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Genz Benz GBE 1200 Fail Question

buckinghamgreen

buckinghamgreen

Sep 12, 2014
9
75
Portland, Oregon
#1
Hey everybody, I picked up a Genz GBE 1200 a few months back. It had seen some miles but played pretty well. And I know they have a great rep for being solid and reliable.

I'm running it with two cabs. A Fender 2x15 / 4 ohm / 400w & an Ampeg 4x10 / 8 ohm / 400w. I played it at 2 ohm with a Fender Jazz with active pickups.

A few practices ago, the volume and signal started cutting out erratically. The volume would drop out and get quiet and then jump back.

Then the signal completely dropped out in the FET (solid state) channel. It will run somewhat thru the tube channel. But even in the tube channel, the volume drops randomly and then will come back up to full power for a moment before dropping low again.

I've also noticed the Overdrive light on the Tube channel will come on seemingly randomly.

As a guy who's not super mechanical, I'm not sure what's happening. I'm not near a Genz repair center.

Any suggestions from guys who know the Genz? Or amps in general? Like I said, I'm not super mechanical. And I'm trying to figure out if I have any options here.

Thank you very much for any help anyone can offer. I'm just scratching my head.
 
#5
Almost certainly an intermittent effects return jack internal switch. Try cycling all 3 effects loop return jacks with a 1/4" plug and see if the problem goes away.
 
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#8
Let us know if this takes care if your problem.

Another possibility is that one of the tone shaping filter relays is not fully seated. Try cycling those switches too. Less likely but possible.
 
#9
Hey everybody, I'm checking back in. I took a little extra time to try everything recommended. I cycled all 3 effects loop return jacks with a 1/4" plug per wave rider and agedhorse. And I followed it up with cycling the tone shaping switches, too. I also opened it up to make sure everything looked good inside. It seemed clean as a whistle to me.

Regarding the FET channel, the interesting thing is (1) it didn't seem to do anything at first and (2) then it seemed to solve the issue for about 2 minutes before (3) reverting back to the original problem. And since then no amount of plugging and switching different cables and configurations has seemed to do anything.

The good news is the above *did* seem to fix the issue with the tube channel. So I've been playing on the tube channel, but I'm now thinking it's likely I'll sell supercheap to someone more mechanically-inclined than me.

So again, big, big thank you to everyone and agedhorse and wave rider for taking the time to help me with my amp. I totally appreciate it. And having been a lurker on TalkBass for forever, this was a killer experience to actually create a log-in and post.

Have a good weekend, everybody.
 
#11
Try jumping around the FET channel effects loop with a short 1/4" cable. There is a possibility that a previous owner (?) may have used a poor quality or damaged cable and the contact assembly got bent, I have seen this a couple of times before.

If you can ship it safely, my R&D shop is near Sacramento and I still handle the factory level repairs on your amp. Cost to repair is generally not too bad (though shipping costs need to be considered of course.
 
#15
$_57 (1).JPG
I MIX TOGETHER: Lakland Deluxe 55-94 5-String Bass GUITAR + GENZ BENZ GBE 1200 AMP HEAD + Genz Benz GB115T-UB 1x15" Neo Bass Cabinet + Ampeg Pro Neo Series PN-210HLF 550W 2x10 Bass Speaker Cabinet. I AM PRACTICING TO BECOME A GOOD BASS PLAYER. I LOVE THE SOUND, IT'S WOW..... I AM PRACTICING HARDER AND HARDER.... WORKING HARD TO SPEND THAT MUCH. I CAN'T BELIEVE I DO THAT.
 

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