• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

EA iAmp 800 Problem

C

Cavem

Sep 13, 2006
23
0
Wellington, New Zealand
#1
Hi Guys
I have recently got an iAmp 800 with 2 NL210's + an MTD 635. I'm having problems with an underlying sound, a mixture between a buzz & fizz that can be clearly heard on the lower strings. It definitely isn't the bass or instrument / speaker cables as I have troubleshooted through all that. The souund decays or fizzes out before the bass note - sounds almost electrical.
Im strill trying to figure out if it's the cabs or amp but lack the resources to do so.
Has anyone here encountered something like this? Just to ualify this gear was shipped from the US to New Zealand so I had to change the voltage switch, fuse & plug on the power cable.
Any help would be appreciated. :help:
Thanks
 
#2
Do you hear it from the amp with headphones only? Or out of the DI? Is it on both cabs or just one? I'm asking because I replaced a pair of speakers once that I thought were blown and the crimp on was loose and buzzing and decaying with the note so it sounded electrical. Also check to see if the speaker leads are touching the cone/s.
Peace.
 
#3
Thanks for that chadds! I'm pretty certian it's the iAmp as the noise occurs through both speakers. Unfortunately I don't have another amp to test that theory. It's all new gear too.

Anyone else have any ideas? One suggesstion was that it was the power amp stage of the amp.
Has anyone got ideas on what to test?

The noise occurs at high & low volumes with the input vol up / output vol down & vice versa. However it doesn't appear to occur when I plug into the effects series return with that volume cranked up....

Any thoughts?
Thanks
Matt
 
#4
Hey Bro'

If you are using an active bass make sure your bass's preamp is working properly - because the iamp is so accurate in reproducing any problems which may be occuring in the signal chain. I had a similar problem with a fuzzy, buzzy type of sound coming through my same setup as yours mainly on the low notes as well, and turned out to be the preamp in my bass playing up. Got it rectified and no more fuzzy, buzzy sounds. Simple!
 
#6
I hope this is not the case, but my guess is that one or more of the drivers in your two NL's had their voice coils damaged in shipping. This has happened to others with those particular cabs, and they seem quite fragile.

However, before we jump to conclusions, you really need to isolate the problem. I assume you have a buddy who plays bass. Have him or her bring their bass, head and a cab, and start mixing and matching to isolate the issue.

Good luck.
 
#9
That's great guys, thanks for the help. I got the iAmp through Glenn at ABT whose working through it all with me. I have changed the batteries in the 635, I know it's not the bass as the problem occurs also with my cheap $200 bass, plus used the bass through another rig & no problems.
I haven't tried the headphones so will do that. Unfortunately the other rig I have access to doesn't have speakon connections (it's pretty old) so that counts it out re the Iamp.
Plugging into the series return input & cranking that level plus the output gain up didn't produce the sound...Does that imply anything obvious to anyone?
Thanks
Matt
 
#10
Cavem said:
However last night I tried working with the gains and the noise occured with input gain down & output gain up as well as the other way around. However plugging into the series return input & cranking that level plus the output gain up didn't produce the sound...Does that imply anything obvious to anyone?
Click to expand...

Have you tried plugging a cable straight between your effects send and the series return? What exactly did you plug into the series input?

Is your amp one with a parallel loop as well? If so, how does it behave in that mode? Your results so far imply that it's probably not the power amp section.
 
#12
Hi Guys
I finally managed to get hold of some other gear to better test my rig. It appears that it's the cabs. One cab is worse than the other. The amp is fine when using the headphones output, DI & when plugging the bass into the effects series return input. Also I couldn't recreate the sound through 2 other cabs (although they were old 15" speakers) However when using an old tube amp with the NL210 I still got the distorted sound which when you crank up the amp sounds like a flabby, rattle.
Not sure what the next step is - I'm waiting for a response from EA through Glenn at ABT. Any thoughts? Steve Clark - as a retailer of EA have you come across this before - Ken mentioned the coils being damaged in shipping. These cabs were shipped from Austin Texas all the way to Singapore then to NZ (probably went through 6 airports & multiple handling).
Thanks
Matt
 
#13
KJung said:
I hope this is not the case, but my guess is that one or more of the drivers in your two NL's had their voice coils damaged in shipping. This has happened to others with those particular cabs, and they seem quite fragile.

However, before we jump to conclusions, you really need to isolate the problem. I assume you have a buddy who plays bass. Have him or her bring their bass, head and a cab, and start mixing and matching to isolate the issue.

Good luck.
Click to expand...

This happened to me when I got my NL-210 (off TB). Seller is a stand up guy, cab worked fine when it left but when I opened the box and hooked it up...fuzz tone. EA's customer service was awesome and fixed the cab quickly.
 
#16
Which version of NL210s do you have ? The older spray on finish, or the newer version with the tuff tolex finish & plastic corners.
I know the older ones seemed a little more timid, however these newer ones which I have 2 off are definitely more rugged and I have never had a problem with them.
Whatever the problem I'm sure the people at EA will look after you.
BC.
 
#17
Cavem said:
I'm interested to know if anyone else has had issues with these cabs when shipped? Am I just extremely unlucky to have 2 cabs that appear faulty or have any others had issues with these before?
Interested in any feedback here...
Thanks:hmm:
Click to expand...

Recieved an NL-210 to match with my CxL-112. It had recieved a big drop. The cab was dented toward the back and across the grill bending the grill. It sounded like poo. Normally I would expect it to sound great and look bad. I returned it and got another CxL-112. The pairing for me is great. Anyway this was the old spray on finish. From my experience from old Fender Bassmans up through the present I have never seen a speaker damaged from impact during shipping. Not cool. You are not extremely unlucky. I think those drivers are particularly sensitive to jarring. My 1st CxL112 also sounded like poo. A kind of out of phase subtle warbling. Actually a more subtle version of how bad the NL sounded. I thought, "is this the great sound that I've heard about?" Sent it back it's replacement was and still is fine. Of course both were taken care of immediately. I hope this doesn't turn into a flame EA thread. They have some known issues. Yet to me they are one of the few at the front in innovation. They seem to being let down by their suppliers. Which is ultimately their responsibility.
The EA sound is excellent. Reliablility has been too since then.
 
#18
I have the new NL210's. I'm definitely not looking to flame any one. Who knows what happens behind the scenes when stuff gets shipped, especially through 6 airports. Seems odd both cabs were damaged - I just hope I have my diagnosis correct!
John from EA is shipping 2 complete sets of replacement woofers to me - hopefully this will be the fix...
 
#19
Years back I had a CXL 210 and it was slightly dropped off of my dolly towards the speaker.Because of the weight of the magnet I didn't know til I used it again that the Dust cover had pulled away from the paper.I had bought a new speaker to replace it but found out I was able to reglue it and it sounded as good as new.It was distorting also but this took care of it.You may want to check and see if your cab may have been dropped and this happened also?
 
#20
Cavem said:
Hi Guys
I finally managed to get hold of some other gear to better test my rig. It appears that it's the cabs. One cab is worse than the other. The amp is fine when using the headphones output, DI & when plugging the bass into the effects series return input. Also I couldn't recreate the sound through 2 other cabs (although they were old 15" speakers) However when using an old tube amp with the NL210 I still got the distorted sound which when you crank up the amp sounds like a flabby, rattle.
Not sure what the next step is - I'm waiting for a response from EA through Glenn at ABT. Any thoughts? Steve Clark - as a retailer of EA have you come across this before - Ken mentioned the coils being damaged in shipping. These cabs were shipped from Austin Texas all the way to Singapore then to NZ (probably went through 6 airports & multiple handling).
Thanks
Matt
Click to expand...

I think you should do a little more testing before you decide it's definitely the cabs, based on what you've said here. It could still be the back end of the amp.

The old 15in cabs you tried, I assume they don't have tweeters? That could be all it takes to render the distortion inaudible (if it is actually the amp). What do the nl210's sound like if you turn the tweeters off, is the fuzz still there?

An old tube amp thru a hifi cab could well sound distorted and flabby, I really wouldn't put much faith in those results. Do you have a friendly local shop that you could take the amp to and try some other quality cabs with it to be sure?
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back