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Strange things afoot at jam tonight..

alfaBAT9

alfaBAT9

Apr 12, 2009
145
2
Toronto, ON
#1
At jam tonight something unusual started happening with my sound. I was playing away and suddenly I started losing sustain and each attack of the string was dull and burpy sounding. It also sounded like my volume got cut down to about 80%. I normally play with the gain at about 2:00 but this jam I decided to back it off a bit and see what things would sound like a touch cleaner, so I rolled it off to about noon. Things were going fine up until about mid-song right before a big chorus when my tone just dropped off. I noticed immediately, and our guitar player eventually did too. I turned the gain back up to about 2:00 and things seemed fine again. Not sure if it was because I didn't re-adjust the master after turning up the gain again so everything was generally louder.

What could be happening here.. Did I lose a speaker? Preamp tube? Fuse? I have no idea. This is the first time I've ever run into any technical difficulty with my gear. I checked and all my pedals were turned off, the power light on the amp was steady, and the guitar amp and PA system were working fine so it wasn't a power surge or anything like that.

Here's the rundown..

Bass ('76 Musicmaster)
to >
Pedalboard (tuner, overdrive, delay)
to >
Amp (Mesa Walkabout Scout 12" combo)

I took the head home tonight and I've already gone and changed the pre tubes just for good measure but won't be able to test it with the cab until next week.
 
#3
I don't know, but I've had problems with using the Scout 12 by itself in the past. To the point I sold my Scout cab, and only use my Walkabout with a 2x12 anymore. The single 12 is a limiting factor, but the amp through sufficient speakers is always more than enough.
 
#6
I think it may have something to do with the power at the venue you were playing. I have a Little Mark II and have had the same problem. From what I've heard amps with a digital switching power supply are very sensitive to drops in voltage.
 
#7
Just a thought, sa I had a similar problem. mid song my amp would start to waffle like yours did. turned out to be a dirty pot which could be immediately remedied by rotating it (as you did your volume pot). With the power off, I would use some cleaner and roll all your knobs a few times. Also take a quarter inch plug and stab all your jacks repeatedly, to free any dust or dirty gathering in them.
 
#9
@RickenBoogie
Coincidentally, I'm already on it. I've decided to keep the head and have already posted the cab on the local classifieds. I'm going after a 2x12 or 4x10 config. Had an awesome Neo 4x10 and stupidly sold it years ago.

@Munjibunga
No batteries. The 2 pedals on my board are powered by my Boss tuner pedal, via 9v adapter.

@Stuonbass
I'll give it a try. It's been a good few years since it's been cleaned anyway.

I'm worried that I may have blown the speaker. Years ago my idiot brother and his idiot friends were screwing around in our jam room and plugged my (then) GK 410 into some busted Peavey guitar amp with the gain cranked and produced pure basement-rattling distortion for a good 15-20 seconds. The speakers were all fried. They still worked but sounded decent only at low volumes, with a similar sustain-lacking dullness that was heard last night. Is there a way to check if the speaker is busted? I know the least about electronics than probably anyone else on here.
 
#12
I would go with the dirty pot idea. I've had a similar experience as well although, if you had a voltage slump the bass player will be the first to notice as you are the one using all the power.

If you're going to clean out your pots use something from these ppl
http://www.caig.com/

you could use most any of their products but I prefer the progold for general purpose usage. In any case there's just nothing else like CAIGS products. Even a little squirt in a pickup switch has worked wonders for me.
 

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