What happened to my amp??

[Markus B]

Hello all,

I'm a little puzzled as to what happened while I was practicing with the band.

I have a 1996 Eden Traveler (WT-400) and an Eden 4x10 XLT, my signal chain is

Jazz Bass (1999 5-string active) -> Boss TU2 tuner -> Sans AMP Tech 21 -> MXR Bass Compressor -> Boss Overdrive -> Q-Tron -> Bos Chorus ...

The compressor is the newest link in the chain and I'll freely admit, the least understood. I dialed in a great sound/volume (at least by my bandmates opinion) when about 3 hours in, my amp distorted and lost most of its volume. Sweeping the amp gain to max and volume to max (as a means of trouble shooting) were ineffectual. I ruled out the battery in the bass - played it on a separate amp later the next morning and the following morning, I tried out the amp on the cabinet with no effects and so far it's performing well.

I'm not sure what happened...did I over overdrive the amp? Was it in thermal protection? I'm worried now that if I decide to try that same set up again, the same thing is going to happen. I feel like I'm just missing something fundamental.

Thanks,
Mark

 

[anderbass]

Next time it you get this issue, try patching a guitar cord in-between Send & Return Jacks of your amps Effects Loop.

If this Instantly solves the problem, you've just diagnosed the very common issue of a dirty, tarnished or defective Shunt in your amps Return Jack causing a poor connection; and you could choose to either have your Return Jack cleaned or replaced. Or you could choose the option of simply leaving a short (angled-plug) pedal cord patching your effects loop permanently like I did.

That tiny little Shunt inside your Return Jack is what makes the electrical connection In-between your amps pre-amp & power-amp sections, anytime your NOT using the effects loop. Using a guitar cord to patch in-between the send & return jacks totally eliminates the need for that little shunt to function correctly.

I've circled the Shunt in this pic:

 

[FunkHead]

I doubt it was a thermal shutdown because it lost most of its volume but didn't shut down completely.

If it happens again, I would remove all pedals from the chain and just go bass >> Amp.
Then, one at a time, add back in the pedals. It may be a bad cable or pedal so that's the only way to narrow it down...

 

[Markus B]

Next time it you get this issue, try patching a guitar cord in-between Send & Return Jacks of your amps Effects Loop.

If this Instantly solves the problem, you've just diagnosed the very common issue of a dirty, tarnished or defective Shunt in your amps Return Jack causing a poor connection; and you could choose to either have your Return Jack cleaned or replaced. Or you could choose the option of simply leaving a short (angled-plug) pedal cord patching your effects loop permanently like I did.

That tiny little Shunt inside your Return Jack is what makes the electrical connection In-between your amps pre-amp & power-amp sections, anytime your NOT using the effects loop. Using a guitar cord to patch in-between the send & return jacks totally eliminates the need for that little shunt to function correctly.

I've circled the Shunt in this pic:

View attachment 5158307

Interesting! Thank you. Although I didn't use my send/return jacks just right from the pedal board into the amp... but maybe I'll go through the effects loop now.

 

[Markus B]

I doubt it was a thermal shutdown because it lost most of its volume but didn't shut down completely.

If it happens again, I would remove all pedals from the chain and just go bass >> Amp.
Then, one at a time, add back in the pedals. It may be a bad cable or pedal so that's the only way to narrow it down...

So I tried that (bass -> amp) when it was giving me problems and I had the same thing happen...distortion, almost no volume.... I'll try again recabling