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GK 400RB IV stuck in protect mode

S

Smitherafender

Oct 10, 2008
38
0
Upstate New York
#1
Several weeks ago I had a GK 400RB IV suddenly shut down on a gig mid-set.The led light now goes from red to off and the amp produces no sound.Normally these amps go from red to blue and the amp turns on.I called GK and they told me the fix for this would to send it to GK & likely it will need a whole new power amp board section.Which will cost $160 for the part and then $35 for labor.Then add shipping(which would be about $60-$70 both ways)

At this point it seems totally riduculous to spend almost $300 repairing an amp that initially cost me $400(4 years ago from RMC)

I'm wondering if there is an easier & more cost effective way to repair this amp?Does it really need a whole new power amp section?Just for being stuck in protect mode???Something sounds whacky with this.

My local tech took a look at the amp & said that he won't even work on the new GK's anymore.He's got a big pile of broken newer GK's in his shop that all need to go back to GK for repair.It's no longer cost effective to fix these amps as often the repair costs almost as much as a new one.

Does anyone have any further insight on this?I'd hate to throw out a 4 year old non-working GK400RB IV just because it's stuck in "protect mode".
 
#2
Most likely your power amp has fried. These can be repaired at the component level or by replacing the power amp itself. The advantage of the board swap is that your amp is brought right up to current specs. It's up to you whether you want to put the coin to repair the amp or towards a new amp.

Paul
 
#3
Gk has modular boards (preamp board, amp board). It's quicker and easier for them to just replace the entire board instead of looking for bad components on the old board. A local shop can trace out the bad component and replace that part for less, but labor goes up. It only takes a couple of minutes to swap out an entire board, but an hour to troubleshoot and replace a component.
Any new GK amp to me is the micro heads since all of the RB series are very similar in design as the original rack mount RB series. It's always a tough choice to fix an old amp vs buying new. It depends on how much you like the old one, and how easy is it to replace with a new unit.

Wes
 
#4
Thanks for the responses so far.

From what has been said and also from what GK has told me about needing to replace the power amp board.Would it make sense to order the board from GK and have it installed by a local tech.Are the power amp boards simple/easy plug-ins?

(this way it would save on shipping costs & the hassle/wait time to ship to & to be repaired by GK)
 
#5
The power amp boards are the main boards, and are bolted to the case. More than just a "motherboard" like on a computer. Your tech should be able to do it if you can't. I don't know if GK will sell parts to end users. My tech is on the authorized repairs shops list, and did the board swap.
Wes
 

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