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Ashdown Little Bastard - Popping/Cutting Out

GrooverMcTube

GrooverMcTube

Aug 25, 2012
271
687
Salt Lake City
#1
I'm hoping one of the TB bass gurus can point me in the right direction.

I have an Ashdown Little Bastard, about 1 year old. Great little amp, except that shortly after getting it it would pop and then cut out while it was warming up. After it warmed up (~5 min), there was no problem. I e-mailed Ashdown customer service about it, but got no reply. (Can't say I'm at all impressed with their customer service at this point...)

Anyway, the cutting out has gotten progressively worse, now happening even after amp is fully warmed up. I'm not pushing the amp at all (practice volume only). I tried plugging into the effects return, but get the same popping/cutting out. Here is an excerpt from a Tom Bowlus (Bass Gear mag) review:

"One 12AX7 (ECC83) drives the series effects loop with one valve stage, and drives the passive (and interactive) tone controls with the other stage. A second 12AX7 drives the output section, and phase splitting is handled by a fully floating selfbalancing paraphrase inverter based around a 12AT7 (ECC82). The DI is taken from a balanced winding on the output transformer, and as such, it is decidedly “post EQ.”

So, based on my extremely limited knowledge about tube amps, it looks like it is pointing to one of the power tubes ( 4 x EL84)? Should I try the tapping with a wooden stick (the power tubes are fairly accessible)? Or am I completely misguided?

Thanks in advance for any help/suggestions!

EDIT: I called it an Ampeg in the title. Wishful thinking I guess.
 
#4
I Just got a new Little bastard and am having a similar problem. when I play occasionally it drops in volume a bit, then goes back to normal. I'm using the high gain input, haven't really noticed anything in the low input (mainly because I haven't used it much)
also seems to happen with the bright switch on, but not sure if that's a coincidence or not.

BassmanPaul said:
Try connecting the FX Send and Return with a signal cable. If your problem disappears the normalizing switches on the jacks have become corroded and need to be cleaned.
Click to expand...
How would one go about getting the jacks cleaned?

the low Input is also harder to plug a lead into, if that makes any difference.
it was the floor model in the store i bought it from so its probably had a bit of use
 
#5
Jacks cleaned? Spray contact cleaner into them, or take a cable and pull the plug in and out of the jack several times quickly and rotate it in the jack. Personally, I think it is likely a tube, but I always do this before I check tubes because it's cheaper ;)
 
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#6
JimmyM said:
Jacks cleaned? Spray contact cleaner into them, or take a cable and pull the plug in and out of the jack several times quickly and rotate it in the jack. Personally, I think it is likely a tube, but I always do this before I check tubes because it's cheaper ;)
Click to expand...

I did the pulling the jack in and out thing and wiggled the bright switch on and off a bit and it seems to have solved the problem, although I can't be 100% sure. it usually started doing it after about 2 minutes of playing but it was fine this time.

Thanks
 
#12
BassmanPaul said:
Daniel, how long have you owned the amp? If it's still under warranty return it and let them sort it out.
Click to expand...
I got it last week, however the store i bought it from is about a 3 hour drive away (i also don't have a car), so returning it isn't that easy. also if it is just a bad tube then I'm pretty sure the warranty doesn't cover things like that.

If I do replace the power tubes, do I need to replace all of them, or just the ones that are bad. Also would I need a matched pair or matched quad, or can I get single tubes?

I tried pluging into the return jack and it still does it, so does that mean its likely the power tubes?
 
Last edited:
#13
Ended up taking mine to an amp guy. He wrote (on the ticket) "burned cathode resistor, tested tubes: 1 pre-amp tube microphonic (moved to 2nd position)".

He said swapping the position of the 12AX7's put the microphonic tube in a place along the signal chain where it didn't need to work as hard. I took him at face value since I'm pretty clueless about such things. Seems to have cleared up the issue. I think the amp breaks up at lower volume than it used to, which is great if you like a bit of growl.
 
#14
I don't think I have seen a manufacturer that didn't cover tubes for at least 90 days. If you just paid for a new amp WHY would spend more on new tubes? With a 3 hour drive call the store about a warranty replacement unit. UPS, FedEx and USPS have "will call" tags to pick up the reboxed unit at no cost to you.
 
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#15
A burned cathode resistor on a brand new amp is very unusual. It sounds like it was a manufacturing defect. I wouldn't worry about the tube, all tubes are somewhat microphonic so putting in a position where it will push less gain is a good idea.
 

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