My beloved XTC sounds really bad now

[Everyonesdarling]

Need some advice here: I am not interested in fixing amps so i brought it to a tech where i bought it. Got the tubes changed and payed a fortune for that with the promise this would make the amp sound even better. Payed 450 USD for the tubes and 700 in total for tubes and work.
Went home and turned on my beloved XTC 20th EL34 and the amp sounds really bad. All the 3 channels sound dead. Sounds like i have a thick blanket over my cabinet- this i did not have before. Additionally i have an irritating hum that i can`t get rid of. The amp before was dead quite. This is really a mess. It is a long way to the store and that ordeal was painfully expensive. I could take the amp to another tech but i am not sure what to do since it already cost me a fortune so far.
Before i could really nail the Gary Moore tone from Still got the blues now it sounds like the cheapest transistor amp you can imagine (no exaggeration).

 

[Crunchtime]

Sorry to hear this wish I had advise. $450 sounds really high for tubes. What kind of tubes are they?

 

[sjk]

Need some advice here: I am not interested in fixing amps so i brought it to a tech where i bought it. Got the tubes changed and payed a fortune for that with the promise this would make the amp sound even better. Payed 450 USD for the tubes and 700 in total for tubes and work.
Went home and turned on my beloved XTC 20th EL34 and the amp sounds really bad. All the 3 channels sound dead. Sounds like i have a thick blanket over my cabinet- this i did not have before. Additionally i have an irritating hum that i can`t get rid of. The amp before was dead quite. This is really a mess. It is a long way to the store and that ordeal was painfully expensive. I could take the amp to another tech but i am not sure what to do since it already cost me a fortune so far.
Before i could really nail the Gary Moore tone from Still got the blues now it sounds like the cheapest transistor amp you can imagine (no exaggeration).

I'm really sorry to hear that as they are great amps, but frankly you got ripped off big time, especially on the price of the tubes. Very simple to install (takes all of 2 or 3 minutes minus taking the back panel off which is also a few minutes) and good tubes don't cost near that much. May I ask what brand tubes? The only tubes that would cost near that amount would be NOS. Biasing the amp does not take more than a half hr. Also what tubes did you replace and why? Hope you can get it sounding better

 

[skoora]

Did you play it before leaving the tech?

 

[Ventura]

Ground lift?? Hum...

Have you tried it with a different cab and power source??

Different cable from guitar to amp, and different amp.

$700 was a rip-off for a re-tube and re-bias, IMHO, sorry - just saying, I'd have done that for free if you offered to pay for the new glass. Did they include the pre's in that re-tube?? As in V1 through to PI?? Cuz that's the primary source of problems in a noisy amp. The preamps and PI tube.

Keep us posted - excellent amp you've got there
Mo

 

[Everyonesdarling]

Sorry to hear this wish I had advise. $450 sounds really high for tubes. What kind of tubes are they?

Thanks man. I know i should know which tubes he used but i didn`t ask since i do not have a clue about tubes but i expected them to be top notch since the price was that high and since the tech highly recommended them.

 

[Ventura]

Sorry to hear this wish I had advise. $450 sounds really high for tubes. What kind of tubes are they?

Thanks man. I know i should know which tubes he used but i didn`t ask since i do not have a clue about tubes but i expected them to be top notch since the price was that high and since the tech highly recommended them.

Winged =C= or GL-KT77 to get into that price range.

 

[Everyonesdarling]

Did you play it before leaving the tech?

No i didn`t. I trusted them. This is a guitar shop that sells exclusively boutique amps. So i expected them to have top service.

 

[Everyonesdarling]

Ground lift?? Hum...

Have you tried it with a different cab and power source??

Different cable from guitar to amp, and different amp.

$700 was a rip-off for a re-tube and re-bias, IMHO, sorry - just saying, I'd have done that for free if you offered to pay for the new glass. Did they include the pre's in that re-tube?? As in V1 through to PI?? Cuz that's the primary source of problems in a noisy amp. The preamps and PI tube.

Keep us posted - excellent amp you've got there
Mo

Thanks Mo.
I am almost sure that it hasn`t got anything to do with the cab or the power source since the amp worked flawlessly with that cab and cables before. .
Thing that made me wonder is that the amp was set to 8 OHM when i got it back (i used the 4 OHM setting). I had the amp in class A mode and used the half power setting which they didn`t change (the manual says the following: "when using the half power switch reset the ohms to 1/2 the value of the cabinet. Since most cabs are 8 OHm, at least the Bogner cabs the amp should have been set to 4 ohm. Don`t know if that could contribute to the problems.
And yes Mo i agree the amp was originally fabuluos. To my needs the best amp i have owned. But now it is a mess.
The amp as it is now is nowhere near my line 6 modeller. It is a complete mess. And yes also the pre`s where included in the retube.

 

[Ventura]

Ground lift?? Hum...

Have you tried it with a different cab and power source??

Different cable from guitar to amp, and different amp.

$700 was a rip-off for a re-tube and re-bias, IMHO, sorry - just saying, I'd have done that for free if you offered to pay for the new glass. Did they include the pre's in that re-tube?? As in V1 through to PI?? Cuz that's the primary source of problems in a noisy amp. The preamps and PI tube.

Keep us posted - excellent amp you've got there
Mo

Thanks Mo.
I am almost sure that it hasn`t got anything to do with the cab or the power source since the amp worked flawlessly with that cab and cables before. .
Thing that made me wonder is that the amp was set to 8 OHM when i got it back (i used the 4 OHM setting). I had the amp in class A mode and used the half power setting which they didn`t change (the manual says the following: "when using the half power switch reset the ohms to 1/2 the value of the cabinet. Since most cabs are 8 OHm, at least the Bogner cabs the amp should have been set to 4 ohm. Don`t know if that could contribute to the problems.
And yes Mo i agree the amp was originally fabuluos. To my needs the best amp i have owned. But now it is a mess.
The amp as it is now is nowhere near my line 6 modeller. It is a complete mess. And yes also the pre`s where included in the retube.

You know, I feel for ya...

Ultimately - after browsing over all the stuff you've done, tried, paid for and the like - if I were in your shoes?? I'd send that amp to Bogner in LA. I'm not sure of your whereabouts, but I'm 'assuming' somewhere in the US. I know it's more money out of pocket, but really - get it to the right people and the guys at Bogner HQ are definitely the right people. Sucks, but ultimately, once you get your amp back - all this will be history and that's that; the money spent won't seem so paramount, and you'll know who to call in the event anything goes sideways after getting it back.

Just a thought.

 

[Ventura]

And the impedance setting on the back of the amp could just be related to what the guys at the other shop were using for a load. I'd not fret too much about it.

 

[messenger]

I'm more shocked about the $250 to change the tubes and bias. What's that half hour worth of work

 

[Everyonesdarling]

Ground lift?? Hum...

Have you tried it with a different cab and power source??

Different cable from guitar to amp, and different amp.

$700 was a rip-off for a re-tube and re-bias, IMHO, sorry - just saying, I'd have done that for free if you offered to pay for the new glass. Did they include the pre's in that re-tube?? As in V1 through to PI?? Cuz that's the primary source of problems in a noisy amp. The preamps and PI tube.

Keep us posted - excellent amp you've got there
Mo

Thanks Mo.
I am almost sure that it hasn`t got anything to do with the cab or the power source since the amp worked flawlessly with that cab and cables before. .
Thing that made me wonder is that the amp was set to 8 OHM when i got it back (i used the 4 OHM setting). I had the amp in class A mode and used the half power setting which they didn`t change (the manual says the following: "when using the half power switch reset the ohms to 1/2 the value of the cabinet. Since most cabs are 8 OHm, at least the Bogner cabs the amp should have been set to 4 ohm. Don`t know if that could contribute to the problems.
And yes Mo i agree the amp was originally fabuluos. To my needs the best amp i have owned. But now it is a mess.
The amp as it is now is nowhere near my line 6 modeller. It is a complete mess. And yes also the pre`s where included in the retube.

You know, I feel for ya...

Ultimately - after browsing over all the stuff you've done, tried, paid for and the like - if I were in your shoes?? I'd send that amp to Bogner in LA. I'm not sure of your whereabouts, but I'm 'assuming' somewhere in the US. I know it's more money out of pocket, but really - get it to the right people and the guys at Bogner HQ are definitely the right people. Sucks, but ultimately, once you get your amp back - all this will be history and that's that; the money spent won't seem so paramount, and you'll know who to call in the event anything goes sideways after getting it back.

Just a thought.

Thanks again Mo,
i will contact Bogner and check how much i had to pay to send since i life in Europe. I just used a currency calculator and calculated the amounts above in USD since most of you guys here on the forum are from the US. Otherwise i have a friend who told me that he knows someone that is a very good amp tech.

 

[Racerxrated]

Sometimes if the bias is way off one direction or the other an amp can sound terrible. I had a Marshall 2203 that had the tubes biased around 10ma. Sounded lifeless. Turned up the bias screw till they hit 35-37ma, totally different amp. Maybe the tech screwed that up.

 

[ibzprestige]

I had a similar issue before with amps, and yes it was the bias was wayyy too low. If you're comfortable enough to check the bias I would do that.

 

[Ventura]

Thanks again Mo,
i will contact Bogner and check how much i had to pay to send since i life in Europe. I just used a currency calculator and calculated the amounts above in USD since most of you guys here on the forum are from the US. Otherwise i have a friend who told me that he knows someone that is a very good amp tech.

Eeeeeek!!

Didn't know you were in Europe. That said, calling Bogner HQ to see if they've got an authorized dealer in your country or close by may be the first move in the right direction. By the time you add freight, insurance, and the previous costs of "repairing" this amp, ya, it's getting a bit ludicrous. That said, I'd be interested to know what these guys who "worked on" the amp have to say. Are they local?? If so take the amp there - plug it in - play it and see what's up with them present. Somewhere along the line we have to start deducting variables from this equation to isolate the issue.

But ya, call Bogner tomorrow - they oughta be open. PM me if you need their "inside" email address

[Noted above, a low bias/cold tubes can also affect circuitry... I believe I went with 32-32.5mA per tube in my 20thX-EL34 GoldLion-KT77 matched quad]

 

[cecilbag]

Honestly you got shafted. I would go back to that store and get some money back and have them do what you paid them to do. If they don't have a qualified tech, they should be refunding all but what the tubes actually cost providing they even put new tubes in it. At the price they are charging, they seem shady enough to have not even swapped tubes. I would mention the name of the shop and perhaps some EU members can guide you to a good place.

 

[Everyonesdarling]

Thanks a lot to all of you! I will do what i can to get my XTC fixed. It`s a 2,5 hours ride to that store. Most likely i am best adviced to check with the other amp tech. That means more money to pay. If that doesn`t work i will call Bogner. I think there is only one authorized dealer in this country and that is were i was .
Wish me luck.
I will keep you updated.
Thanks again

 

[sapphireskiss]

$700 hundred for a retube, and now it sounds like shit. You need to contact that guy and get that straightened out, ship it if you need to, but make sure you pick it up in person and check it there before you leave, which is what you should have done in the first place, sorry.

 

[Crunchtime]

I would advise Bogner to consider finding a new authorized repair shop.