Combo care.

[Blapto]

I've just got a Peavey Databass, and it sounds great! Well, I was running through a guitar amp until now so anything would.

Anyway, as a total newbie, is there anything I should know that is or isn't obvious? Is there some obscure maintenance I should be doing on this thing? Is it best to turn it off and on than leave it running if I'm just going away for a minute? How about for an hour?

Thanks in advance.

 

[62bass]

The Databass is a loud little combo. I used one several times.

There are no special maintenance procedures unique to a combo amp that I'm aware of. The Databass is a solid state amp. It doesn't matter if you leave it on or not during breaks, although the real audio geeks will disagree. There may be some sonic advantage to having the amp properly warmed up, but you won't hear it playing bass through a Databass.

As long as the amp doesn't overheat (and there's no reason why it should) you will be fine.

 

[fdeck]

No advantage to warming up. I would say turn it off, in case something happens by accident that could damage a speaker, like a cord getting pulled out of something.

 

[Blapto]

There are no special maintenance procedures unique to a combo amp that I'm aware of.

Is there any maintenance that you have to do to any cabinet or amp?

I read somewhere something about rotating the speaker so it doesn't rest all its weight on one set of bearings/one part of the voice coil. Kind of makes sense, but any truth to that?

 

[62bass]

I used to do it with heavy coned 15s, just to be safe. i don't know how useful that was. I only did it because I read it somewhere and the idea sort of made sense.

 

[fdeck]

Is there any maintenance that you have to do to any cabinet or amp?

I read somewhere something about rotating the speaker so it doesn't rest all its weight on one set of bearings/one part of the voice coil. Kind of makes sense, but any truth to that?

It would seem that since your amp spends most of its life doing nothing, you would only need to store the amp in a different position each time. But I don't even know if it's necessary.

Based on my repair experience, I suggest one preventive maintenance tip for all gear: Careful inspection once in a while. Look for any signs of deterioration or damage, especially loose screws, jacks, knobs, etc. You have to keep that stuff tight before the wiggling of cords results in circuit board damage or worse. Likewise, check out your cords and other small items.