SVT II problems

[ninerfan]

I was playing with my guitarist today and my new to me SVT II non-pro started going in and out. We were playing at low volume at the time. I was playing and the sound faded and there was a faint buzzing, then it came back. We continued to play and it happened again. It went out for about 10 seconds each time before coming back.

The tubes are sovteks and have little use on them. They were all glowing when I checked. The amp was in storage for 3 years before the guy pulled it out and sold it to me. Cosmetically it is great and in the original Ampeg rack, so I don't think it was abused. The guy said it was regularly maintained by a tech. Up until this point it has performed perfectly.

What could the problem be? Severe ($200+) or minor(<$100)? The guy said if there were any issues he would gladly buy it back. I went to his house to pick it up, so I know where he lives and I really think he is a stand up guy. I love this amp and want it to work. Oh yeah, I sold my SVT-CL today to pay for the II as the II had no issues at all for a week up to this point.

Any would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[sincity]

I was playing with my guitarist today and my new to me SVT II non-pro started going in and out. We were playing at low volume at the time. I was playing and the sound faded and there was a faint buzzing, then it came back. We continued to play and it happened again. It went out for about 10 seconds each time before coming back.

The tubes are sovteks and have little use on them. They were all glowing when I checked. The amp was in storage for 3 years before the guy pulled it out and sold it to me. Cosmetically it is great and in the original Ampeg rack, so I don't think it was abused. The guy said it was regularly maintained by a tech. Up until this point it has performed perfectly.

What could the problem be? Severe ($200+) or minor(<$100)? The guy said if there were any issues he would gladly buy it back. I went to his house to pick it up, so I know where he lives and I really think he is a stand up guy. I love this amp and want it to work. Oh yeah, I sold my SVT-CL today to pay for the II as the II had no issues at all for a week up to this point.

Any would be appreciated. Thanks.

My SVT II (non-pro) had the same problem. It ended up being a problem in the effects circuit, even though I did not use effects through the head. Cost me about $150.00. That included a good tune-up of the head. SVT II (non-pro) heads are a little more time consuming to work on, so the cost is a little higher.

 

[ninerfan]

Is it going to damage my head to continue to play out of it or should I leave it off until I can have it looked at?

 

[sincity]

Is it going to damage my head to continue to play out of it or should I leave it off until I can have it looked at?

I would not continue to play the head until you have a tech look at it.

 

[brothernewt]

Oh I hate to hear that...

I had a similar problem with one a long while ago, power stayed on but signal intermittantly cut in/out. It turns out it was the input jack. It had simply been tugged/yanked/pulled on too much and the solder started cracking. I don't remember what it cost me to fix, but it was relatively cheap.

More recently I had similar problem with another I bought, took to a local shop for repair. They wound up changing all the tubes (even though they had very few hours on them) and charging me a fortune (my wife signed and paid for it without me knowing... so was little room to haggle with the shop).

If you haven't already, you might try a thorough cleaining... contact point cleaner in all the jacks, blow some dust out with compressed air, etc... having been stored for that period of time can let dust get in places it wouldn't under normal usage.

 

[tZer]

See if you can get TB'er, Jerrold Tiers (I think that's his name) to respond to your issue. He is an Ampeg tech.

 

[i_got_a_mohawk]

It could be a few things. Like brothernewt says, it might need a cleaning, if its just been sitting there for a couple years.

It could be an intermittent solder connection somewhere?

Sorry to hear about this, they are awesome amps!

 

[pbass2go]

My SVT2 had a similar problem recently. I bought it use on the 'bay. Took it out to a gig, and it stopped putting out sound after the third song. Thank goodness for a backup amp.

The next day everything was fine. I even played through the first set again to work it up. Happened again on another gig. Finnaly took it to my tech and he told me there was a problem with the filiment voltage. Anyway, he cleaned it up and put a new set of power tubes in it for under $300.

Cheers and good luck. This amp rocks when it is running strong.