown in such a small amount of time makes me suspect user error... As noted above, a better description might help.

What cabinet(s) are you using? What kind of cable(s) are you using to run the amp to the speaker? Did you ensure that the speaker cable was fully inserted into the amp? Are you sure you aren't using a speaker cable with an intermittent short?
 
#5
Did these amps die on the same power circuit? At a local venue there is a "cursed" power outlet that the locals know not to use. It has claimed the lives of many an amp, though nothing else has any problem with it, including keyboards. The running guess is that it's on the same circuit as a fridge or something sending the voltage haywire.
 
#6
Ya, more detailed info please. That said, Larry will take care of you. Although, you need to check a few things before you do this again.

A. The power where you play. You can accomplish this with no more than about $12 worth of stuff, that being a little outlet tester to see hots, neutrals and grounds are as they should be and a cheap little digital multimeter to check voltage before you plug in and watch it sag as you play.

B. Your speakers. To see you're not showing your amp a short, but also to check for bad drivers, bad wiring connections, or anything else that could present the amps with a lower impedance than they want, you do know those are both 4 ohm minimum amps right?

C. Run some radios, TV's, an old fridge, etc. at your practice space, leave your meter connected to the same outlet and watch for voltage or amperage power spikes coming through.

D. Check your setups for dufus wiring mistakes like running 2 amps into one speaker, or running the output of one amp to the input of another, etc.

E. Use a cheap 15A surge protector on everything you plug in. The "joule" rating shows how big of a spike they'll stop. Higher joule ratings are better. Some of the ones made for compiters, other more sensitive equipment, etc. will stop a bigger jolt than the $5 ones, but if you really need that, there's a problem with the wiring.


It's possible you could've got 2 lemons from different places but the chances are slim. Seems like wiring stuff to me.
 
#8
Well I'm running an avatar 410 4ohm speaker cabinet, and for hooking it up I read the manual for both lol and I've been playing for about ten years with several different cab amp combinations. On the pf500 it only came with speaking outputs so that's what I used, as for the lh1000 I bridged it like most people say to do on here and in the manual. This is exactly how plugged in and used my lh. I plugged the amp into my surge protector, plugged the speaker up to it then turned it on. Then I plugged my bass up to it using my summit audio td100 (which works great btw)... then about five minutes in it surged/popped then a loud hum. I turned it off waited about ten seconds then turned it on again and no power light or power. I had been playing my pf500 for about 2 days like I said then it had similar symptoms. My speakon cable is a live wire 12 gauge speaker cable brand new.
 
#10
You seem to have the same effect on new amps that I have on women...

Two thoughts:
1. Any chance something is wrong with your cab? A couple of toasted speakers could produce excessively high or low impedance
2. I think you need a 4- pole speakon to bridge the Hartke.
 
#15
No I haven't done that yet, you would think all this stuff would work out of the box... I know I'm not plugging it in wrong, I don't get in a hurry I'm triple checking everything and even Google specifics before I buy, I guess ill have to check out some other stuff like you all have mentioned! Really stupid, the amps I didn't want in the past have worked perfectly for me, for hours at a time, for years. I just don't get it?
 
#16
Tuned said:
Did these amps die on the same power circuit? At a local venue there is a "cursed" power outlet that the locals know not to use. It has claimed the lives of many an amp, though nothing else has any problem with it, including keyboards. The running guess is that it's on the same circuit as a fridge or something sending the voltage haywire.
Click to expand...

Yes both were on the same circuit. Plugged in with my summit audio td100 and a light
 
#17
keiththebassist said:
Now that just wasn't very nice :)
Click to expand...

The whole point of this site is to educate! Nice has nothing to do with it!! :D

OP, the common denominator of your problem is the speaker cable and the speaker system. Take the speakons apart and make sure the wiring is neat and not intermittent or shorting. Just 'cos a cable is new doesn't mean it's right!

The other possibility that comes to mind is that you have a problem in your crossover. Possibly something breaking down with the application of the higher voltage from the more powerful amps. Getting an amp that suffers from infant mortality is possible. Two in a row is highly unlikely but not impossible. Both amps should be under warranty.
 

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