David Eden WT800 Cuts Off / Over Heat Solution

[guestOU812]

I have a wonderful Eden WT800 Model A. I bought it on Reverb.com. The sound of this thing is incredible!! It's my 3rd Eden head. My first was a 400WT, the second is 260WT and I recently got the 800. All three are the best sounding bass amps I've heard. Anyway, this past summer my 800WT kept crapping out. I would be playing away with the band feeling all bad ass when suddenly Err! Click! Pop...silence. Both limit lights and DC light would freeze on. If I hit on the side (somewhat gently) it would come back for a second but essentially it was dead in the water. From a cold start the head would operate fine for about a half hour and then kaput.

I read online there were issues with the fan. It said to reverse the fan by simply flipping it around. I also read Eden placed ceramic resistors on the top most front PCB board where the volume and EQ attenuators are located tend to overheat the board and the solder connections become loos. Both articles made sense. So I committed to getting my lovely sounding head working reliably.

First I removed the giant donut shaped transformer by loosening the locknut. This gave me room to get my hands into the fan area. Flipping the fan was easy, just 4 bolts and a simple turnaround.

The second modification; resistor removal and replacement, wasn't as easy. This required removing all the knobs and molex connectors. Once the board was completely out of the chassis I desoldered the 4 ceramic resistors marked 5W390ΩJ towards the back right side of the board. Next I inspected all of the solder joints. I found a few joints that appeared to be compromised and desoldered them. Upon removing the ceramic resistors I could plainly see burn marks on the PCB from the extensive heat (you can see this in the photo).

I ordered from Mouser Ohmite Wirewound Resistors - Chassis Mount 15W 390 Ohms 5%. Mouser part number 284-HS15390RJ Mfr Part # HS15 390R J.

From the former holes I soldered basic lead wires (the green wires in the photo) apx 4 Inches long. Mounted the new resistors to the chassis and hooked up the resistors to the green lead wire.

I ran the Eden head during the hottest month in a studio without windows and crappy AC without a problem. It's now been 5 months since this mod and my Eden WT800 has been running flawlessly.

Do it if you can or if you'd like send it to me and I would be thrilled to do this mod for you.

While this flaw is awful I find the sound of these amps to be amazing.

 

[Donalgass]

djp420, thanks for the info but I don’t have that ability and you are to far from me to ship to you. Mine died yesterday (smells fried) and maybe more serious. Noticed fan running more often and within minutes no sound. The power switch was still lit up but porch light emblem was off and very hot to touch top of housing on left front. Hope it’s not a total loss. Don’t even want to play anymore without it. Nothing I’ve tried sounds as good. Any info or advice from you, or anyone else would be greatly appreciated.

 

[guestOU812]

Donalgass,
Sorry to hear this. Where are you? Maybe there’s a local tech. It may be worth it to get another second hand WT800 via eBay or Reverb if the labor costs are too high.
Did it just fizzle out or was it a series of failures?
On the flip side it is a chance to get your feet wet and DIY. Work slow and place your parts in individual containers and mark then based on section where your parts came from. Being able to repair my own gear is not just a good way to save money it’s fun and liberating.

 

[Donalgass]

djp420,
Thanks for the return comment. I had it looked at at a music store with a tech about a month ago for some pot noise and volume level seemed a little low. After a good cleaning he determined a tube needed replacing. Carried it home, all’s good sounds great. Got 2 rehearsals, 1 gig, and was charting some new songs playing along with the videos getting ready for a rehearsal session later that night when it went down. I contacted the tech that worked on it and gonna carry it back to him. If the problem is something that he worked on it’ll be covered under shop warranty.
By the way, I’m way down in MISSISSIPPI. I would be afraid to even try to work on myself. I don’t know one part from another inside it. I get double vision just looking all the wires and things!!! LOL

 

[Donalgass]

djp420,
I have been looking for another. Found one that looks fairly well and supposed to be a good amp, but it’s an older model than mine. Mine is an 07 and this one is a 98. Not sure I want an almost 10 year older amp. That’s lots more wear and tear, but then again it’s supposed to work great and mine doesn’t. Feeling very undecided right now. Guess I’ll wait and see what the tech says and go from there. I don’t make my living with it, so guess I need to be patient and keep borrowing my sons Mark Bass.

 

[guestOU812]

djp420,
Thanks for the return comment. I had it looked at at a music store with a tech about a month ago for some pot noise and volume level seemed a little low. After a good cleaning he determined a tube needed replacing. Carried it home, all’s good sounds great. Got 2 rehearsals, 1 gig, and was charting some new songs playing along with the videos getting ready for a rehearsal session later that night when it went down. I contacted the tech that worked on it and gonna carry it back to him. If the problem is something that he worked on it’ll be covered under shop warranty.
By the way, I’m way down in MISSISSIPPI. I would be afraid to even try to work on myself. I don’t know one part from another inside it. I get double vision just looking all the wires and things!!! LOL

So it just went foof and turned off? Or were the lights still on?
What seems to be a common thread with out beloved Eden Amps is the ceramic resistors on the PCB board where the controls are (volume, eq and so on), heat up enough and melt the solder joints of the adjacent components.
Since I flipped the fan and replaced the ceramic resistors my amps been fine. Since the time I wrote this post I’ve gotten a 100 hours of play time on it.

 

[murphy]

So it just went foof and turned off? Or were the lights still on?
What seems to be a common thread with out beloved Eden Amps is the ceramic resistors on the PCB board where the controls are (volume, eq and so on), heat up enough and melt the solder joints of the adjacent components.
Since I flipped the fan and replaced the ceramic resistors my amps been fine. Since the time I wrote this post I’ve gotten a 100 hours of play time on it.

I am very impressed .....makes me wish I still had mine....96 version I think.....but got sold on Markbass in the 2000s and lighter and louder at the time...and no funky banana hookups.....Plus mine cut out on gigs a couple of times...Grrr

 

[Donalgass]

The light on the power switch was on but the lighted Eden emblem (porch light) was off and no sound. It also smelled like wires burnt.

 

[killerbee]

Hey guys I've been following this thread and was wondering if the Metro has this same issue with the ceramic resistors. When I power it up every led on front panel lights up with no sound. Any info will be appreciated. Also if powered up 10 or 15 times I may get lucky to have solid state side play normally.

 

[guestOU812]

Hey guys I've been following this thread and was wondering if the Metro has this same issue with the ceramic resistors. When I power it up every led on front panel lights up with no sound. Any info will be appreciated. Also if powered up 10 or 15 times I may get lucky to have solid state side play normally.

Your trouble sounds like bad solder points caused by overheating. I would open it up and have a look. If you give it a small whack on the side it does something that’s an indicator that the components are loose. Be gentle.

 

[guestOU812]

Hey guys I've been following this thread and was wondering if the Metro has this same issue with the ceramic resistors. When I power it up every led on front panel lights up with no sound. Any info will be appreciated. Also if powered up 10 or 15 times I may get lucky to have solid state side play normally.

I can’t be certain if the metro has the same components but if you were to pop open the top and look for similar resistors whicj I photographed it’s a good bet your having the same problem I had.

 

[guestOU812]

The light on the power switch was on but the lighted Eden emblem (porch light) was off and no sound. It also smelled like wires burnt.

Your trouble sounds like bad solder points caused by overheating. I would open it up and have a look. If you give it a small whack on the side it does something that’s an indicator that the components are loose. Be gentle.

The light on the power switch was on but the lighted Eden emblem (porch light) was off and no sound. It also smelled like wires burnt.

Could you carefully open it up and look for the ceramic resistors. They should look like the ones in the photograph I took

 

[Donalgass]

djp420, first chance I’ve had to get back on.
I’ve already carried it to the shop where it was worked on last. Hopefully it will be covered under shop warranty. I did check it before I left with it and the power switch light comes on but still nothing. If they can’t fix it or it’s too expensive, I may have to work something out and ship it to you and let you look at it. I sure hate to loose it.

 

[killerbee]

I can’t be certain if the metro has the same components but if you were to pop open the top and look for similar resistors whicj I photographed it’s a good bet your having the same problem I had.

djp420 thanks for the info.
I have those same resistors and they appear to be burnt.
This will get me started on some repair work because I love the sound this amp produces.

 

[guestOU812]

djp420 thanks for the info.
I have those same resistors and they appear to be burnt.
This will get me started on some repair work because I love the sound this amp produces.

Awesome!! So glad I could help. You may want to reverse the fan while you're in there. Keep me posted on your progress.

 

[guestOU812]

djp420, first chance I’ve had to get back on.
I’ve already carried it to the shop where it was worked on last. Hopefully it will be covered under shop warranty. I did check it before I left with it and the power switch light comes on but still nothing. If they can’t fix it or it’s too expensive, I may have to work something out and ship it to you and let you look at it. I sure hate to loose it.

Keep me posted. I'm happy to help.

 

[oldejack]

this thread is exactly what I need atm, thank you. I'm having this issue with a recently acquired 2000 Traveller Plus which gets tired fast running at 4ohms. Is it safe or unsafe to assume that the resistors in question would be the same for my amp?
TIA

 

[Boomtrain36]

Hello everyone. I'm glad I found this thread as I needed it. I know I'm resurrecting an old forum. I recently was given a WT800c built in 1996. I had never
heard an Eden until this and I love the way it sounds! I had do do this same mod and it turned out great. The only other repair done by me was to replace the crossover potentiometer as it was snapped off when I got it. I used thermal glue to attach the resistors to the bottom case. I flipped the fan around so the sticker on it is seen through the grill on the back. I was able to find parts on eBay, the crossover potentiometer, and from a seller on Reverb, the one from Israel, for the control knobs. I did have to take it to a shop as the right amp as shown in the photos blew a resistor and i felt it was better for a trained tech to check it out in case there was something else wrong. I am very certain the resistor mod didn't cause the right amp to blow.
Thank you to the OP for this as it was truly a great find!