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Traynor Monoblock II up in smoke today.

O

oinkbanana

Oct 20, 2011
291
4
#1
A Traynor Monoblock II went up in smoke toda
the other guitarist started using it into an Link Removed for extra umph, but we were trying out a new bassist so he plugged into there too. and we plugged in the extra [Invalid or Expired Link Removed] we have for even more lows. we were running the amp close to dimed.

Not sure if the input signal was too hot
Not sure if the maxed out EQ was a bad idea
Not sure if running two 4Ohm cabs took it to the edge
Not sure if we were pulling too much juice from the circuit (lowering the voltage)
but it started smoking
smelt burnt for over an hour, and it never produced another sound.

these heads should handle 2Ohms without a sweat right?



the block belonged to the drummer. i'm sure he's sad.
 
#3
It's made to take 2 ohms, though I'm not sure that anything does 2 ohms dimed "without a sweat." At any rate, it's a very old amp. There could be a variety of reasons it went down and maybe the way you were running it was just incidental.
 
#5
It's a sad sad day to see a Traynor go up in smoke. Not a common occurrence. It may be fixable though. I personally think it'd be worth the repair. I don't have any experience with the Mono II specifically but most Traynor amps I have worked on were all very easy to service.
 
#8
JimmyM said:
This is a joke thread. Gotta be.
Click to expand...
not sure why i'd be joking...
just wanted to bounce some ides.
i'm really surprised it smoked, I always had the impression those things are built like tanks.

it's gonna get serviced, that's for certain. no amp graves.

Me thinks you and the guitarist owe the drummer another amp. A guitar and A BASS through an amp running wide open with with the bass maxxed??? And you asked what went wrong? Some people.
Click to expand...
i personally have no liability in this (aside from lending my 18" cab at their request). I play my gear and don't like to borrow for exactly these situations... hesitate lending as well (but that's another story). I figure they design amps to be dimed, max knob values are arbitrary to design. assume it's a poor design if an amp can't handle it's own values. no?
and using both inputs is only likely to mud up the signal, no overload it.
I assume these things- but school on - I didn't start this thread to only hear myself talk

monoblocks are the LAST amp i'd expect to burn out.
 
#9
oinkbanana said:
I figure they design amps to be dimed, max knob values are arbitrary to design. assume it's a poor design if an amp can't handle it's own values. no?
Click to expand...

No, not at all. Do they automobile design engines to run constantly at or above their rev limiter? Just because the gas pedal goes all the way down, you don't keep your foot in it the whole time. Like engines, all amplifiers have their limitations and it's up to the operator to make sure they operate the amplifier within its reasonable limits.
 
#14
Some amps handle diming everything better than others, but even the most stout designs can only take so much. You were clearly asking for more than what that amp had to offer by diming it AND making it a 2 ohm load with wildly mismatched speakers.
 
#15
I can get behind the gas pedal analogy. I always figured a dimed amp was like a non-master-volume, ya know? not all amps built equal; check.



JimmyM said:
Some amps handle diming everything better than others, but even the most stout designs can only take so much. You were clearly asking for more than what that amp had to offer by diming it AND making it a 2 ohm load with wildly mismatched speakers.
Click to expand...
why would mismatched speakers make a difference?


I was actually considering adding the 18" to my svt810 for my SVT-VR. should I not even bother trying? (we're a doom band, everyone plays bass and guitar amps)
 
#16
Because the 18" will likely take way less power than your 610 and won't have nearly as much output, which often leads to more turning up, which often leads to blowing the weaker cab. In your case, the head went first.
 

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