• 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

#21
Yeah thanks el_kabong, that was my thoughts as well. I'm going to head into my friends studio on the weekend and have him help me to isolate the problem & confirm if it is the cabs. I wasn't 100% confident on things either but finding bass players here with gear that you can use is difficult. Shops here are pretty poor on customer service too. So studio time seems the best option.
John from EA pretty much thought I'd overdriven/over-exerted the cabs & blown the woofers - hard to imagine seeing as I've been playing in my bedroom through one cab at low volumes & done one gig with thtat same cab with the amp only at half way cranked.
So I want to make sure I'm right before fingers start pointing...would have thought it would have been real hard to blow a cab like this...:confused:
 
#22
I've driven my series I nl-210 pretty durn hard. I use it as a stand alone cab with rock acts. I also previously owned an Iamp 800. I can't imagine blowing that cab with an Iamp's gain/volume on "half". Of course I've no clue how hot of a gain you were putting into the dang thing. Try and get access to another set of cabs and at least a power amp (preferably another head with an effects loop) and isolate the cause of that fartiness.
 
#24
Well had some techies run over my rig & basically it's a design fault in the woofers, they're not blown, they just can't handle anything below the open A string. So I'll have to get EA to send me 2 new sets of speakers to fix this. Seems real weird to me...
As for the iAmp there seems to be an inherently high level of hiss coming from the preamp. Has anyone else had issues with this? Is this also just a design deficiency? What's the likelyhood of EA providing a schematic inorder for the technicians to find & fix the problem (I know very little about this stuff)?

Thanks again guys...
Matt
 
#25
Cavem said:
Well had some techies run over my rig & basically it's a design fault in the woofers, they're not blown, they just can't handle anything below the open A string. So I'll have to get EA to send me 2 new sets of speakers to fix this. Seems real weird to me...
As for the iAmp there seems to be an inherently high level of hiss coming from the preamp. Has anyone else had issues with this? Is this also just a design deficiency? What's the likelyhood of EA providing a schematic inorder for the technicians to find & fix the problem (I know very little about this stuff)?

Thanks again guys...
Matt
Click to expand...

Sorry you are having this trouble. I also had problems (as quite a few others have had) with the NL-210 drivers. It is my understanding that EA is going through ANOTHER driver redesign of this model. I had similar trouble with my CXL110 and 210 (the previous models prior to the NL's introduction).

Regarding the hiss, this is unfortunately a design issue, and varies among different units. Gary at EA says they are 'working on a fix':eek: I believe a few other TBers had success in swapping out a board in the iAmp, since the hiss seems to vary quite a bit among units (don't know if that is a quality control issue or a design issue).
 
#26
Thanks for that Ken - nice to know I'm not alone here...:crying: Man it's so disappointing the whole thing, I've only used the rig once, it's completely unusable:crying:. Glen from ABT is being really good, following up with EA etc - would be easy to be abandoned being so far away from the US

Anyway here is the email I got from the techies, any thoughts on their comments?:

"Further to our investigation into your bass rig, I can report as follows. We have tested the amp and it is delivering clean power so we are pretty sure this is not the cause of the distortion. The amp however is quite noisy (hiss) and the level of hiss changes with the master volume, but is not affected by the input gain. Applying treble boost makes this hiss louder. To my mind, a solid state amp should be quieter than this. It's possible we can improve on this, but we would need the amplifier schematic to do so.

Testing the loudspeakers with tone we find that there is a significant resonance around 80Hz and the output energy quickly falls below this frequency. In addition, speaker distortion becomes very audible the lower you go. At 40Hz, the speaker distortion is dominant, and I would have say "unusable" at this frequency. We cannot find anything physically wrong with the drive units, and I wonder if the tuning of the box/drive units is correct given the "lumpy" frequency response. Above 80Hz the output is clean.

So, at this point, there is nothing for us to fix as such! Perhaps the drive units in these cabs are from a bad batch, or a different material has been used in their construction, it's hard to tell. I suggest you contact the manufacturer and pass this info on to get their response."

Thanks
Matt
 
#27
Hey Matt,
Sorry to hear about your probelms. I've had my iamp800 close to 18months and my 2x NL210 without any problems - works like a dream (i know this doesn't help). Haven't heard of any bad ones here in Australia and from what I've been told there's quite few been sold over here. It really is hard luck man.
Was your setup new or used when you purchased ? Did you buy from the US or Australia ? If it came from Australia I'm sure the Aussie dealer would just send out a whole new unit.
Anyway hope it gets sorted for you soon.
BC.
 
#28
I wish I'd known about the Aussie distributor before I ordered from the States - would have made life a little easier...
This is the email I got from EA - a little accusational - I wondering are the NL210's that sensitive? I hardly touched the EQ when I first got it...

You may have initally used too much bass boost and fatigued the suspension of both cabinets. It is also possible that the internal damping has been dislodged. Now the drivers can no longer handle any large bass signals.

A lot of bass players fail to realize that if they apply +6 dB of Bass Boost via the Guitar and use one of the presets then you have about +12 dB of Bass Boost. This means that if your midrange level is about 10 watts then the power in the lowest registers is 160 watts.

I will have the factory send send you two sets of woofers and new internal damping for the cabinets. I will email you the directions on how to do the installation. If you are not very careful and you may slip and punch a hole through the woofer. You might want to have a repair shop do it using the instructions that I will send you.

What do you think of his response - fair?
 
#29
I just want people to be aware tht I'm not in any way trying to bag EA at all. I have no experience with them other than the gear I have received. All I really wanted was to receive some new gear that works well and sounds great with my MTD. The responses I've received are the exact emails with no editing. I have no experience purchasing gear from overseas until now so all I'm trying to understand is if my experiences are just one offs & freak occurances for me, or if this sort of stuff happens often...
Hope that makes things clear...I've heard from many people that have had good experiences with EA so there are obviously a lot of happy customers out there:)
 
#30
Cavem said:
I just want people to be aware tht I'm not in any way trying to bag EA at all. I have no experience with them other than the gear I have received. All I really wanted was to receive some new gear that works well and sounds great with my MTD. The responses I've received are the exact emails with no editing. I have no experience purchasing gear from overseas until now so all I'm trying to understand is if my experiences are just one offs & freak occurances for me, or if this sort of stuff happens often...
Hope that makes things clear...I've heard from many people that have had good experiences with EA so there are obviously a lot of happy customers out there:)
Click to expand...

Hey Matt, I've attached an "Important Notice" which was emailed to me with my Receipt and Warranty when I purchased my NL210s of the Aussie dealer. Did you get any info regarding prpoper usage of your gear when you purchased ? I know this is something the Aussie dealer emails to all his customers when they purchase something. It doesn't seem to be something that comes from EA. You may find it interesting though it would have been good if someone could have made you aware earlier rather than later.
Good Luck.
 

Attachments

#31
Cavem said:
As for the iAmp there seems to be an inherently high level of hiss coming from the preamp. Has anyone else had issues with this? Is this also just a design deficiency?
Click to expand...

Yes. Possibly the hissiest amp I've had, and I've had a lot of amps, but on the bright side the noise diminishes as you turn the volume up (oddly enough) but even then it's hissy. The noise didn't seem to go through the DI. Mine was a newer-model iAMP800.

A lot of people have complained of the noise, and several TBers have sent the amps back to get mods done which seem to help from what I've read.

I liked the sound of the amp well enough, but a fragile build and no end of reports of people needing their customer service is what soured me on the brand. On the bright side, they're well-practiced in giving service so you can expect to be taken care of.

Good luck.
 
#32
Thanks Bass Clef - the only thing I got with the cabs was a photocopied waranty form - I didn't receive any instructions like this, although the whole gain structure stuff I got from Glenn after I complained about the hiss which helped the DI output but not the hiss through the speakers.
 
#33
Well EA have partially come to the party - I have fitted the new speakers they sent free of charge & so far the cabinets appear to be performing fine. I'm now waiting on a repalcement preamp board to fix the hiss issues. I note a few people asking about EA & wanting peoples opinions - it's interesting & disturbing that there are so many comments on the amp hiss & poor performing product...wish my story was as rosy as others have laid out, but at least things are on the mend - even after so many months...:hmm:
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back