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I just did something incredibly stupid (fried amp content)

#41
I’ve known people to plug the output of a tube power amp into the input of another tube amp. They liked the distortion but kept having to take it in to be fixed. Go figure.

Bonehead things happen. It can be fixed, an education can be expensive.
 
#42
BAG said:
What a huge bummer!
As we've seen, even very experienced players can make mistakes with connecting heads and cabs with sometimes very expensive outcomes.
I know most TB members swear by head-and-cab rigs but at least with combo's I can't make this mistake.... and I probably would at some stage if I was using different heads and cabs.
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Yeah you would. You'd probably run the extension speaker out into the input of the other amp. ALL the magic smoke in the amp would disappear very quickly.

Back in 1968 I had a Fender Bassman 50-watt all-tube amp and our lead guitar had just bought a new Jordan amp which was a very nice SS amp at the time (The Doors used stacks of them in their tours). He had seen videos of their tours with amps stacked up and hooked together, so he wanted to try it. If I recall correctly you could actually run a preamp out cord from the back of a Jordan amp to the input of another amp (like running an effects-out). And of course, my 1966 Bassman only had a speaker out and an extension speaker output. So he ran a cord from my extension speaker out to the input jack on the front of his Jordan amp. He had a really great and loud sound for about 20-seconds before sparks flew and smoke filled the rehearsal hall we were using. It even warped the side panels on the amp. Jordan replaced it with a note saying they thought it might have been misuse at first glance, but the electronics were so badly fried that it had to have been defective...He never tried that again.

So, just because it's a combo doesn't mean you can't make a mistake and fry it.

Jordan amps.jpg
 
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#46
In fact, mandating "monodirectional" connectors (one specific connector for output, one specific connector for input) would go a long way towards making these occurrances rarer. They are never going to solve the issue of old equipment, of course, and this is the sort of thing that can only work through an official (international) regulation.
 
#47
Alexander said:
Ok - I just did something incredibly stupid and am embarrassed to even ask about, but here goes...

I just got a new Milkman Half and Half amplifier. Played it for about an hour and then decided to test it alongside another one of my amps.

The mistake I made - I actually plugged the speakon out of my DB751 into the speakon jack on the back of the Half and Half (instead of the cabinet). When I switched the DB751 off of standby, it immediately clicked back over to standby. When I realized what I had done, I tried to play through the Half and Half - and though it would power on, no sound comes out.

Obviously I fried something - just wondering what damage I may have done and if it is repairable. Maybe something hard to diagnose without looking at it, but just wanted to see. Clearly an expensive mistake - just not sure how expensive...

Heartbroken
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Reach out to Tim at MM. He’s very cool and I’m sure would be happy to help you out. I have a Half and Half and love it. Good luck
 
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#49
Boneless said:
To be honest, that sort of error is very easy to make. Therefore, amps today should have some sort of clever protection to avoid these things from being of any consequence, or at least attempt to do so. I wouldn't know how though.
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That's like saying cars are dangerous because the accelerator and the brake pedals are next to each other.
It was just another dumb human mistake. Some are more costly than others.
Good luck OP!
 
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#50
Jim C said:
That's like saying cars are dangerous because the accelerator and the brake pedals are next to each other.
It was just another dumb human mistake. Some are more costly than others.
Good luck OP!
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Ya had to go there - I actually totaled a really nice sports car last year. Came out of that alright and got way more from the insurance company than I paid for it. See- the amp thing isn't the dumbest thing I've ever done...
 
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#54
I just remembered something very stupid I did as a teenager.
I used to occasionally plug my guitar into my dads stereo system because it was louder than my little amp at the time. This was his pride and joy as we weren't rich by any means but dad has splurged on a pretty decent system for the mid 80's.
A couple of times the sound stopped but everything worked after a minute or two so I assumed it had some type of overload protection.
I think I'd just gotten my first distortion pedal and plugged in, cranked everything up and it sounded great for about 10 seconds (to a teenager that had no idea what a good guitar tone really was, but it was loud).... then the sound stopped. I wasn't worried as I was sure it would start working again soon...... but it didn't! :eek:
My folks were away on holiday at the time so I thought it best to tell dad while he was 1000km away to give him time to cool down before he got home. :laugh:
 
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#55
I had a "hold my beer watch this" horse story a couple of years ago that involved "ass over tea kettle" acrobatics with me and my horse. A total freak accident, only time in 50 years and tens of thousands of rides. We actually train for this and in the moment I was glad I did. We both walked away without even a scratch...

Sometimes things happen, the failure isn't the end of the world and won't even leave a mark ;)
 
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#56
Sometimes it's not doing the dumb thing yourself, but allowing someone else to do it for you.

While using my Carvin AG100D three channel combo amp, I offered one of the unused channels to the drummer who for the first time was using a newly purchased electronic drum kit. While I was busy tending to other things, he was unsure how to hook things up while getting other unsure people to get things figured out and working. All this was taking place at the drum kit, and involved them trying several adapters, a couple of DI's and a powered monitor amp (for stereo). I had the amp powered up and his instrument cable plugged in to my amp from the start before any of this began and assumed they would figure it out, so I left to use the restroom before we started. When I came back they seemed to have it working and just needed a volume adjustment, done.
I noticed after a few songs, the sound was beginning to fade and distort with both my bass and his drums, but made it through the gig sounding pretty bad. It took me using it a couple more times (worked fine for up to 20 minutes before fading out) before realizing it had been permanently damaged from something being hooked up wrong by the drummer and associates using trial and error. No hard feelings, just a hard lesson. I know, " fire the drummer" haha

Thankfully though, Carvin made their combos with an external speaker connection, allowing me to still use the 112 cabinet portion along with the extension cab for a 212 setup. Looks a little odd using a head on top of a built in head, but it works great.

IMG_4209.jpg
 
#59
Alexander said:
Been in touch with Tim at Milkman. He said I probably nuked the Class D module. He offered to fix it or to sell me the part if I wanted to try my hand at it. Seeing’ as how I’m so good with electricity these days, I think I’ll leave it up to the professionals…
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Good call.
 
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