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Peavey Max 12

A

aor

Jul 7, 2009
34
0
#1
hey,
i bought a bass and got an amp from my local shop. As i'm playing most of the time in my bedroom I got a peavey amp max 126.

http://www.jbsmusic.co.uk/view/1441/

however i can't seem to set it up. I've got a wire which connects my bass to it which i've plugged into my bass and input socket, but nothing else.

is there anythign else i need to get the speakers working?
(I'm real new and no one i know plays bass.)

thanks and sorry for all the simple questions
 
#4
how do i know if it's my amp, guitar or cable?

When I plug it into my amp, and touch the other side of the cable, the amp makes a distorted noise, yet when I plug it into the guitar it makes no noise.
it also makes no noise when I plug it from the guitar into the tuner.
 
#5
I ran into the same problem yesterday, but I got mine of eBay so I'm worried about what to do.

When I plug my bass in, the light goes on. When I plug the cable in to my amp, it makes a slight noise, and when I touch the other end it definately picks up on it.

However when I plug the other side into my guitar, it doesn't pick up anything. Even when I play.

I was wondering if there is anything I can do about this or if anything is wrong with my bass?

A quick answer would be really good as I need to send it back if so.
 
#6
aor said:
how do i know if it's my amp, guitar or cable?

When I plug it into my amp, and touch the other side of the cable, the amp makes a distorted noise, yet when I plug it into the guitar it makes no noise.
it also makes no noise when I plug it from the guitar into the tuner.
Click to expand...

Does the amp's power indicator light come on when you turn the amp on?
If not, make sure your amp is plugged into a working electrical outlet (verify using any home appliance), if the outlet isn't working try another one in the house.
Make sure the amp is turned on - power indicator light should come on, if no light, your amp is probably not working.
Turn the amp's volume (vintage & gain) about 1/3 of the way up.
Plug in your instrument cable into the input jack without your bass hooked up.
Briefly touch the tip and sleeve of the other (unplugged) end of the instrument cable with one fingertip (you're using your finger to bridge the gap between the two sections of the cable's plug) -- you should hear noise produced by the amp if everything else is working up to this point.
If no noise, it is either the amp or the cable.
If you do get noise, plug the cable into your bass guitar.
Make sure the volume and any tone knobs are set fully clockwise.
If no sound, it is your bass guitar that is the problem (possibly the input jack).
If the amp's power indicator light comes on and you got no noise when touching across the tip and sleeve of the instrument cable with the volume up, I would suggest taking the whole rig to a music shop where you can verify whether you have a bad cable or something is wrong with the amp.
 
#7
orton said:
I ran into the same problem yesterday, but I got mine of eBay so I'm worried about what to do.

When I plug my bass in, the light goes on. When I plug the cable in to my amp, it makes a slight noise, and when I touch the other end it definately picks up on it.

However when I plug the other side into my guitar, it doesn't pick up anything. Even when I play.

I was wondering if there is anything I can do about this or if anything is wrong with my bass?

A quick answer would be really good as I need to send it back if so.
Click to expand...

Does the noise stay constant as long as you touch the cable plug?
If so, when you increase the volume on the amp the noise should increase as well.
If it is a really low level of noise and your amp is all the way up, your amp is probably not working correctly.
 
#8
Hey Lo-Freq,

Many thanks for the detailed steps, I can verify that when I sleeve the cable the amp does produce a noise, but I've not really fiddled with the knobs on the bass yet so will give that a try.

If not is there anything I can do to try and fix the input jack if that is the cause?

Edit: The noise produced does vary with the volume and will become loud if I turn the volume up.
 
#9
lo-freq said:
Does the noise stay constant as long as you touch the cable plug?
If so, when you increase the volume on the amp the noise should increase as well.
If it is a really low level of noise and your amp is all the way up, your amp is probably not working correctly.
Click to expand...

The noise stays constant, and when I increase the volume the noise increases as well. When plugging it into the guitar it falls silent again.
 
#10
orton said:
Hey Lo-Freq,

Many thanks for the detailed steps, I can verify that when I sleeve the cable the amp does produce a noise, but I've not really fiddled with the knobs on the bass yet so will give that a try.

If not is there anything I can do to try and fix the input jack if that is the cause?

Edit: The noise produced does vary with the volume and will become loud if I turn the volume up.
Click to expand...

Sounds like the problem is probably not with the amp.

I don't know how user-repair-friendly your bass guitar is, so I couldn't comment on that.
If you specified the make & model, maybe someone else on TB could help (you probably would want to start your own thread under the 'Bass Guitar' section).
 
#11
lo-freq said:
Does the amp's power indicator light come on when you turn the amp on?
If not, make sure your amp is plugged into a working electrical outlet (verify using any home appliance), if the outlet isn't working try another one in the house.
Make sure the amp is turned on - power indicator light should come on, if no light, your amp is probably not working.
Turn the amp's volume (vintage & gain) about 1/3 of the way up.
Plug in your instrument cable into the input jack without your bass hooked up.
Briefly touch the tip and sleeve of the other (unplugged) end of the instrument cable with one fingertip (you're using your finger to bridge the gap between the two sections of the cable's plug) -- you should hear noise produced by the amp if everything else is working up to this point.
If no noise, it is either the amp or the cable.
If you do get noise, plug the cable into your bass guitar.
Make sure the volume and any tone knobs are set fully clockwise.
If no sound, it is your bass guitar that is the problem (possibly the input jack).
If the amp's power indicator light comes on and you got no noise when touching across the tip and sleeve of the instrument cable with the volume up, I would suggest taking the whole rig to a music shop where you can verify whether you have a bad cable or something is wrong with the amp.
Click to expand...

aor, also if the power indicator light comes on, try the plug test with the vintage control button in both positions.
Sometimes the problem is isolated to one particular section of the amp.
Also, if you can get access to some headphones, try the cable test that way as well, just make sure you don't turn the amp up very much to begin with -- it would be bad to damage your ears in the process.
 

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