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Amps you have blown up?

#42
I bought a used GK 800RB back in the early 90s, and used it extensively through a Peavey 1810 cabinet (18" Black Widow and 2- 10" Scorpion speakers). One night, the amp quit in the middle of a song, with the accompanying burnt electronics smell. Turns out, The 18" Black Widow speaker just locked up and froze. What blew in the amp was the power transformer. Had it repaired, and continued using it until one night when it quit again. Sent it off to have it repaired again, and the repairman told me that over the years, some poor repairs were done with non-standard parts, so with my permission, he rebuilt it to original factory specs, with correct parts, etc. Cost me more than I originally paid for the amp, but now it sings like a bird, never sounded better! I use it as my backup amp to my MarkBass LM800 Tube, and also as the main amp for my side project band.
 
#43
Half an hour before we were supposed to start our last gig I flipped the power switch on my Hartke 3500 for a sound check and got some really distorted sounds and really low volume. I had used it for years without incident. This is an old 3500, a MOSFET version, btw. Reconfigured the PA so I could use my Fender monitor amp as a power amp for bass. Luckily I had my Alembic pre in the rack. Got everything ready set go with only minutes to spare. Sounded awesome, thanks mostly to the Alembic. The next day I tore into the Hartke and discovered that someone in it's past had replaced a driver transistor with a really light duty unit and it had failed. I'm surprised it lasted as long as it did. Replaced the driver transitor with a proper one (I had it "in stock") and all is good. Actually, it has never sounded as good as it does now. Wish it blew up a long time ago :)
This is the only amp failure I've ever had in a bass rig after many years of playing, with both tube rigs and SS amps.
 
#46
Interesting thread... I have blown up a few amps in my day, but that's a good thing as I get paid to blow things up ;)
 
#47
Well I don’t think I was the problem as in I didn’t blow up the heads but. My favorite sounding heads of all time 2 each as in all 4 had failures and I let them all go after having them serviced by Mesa. I have owned and gigged many other heads and different brands never had issues with other brands like Mesa.

2 Titans more than once had shut downs and one even let out the magical smoke. You know once an electronic piece of gear lets out the magic smoke it no longer works.

2 Carbine M9’s my all-time favorite head same thing not sure if was a limiter issue or power supply but they just shut down and I have to either wait 5 seconds and or shut off and re start.

I have been playing a long time many shows I know how to set up an amp and not “crank” everything into protection mode the problems were with the amps. I almost went into tears moving them I LOVED them when they ran as they should.
 
#48
BassmanPaul said:
in fifty years on stage I've yet to have an amp fail me. There again I never push my musical equipment, I use it all very conservatively.
Click to expand...

Interesting. I've been let down 3 times in 30 years by amps (Trace Elliot and EA were the culprits). Two of the meltdowns were in rehearsal while playing at reasonably low volume. The same amps that let me down also managed to perform flawlessly when I WAS pushing them hard. I can see the correlation between blowing speakers and pushing the volume, but amps are a bit more capricious.
 
#52
The only amp that Ive personally melted was my Marshall Plexi 100w Head (ya I was a guitard at one time)...but that was many years ago...but as a bassist..(most of my music career) We were at a music festival with multiple bands...the stage crew just took us off main stage, next band came on...surprisingly the next band was helping set up alot of their own equipment...2 mins into their set...the bassist spilt his beer into/onto his head...little smoke...No Noise!!...LOL..These guys shouldve known better...they were lucky that they had a back up line...stage hands took care of the rest...I was just off the stage watching this go on...the whole time ..the one stage hand was watching the band so they didnt put any drinks on any of the equipment.
 
#57
I had a capacitor explode in an Acoustic 126 combo. That was back when the lifetime warranty meant something, and they repaired it. Fast forward 35 years and a resistor failed. That's it. I have had other Acoustic Control equipment and when it starts to sound a little ratty, that means it's time for some new bits, but those are the only failures I have ever had in all this time.
 

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