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Ampeg B100R: Worth the Weight?

#62
lowend1 said:
Primarily noise issues. The Radial Big Shot has an isolation transformer that helps filter out the buzz and hum nasties. It also has a phase reversal switch that actually has a cool and sometimes useful effect on the tone of the amp.
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Was the "noise issue," by any chance, a loud hum coming from one or both amps? I ask because when I first set up my B100R and B50R, sending half of a split signal into each, I had that problem. A little research revealed that it was caused by a "ground loop," which evidently is not uncommon when two amps are connected to each other (either directly or via whatever pedal or box you're using to split the signal). In my case I was using a Sansamp BDDI (separate from my pedalboard) to split the signal, and I quickly discovered that I only had the problem when the Sansamp was plugged in; when I unplugged it and ran it on battery power, the hum disappeared. I'm sure there are other ways to solve the problem, but that was the quickest and easiest thing that worked for me.
 
#64
By the way, I have a question about the LEDs. I think I remember the ones on the left lighting up when I first got the amp, but no matter what I do now, they don't come on. Last week the blue power LED stopped working. Otherwise it works fine. Am I facing an electrical issue that's going to cause more problems?
 
#65
snoopcat said:
By the way, I have a question about the LEDs. I think I remember the ones on the left lighting up when I first got the amp, but no matter what I do now, they don't come on. Last week the blue power LED stopped working. Otherwise it works fine. Am I facing an electrical issue that's going to cause more problems?
Click to expand...

If the amp is otherwise working normally, your problem is what is technically referred to as a "burned-out bulb." Evidently this has been a very common issue with this amp from the get-go, even with relatively new ones. (Fortunately, it seems to be the only common QC problem with this model.) It turns out that the blue power light isn't an LED, but rather a regular bulb, and it appears that some batches might have been shipped with bad bulbs (i.e., wrong specs).

You can get a replacement part, but it doesn't look like the job is quite as easy as replacing a bulb in the lamp in your living room. Here are a couple of TB threads about it:

http://www.talkbass.com/threads/put-an-led-in-my-b100r.1056991/

http://www.talkbass.com/threads/ampeg-b100r-2005-power-light-bulb-out-a-diy-repair.533328/

Google something like "B100R burned out bulb" and you'll find a bunch of other relevant discussions both here and on other forums.

Personally, I think I'd just ignore it. The blue light is pretty and all, but you probably don't really need it to know if the amp is powered on or not.
 

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