Little Mark iii Tc Electronics RS 410 Issues

[CwR321]

Hello.

I recently purchased a Little Mark 3 and and a TC Electronic 410 (8ohms)bass cab. I bought them both used separately on Kijiji. The head worked fine when I tested it. When I tested the LM3 Head on the cab, it worked with a 1/4 jack to speak on and when I got home, it worked for about 20 minutes and then the power to the speakers cut out.

I ran my guitar combo through the cabinet @ 8 ohms to see if it was the cab, but it worked.

I feared that the head was blown as I believe this model has issues with the power amp going out. I took it to my I’m space and tried it on a GK810(NEO I believe, 4ohms) and it worked fine.

This made me think it was possibly the speak-on cable so I retested my cab with the one from my jam space and the LM3 head still does not work with the RS410.

I opened up the cab and took a look and all of the connection in the head, connectors for the cab seem to be solid. I am at a loss to what the problem is and what to trouble shoot next.

Is it possible that the head will only produce sound at 4 ohms? Why would it suddenly stop producing sound at 8ohms?

Any and all insight is greatly appreciated.

 

[Wallace320]

Hello.

I recently purchased a Little Mark 3 and and a TC Electronic 410 (8ohms)bass cab. I bought them both used separately on Kijiji. The head worked fine when I tested it. When I tested the LM3 Head on the cab, it worked with a 1/4 jack to speak on and when I got home, it worked for about 20 minutes and then the power to the speakers cut out.

I ran my guitar combo through the cabinet @ 8 ohms to see if it was the cab, but it worked.

I feared that the head was blown as I believe this model has issues with the power amp going out. I took it to my I’m space and tried it on a GK810(NEO I believe, 4ohms) and it worked fine.

This made me think it was possibly the speak-on cable so I retested my cab with the one from my jam space and the LM3 head still does not work with the RS410.

I opened up the cab and took a look and all of the connection in the head, connectors for the cab seem to be solid. I am at a loss to what the problem is and what to trouble shoot next.

Is it possible that the head will only produce sound at 4 ohms? Why would it suddenly stop producing sound at 8ohms?

Any and all insight is greatly appreciated.

Have you tried a dual speakon cable?
and more: which Tc 8ohm 4x10" are we talkin' about? RS or K series?

Cheers,
Wallace

 

[DWBass]

Try another cable?

 

[CwR321]

Have you tried a dual speakon cable?
and more: which Tc 8ohm 4x10" are we talkin' about? RS or K series?

Cheers,
Wallace

Have you tried a dual speakon cable?
and more: which Tc 8ohm 4x10" are we talkin' about? RS or K series?

Cheers,
Wallace

Thanks for the reply Wallace. I have tried 2 separate brand new dual speak-on cable. The speak-on cable to 1/4 does work with my guitar combo amp.

My tech friend said that there are 2 different kinds of speak on cables, ones that are just positive and negative and another that has a ground. Could this possibly be an issue?

 

[CwR321]

It is the RS series

 

[Wallace320]

The Rs series are more quality down to design (even if the cover is really scratcheable) you have a horn attenuator on the back, due to the eminence drivers adoption-but unfortunately power connection (and tolex covering) seem to be way more reliable on the cheaper K series

I'm still convinced you should try a dual speakon (speakon-speakon) cable, but chances are somethin' went wrong in the rear cable socket

Cheers,
Wallace

 

[CwR321]

The Rs series are more quality down to design (even if the cover is really scratcheable) you have a horn attenuator on the back, due to the eminence drivers adoption-but unfortunately power connection (and tolex covering) seem to be way more reliable on the cheaper K series

I'm still convinced you should try a dual speakon (speakon-speakon) cable, but chances are somethin' went wrong in the rear cable socket

Cheers,
Wallace

Thanks Wallace! I am going to take both the cab and the head to a music store to test them with various heads and cabs.

I am going to grab a different dual-speakon speaker to see if that helps. Hopefully it is as you say and it is the cab.

 

[agedhorse]

Thanks for the reply Wallace. I have tried 2 separate brand new dual speak-on cable. The speak-on cable to 1/4 does work with my guitar combo amp.

My tech friend said that there are 2 different kinds of speak on cables, ones that are just positive and negative and another that has a ground. Could this possibly be an issue?

Your friend is wrong.

There are NL2 and NL4 types and both will work properly.

There is also an NL4 type that is wired for bridge mode, that one won't work at all, but is also uncommon.

The first thing I would check for is that the cabinet contains the original drivers and is wired correctly. I see enough cabinets that have been screwed with by somebody who got a "great idea" from the Internet and created a problem that wouldn't exist had they left it alone.

You may need some help with this from a qualified tech.

 

[Wallace320]

Your friend is wrong.

There are NL2 and NL4 types and both will work properly.

There is also an NL4 type that is wired for bridge mode, that one won't work at all, but is also uncommon.

The first thing I would check for is that the cabinet contains the original drivers and is wired correctly. I see enough cabinets that have been screwed with by somebody who got a "great idea" from the Internet and created a problem that wouldn't exist had they left it alone.

You may need some help with this from a qualified tech.

Man, sure we're assuming everythin's original and untouched

Cheers,
Wallace

 

[agedhorse]

Man, sure we're assuming everythin's original and untouched

Cheers,
Wallace

Neutrik doesn't make a SpeakOn with a ground terminal. They only make NL2 and NL4 in the SpeakOn line, they are labeled 1+/1- with a 2+/2- added to the NL4 model.

 

[drpepper]

...check for is that the cabinet contains the original drivers and is wired correctly

Can an 8 ohm 410 potentially be rewired to 2 ohms? If that's a possibility, it seems like a really good idea to check that it hasn't been rewired.

Not sure where to put the probes with speakon, but a multimeter can give you an indication. Resistance should read in the range of 5-6 ohms for an "8 ohm impedance" cabinet. If gives you 1.X ohms, there's your answer.

Working for a period of time and then having no speaker output (while remaining on and still working through DI) is what I experienced with two separate Markbass models on the same "4 ohm" cabinet that sent them into protection mode. None of 10 or so other heads used with this cabinet had the same issue. Having the same problem with 2 separate MB heads (an LM and an F) and hearing of some other stories left me with the impression that they are simply more prone to impedance protection (lower threshold) than some other heads.

Of course, a cabinet rewired to 2 ohms wouldn't have anything to do with that possible lower threshold, it'd just be the amp doing what it's supposed to do.