My Carvin DCM1500 went into protect mode when I was jamming with my band last night. Not sure why, I bought it used with a GK 2001RBP. The tone is great but that bugged me that it did that. And it did it multiple times. At first I thought it might have been because me and one of my guitarists were plugged into the same outlit (not the same outlit but the same area and he was using a half stack and I thought that there was too much power trying to get through 1 outlit area). So I moved over to a different one, same thing happend. My guitarist saw that the power cord wasn't plugged in all the way. So I plugged it in and turned down the power on the power amp and raised it on the pre amp and I work fine for the last 2 hours. Was it because it wasn't plugged in all the way or was it because I had the volume all the way up on the power amp? It bugs me because I don't want it crapping out in a show.
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Power amp going into protect.
- Thread starter FighttheSilence
- Start date
billfitzmaurice
Commercial User
- Sep 15, 2004
- 16,860
- 278
- 76
- Disclosures
- Owner, Bill Fitzmaurice Loudspeaker Design
Carvins seem especially sensitive to low voltage conditions. I had my RL1000 shut down on me at a gig (RL600...back up head...came through ok) and I was going to take it in for repair. Got it home, plugged it in, haven't had a problem since (1-1/2 years, and many many uses...including gigs...ago) We were trying to run 1 whole side of the stage from 1 power source, & I got stuck using a power strip: mistake. Even a slight reduction in voltage makes 'em shut down.
Are you running it bridged mono? If so, make sure your speaker cable is plugged in tight to your cab (actually, make sure either way!). The way I understand it, when in bridged mono mode, the sleeve of your speaker cable end is live, and can trip the amp into protect mode if it isn't plugged in right (ie touching metal). This happened to me at a show once and I didn't figure it out till the next day. The cable was loose in the jack on my cab and actually popped out about 1/8" at one point, tripping the amp into protect.
I would recommend getting a speaker cable with speakon ends if you can, just to be safe. I did after that night and I'll never go back.
I would recommend getting a speaker cable with speakon ends if you can, just to be safe. I did after that night and I'll never go back.
I'm not running bridged yet. I'm using channel 1 (or 2). In a few weeks I'm getting a GK Neo 4x12 and I'll bridge it then, and the only chord that works for bridging is a speakon.
