Thank you!! Since it's broken anyway, maybe I'll give it a shot while I'm waiting for the new board to come in since it's out of stock for a few weeks. If I fix it then I could cancel the order.
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SVT 7Pro Rebooting - Mainboard Replacement?
- Thread starter Shlabotnik
- Start date
Thank you!! Since it's broken anyway, maybe I'll give it a shot while I'm waiting for the new board to come in since it's out of stock for a few weeks. If I fix it then I could cancel the order.
I didn't! If I do either of those things, are you suggesting that it's ok to see if the shutdown happens while I power it up while either of those are disconnected? That's ok to do? That sort of thing is beyond my level of knowledge of how these things work.
I understand you're trying to save money but.. Are they sure it's the main board? It seems like they're guessing. Make sure not to loose money in order to save some.
This thread from TB cited just below thoroughly covers the issue of the auxiliary power supply controller chip in the SVT7 Pro. This is the chip that tends to fry due to being under rated. Mine literally exploded. It done blew the top of the chip clear off! It made the amp squawk so loud through my ACME Low B112FR it dang near blew me off my practice stool! I am so glad Ampeg is now owned by Yamaha!
Ampeg SVT-7 Pro - Reliability?
Go to message #65 to start.
I am to understand that this is often the problem with broken SVT7 Pro's. Often does not mean always. There are excellent photographs on the thread allowing you to identify the culprit chip. As JimmyM said, the ICE2A165 needs to be swapped out with an ICE2A265. I had my motherboard swapped out under warranty.
I haven't seen the underside of the board, but based on where that chip is from looking at it from the upper side of the board, it appears it's going to be pretty crowded under there. Unless you have experience working on electronic equipment on a component level, replacing the actual chip itself on the printed circuit board may be a challenge. I'm an experienced bench tech and for me, it's a task to melt all the solder joints in order to un-solder the prongs (terminals) on an IC that hold it onto the board. You have to use a vacuum gun to suck the hot liquid solder off the board, and from around the terminals. When melting the solder in preparation for suction, it's really easy for the liquid solder to flow where you don't want it to and short out the conductive runners and other components on the board. Then there's the matter of re-soldering the terminals back to the board without shorting them out when installing the new chip. Be sure you don't get the new chip too hot or you'll destroy it! Use a low powered soldering IRON, nothing more than 40 watts MAX. Wear EYE PROTECTION! Nothing like liquid molten metal in the eye to ruin your day! Magnification (for me) is essential, such as in the form of magnifying glasses or one of those round magnifiers with the fluorescent light surrounding it on an articulated arm. Don't forget to be wary of static electricity and to wear a properly grounded wrist band when handling IC's, or you'll fry the IC with static electricity. Then there's the factor of having a test bench with the assorted gear required to properly trouble shoot the device your working on. I don't have that anymore.
At this point in my life, I will almost always just take my gear to a good bench man (we have Roy Page here in Vegas) and let them deal with it when necessary. I look at it the same as hiring a licensed contractor to do plumbing and other stuff around the condo. If something goes wrong, I have recourse including legal recourse.
One thing I did do (being totally OCD) is to install a little heat sink on the ICE2A265. The TB thread I cited above has info about this. The heat sink gives you a little more heat dissipation, possibly useful, maybe not. I don't know. I found a cute little heat sink online that fits perfectly right on top of the chip. You should use non-electrically conductive / heat conductive cement to glue it on there. Choose carefully from the available products, not all of them are correct for this task. I'm still recovering from a flood so I don't have the stuff I used readily available to tell you what it was. This wouldn't be a bad job for a bench tech to do either. There's not much room on the topside of the board where that chip is, and its a PITA to put the heat sink on correctly.
I like my SVT7 Pro. It does sound awesome. It's not an SVT. But its soooo gooooood! Oh yeah, did I mention that it plays LOUD!?
Ampeg SVT-7 Pro - Reliability?
Go to message #65 to start.
I am to understand that this is often the problem with broken SVT7 Pro's. Often does not mean always. There are excellent photographs on the thread allowing you to identify the culprit chip. As JimmyM said, the ICE2A165 needs to be swapped out with an ICE2A265. I had my motherboard swapped out under warranty.
I haven't seen the underside of the board, but based on where that chip is from looking at it from the upper side of the board, it appears it's going to be pretty crowded under there. Unless you have experience working on electronic equipment on a component level, replacing the actual chip itself on the printed circuit board may be a challenge. I'm an experienced bench tech and for me, it's a task to melt all the solder joints in order to un-solder the prongs (terminals) on an IC that hold it onto the board. You have to use a vacuum gun to suck the hot liquid solder off the board, and from around the terminals. When melting the solder in preparation for suction, it's really easy for the liquid solder to flow where you don't want it to and short out the conductive runners and other components on the board. Then there's the matter of re-soldering the terminals back to the board without shorting them out when installing the new chip. Be sure you don't get the new chip too hot or you'll destroy it! Use a low powered soldering IRON, nothing more than 40 watts MAX. Wear EYE PROTECTION! Nothing like liquid molten metal in the eye to ruin your day! Magnification (for me) is essential, such as in the form of magnifying glasses or one of those round magnifiers with the fluorescent light surrounding it on an articulated arm. Don't forget to be wary of static electricity and to wear a properly grounded wrist band when handling IC's, or you'll fry the IC with static electricity. Then there's the factor of having a test bench with the assorted gear required to properly trouble shoot the device your working on. I don't have that anymore.
At this point in my life, I will almost always just take my gear to a good bench man (we have Roy Page here in Vegas) and let them deal with it when necessary. I look at it the same as hiring a licensed contractor to do plumbing and other stuff around the condo. If something goes wrong, I have recourse including legal recourse.
One thing I did do (being totally OCD) is to install a little heat sink on the ICE2A265. The TB thread I cited above has info about this. The heat sink gives you a little more heat dissipation, possibly useful, maybe not. I don't know. I found a cute little heat sink online that fits perfectly right on top of the chip. You should use non-electrically conductive / heat conductive cement to glue it on there. Choose carefully from the available products, not all of them are correct for this task. I'm still recovering from a flood so I don't have the stuff I used readily available to tell you what it was. This wouldn't be a bad job for a bench tech to do either. There's not much room on the topside of the board where that chip is, and its a PITA to put the heat sink on correctly.
I like my SVT7 Pro. It does sound awesome. It's not an SVT. But its soooo gooooood! Oh yeah, did I mention that it plays LOUD!?
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Yes. Turn off the power, wait a few minutes and pull them.
If you're going to do shotgun troubleshooting you should at least take some voltage measurements. If it works, then see if the voltage drops when attached.
And take a laser thermometer and point it at parts to see if their heating up. ...
Buying each part until you find the problem is just a matter of luck. You can beat luck with science.
You mention you have worked on computers. I recently had a server powering down. From taking a DMM and sending a pictures of the meter probing the MB then sending these to the MB manufacturer - I was able to confirm to them that the power supply was good. They admitted the MB had a defect and it should not have failed. They send out a new MB free. After I've had it for 4 years.
You really should check if it's still under Ampeg warranty. I thought new ones had a 5 year warranty. Refurbs are usually show room amps sold at a lower price.
Really trouble free? Asking as I own an svt 7 for about one month now but I haven't had the opportunity to push it yet.
In the earlier days of Ampegs D class stuff, I had a PF350, PF500 and a 7Pro. All had the cut out issue. I really liked all the simple features of those amps, I just didn't think they were reliable.
Since they came out with the PF800 I haven't seen any posts about this issue for a long time. Same with the 7Pro.
Great to see they fixed it. They're great amps.
Since they came out with the PF800 I haven't seen any posts about this issue for a long time. Same with the 7Pro.
Great to see they fixed it. They're great amps.
Thanks a ton for all the details Pete. Really appreciate your time. Though, I must confess that the main thing I gathered from your instructions is that it's not something I am experienced enough to tackle. The only thing I've ever soldered is some basic wiring with a standard soldering iron. This doesn't sound like a good first project for me to learn these other tools on unless I'm truly prepared to potentially destroy the board. Which, if I'm ordering a new one, isn't catastrophic but I don't feel confident in getting the job done of replacing that ICE2A165 chip on a first try. I will take a look at the one that is currently installed though to compare it with that was described.
And yeah it's not an SVT Classic, but for a 15lb Class D amp it comes close enough to keep me happy!
Thanks SeaMonkey. I'd not prepared to do any chip soldering but This is a good point and probably a good opportunity for me to pick up a laser therm and try to narrow down the problem at least.
Apparently this refurb isn't under warranty any longer.
From what I am able to gather from reading the thread I cited above in message #24, problems with the auxiliary power supply controller chip ICE2A165 (which is under rated) have nothing to do with how loud you play your SVT7 Pro, or how hard you push it. I employ my SVT7 Pro primarily for recording and practicing, ordinarily at relatively low levels compared to playing out live, and my ICE2A165 literally exploded anyway. You probably already know this, but I thought I'd throw it up here.
For my money, the SVT7 Pro sounds so good that to me it's worth the problems I've had with it. That's saying something. The amp has that certain "girth" or "depth" to it, for lack of better words to describe it. This begins to appear in earnest at higher volume levels. I've heard the Mesa D800, and this head audibly shares that characteristic.
Edit: I would think by now Ampeg / Loud, and now, Yamaha would have got a handle on the reoccurring problems with the SVT7 Pro and fixed it.
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Your more than welcome.
Yeah, it used to be easier (or it sure seemed easier) to replace IC's than it is now. These days, the components employed on a PC board are mounted and soldered automatically by robots. It's quite a sight to see, but harder to duplicate manually.
In California I worked at a place called Altatron where they had massive automated machinery to load and solder PC boards. The place ran twenty four hours a day, seven days a week, etc., etc. Amazing. Every four to five months or sometimes more often the whole place shut down for a few days while the people who made the robotic equipment laser aligned all the conveyor tracks that the PC boards traveled along in their journey through the various stations to get automatically loaded up and soldered. The equipment depended on highly precise alignment of the boards on the conveyors which after a while became disrupted by what are known as micro tremors. Micro tremors are earth quakes below about three on the Richter Scale. Ordinarily you don't notice them, but in California, they happen continuously and are enough to throw off the alignment of delicate equipment after a while. The whole dang state is literally vibrating continuously! A good portion of it, anyway.
UPDATE!
Ok, so I was told it would be 5 weeks before I got my new mainboard but it actually came in already. After replacing the older C00 revision board with a new H01 revision board, it's back in action and working great! Of course, since I replaced the entire board I can't say what the exact cause was, only that it did have something to do with that old board. I'm relieved that a $180 part that I could easily install myself was all that was needed to save the gear.
Now this leaves me with an old rev C00 board that I have sitting around that might be able to be fixed by someone who knows what they're doing and used as a backup. If someone here wants it, you can have it for the price of shipping. I'm happy to give it away to anyone who might want to use it to experiment with or to have a backup that they can repair and keep around. Otherwise it will be going to the electronics recycler. Just post here or PM me if you would like me to send it out to you.
Ok, so I was told it would be 5 weeks before I got my new mainboard but it actually came in already. After replacing the older C00 revision board with a new H01 revision board, it's back in action and working great! Of course, since I replaced the entire board I can't say what the exact cause was, only that it did have something to do with that old board. I'm relieved that a $180 part that I could easily install myself was all that was needed to save the gear.
Now this leaves me with an old rev C00 board that I have sitting around that might be able to be fixed by someone who knows what they're doing and used as a backup. If someone here wants it, you can have it for the price of shipping. I'm happy to give it away to anyone who might want to use it to experiment with or to have a backup that they can repair and keep around. Otherwise it will be going to the electronics recycler. Just post here or PM me if you would like me to send it out to you.
Well with all due respect.
The amplifier already failed then repaired and sold as a refurb
Then it failed again.
So your gonna spend more money on a refurbished replacement board.
So you can.....have it fail again?
Firgure out the failure point of this board
And replace with upgraded component.
Not sure. I'd love to not sound sarcastic but I don't recommend anything class d, mosfet or rack mounted by Ampeg.
Unfortunately
The amplifier already failed then repaired and sold as a refurb
Then it failed again.
So your gonna spend more money on a refurbished replacement board.
So you can.....have it fail again?
Firgure out the failure point of this board
And replace with upgraded component.
Not sure. I'd love to not sound sarcastic but I don't recommend anything class d, mosfet or rack mounted by Ampeg.
Unfortunately
Ha - I guess I buttdialed on TB!
The Ampeg SVT 7 Pro issues is considered as fixed with the revision H of the amp. The Ampeg SVT 4 and 3 pro are considered as reliable. Especially the 3.
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