I'm afraid of my amp. Help?

[walterw]

it might be the tube.

not so much from wear, but maybe from vibration/jostling, or just a bad one to begin with.

inadvertently hitting a "tube pre bypass" button would certainly bring the amp back to life in that case.

that, the loop jacks and ribbon cables are all good places to look; my amp tech cohorts at the store have taught me that most amp problems are with things that either move (jack contacts, floppy ribbon cable contacts) or get hot (tubes).

 

[ricguy]

Very possible you had a low line voltage problem at the venue or a wiring problem at that venue.

+1 That's my guess. I had a Carvin B1500X that did the same thing when I played at an old resort that had a new addition built on. Fortunately our drummer had a Peavey powered p.a. head in his truck that I finished the gig with.

I called Carvin and told them about what happened and they said low-line voltage probably caused it. They were aware of the problem happening in their class D amps and made changes to their current production. They told me to return the amp and they would perform an update free of charge. I did and amp work flawlessly after that.

 

[Passinwind]

I guess that's wut I'm gonna do. Where do I get DeOxit?

My local Radio Shack stocks it.

 

[chucko58]

I've read on TB about Carvin using "ribbon" cables between boards with computer style plug/receptacles. Folks have been reseating them and/or spraying DeOxit into the receptacle before plugging the ribbon cable back in.

Some have done it prophylactically even before issues arise...

=wr=

I've definitely had this problem with my BX500, and what WR describes fixed the problem.

It's my only beef with the BX500.

 

[Misanthropic]

i had this problem with a hughes & kettner combo. made me feel unsecure, no doubt. especially when you couldn't reproduce the symptoms, they were completely random.

tech suggested to permanently have a pedal cable between the effects send and return jacks. i've since sold the amp, but i keep one on my LMII just in case.

 

[sharkfist]

I just ordered a BX500 last night... looks like I'll be looking for some contact cleaner so I can give it a "go over" as soon as it shows up.