What amp problems have you had?

[dstroud]

The other thread got me thinking - I've only ever had problems with a couple amps...

GK250ML - blew up on the road, was just a diode rectifier in the psu I think
DSL100 - had a very wierd problem - clean channel on crunch would get less and more gain randomly ... turned out to be a bad relay

Of all my years that's the only problems I've had.

edit - original topic title of "most unreliable amps" wasn't very appropriate. Even the amps that I had fixed I still considered reliable after they were fixed - so a better topic is what kind of problems have you had with amps?

 

[wIsEbLooD]

just tubes new and old, you never know when they are going to die.
the only other problems i have had have been self inflicted like breaking off pot shafts.

 

[Jack Napalm]

Had my Randall RM100LB blow up last weekend when I turned it on. The fuse didn't blow but the solder joint did and all around that spot on the board other contact points were affected. The fuse was still good.

 

[Solid Snake]

Mostly tubes going bad at rather inopportune times, other then that I had a coupling cap go in my mark iii.

 

[phil b]

My first amp was a Stage65 combo amp that kept smoking and burning. Had it fixed 3 times and it kept burning out again. Sold that and would not call it reliable. Had a JCM800 that Ken Fischer modded and the plastic tube base melted around the poweramp tube. Cant remember what tubes Ken put in there but they were toast. He "toned it down" a bit and it was fine ever since. One amp I am really sorry I sold. Had a Brand New Dual Rec. give me problems {ser. 184 or 189} and had to have it fixed twice. Got #33 direct from Boogie and its been going strong to this day.

 

[Greazygeo]

My first good amp was a Yamaha G100-210, bought it new when I was 15. It worked great until I started gigging, then it would just quit part way thru the gig.....took it in a few times and they couldnt find the problem. Eventually they sent it back to Yamaha and they found a cracked pcb. It would heat up and then expand and no sound.

First Marshall was a 72 50 watt....sounded great but blew up ALOT!!

Lots more where that came from!

 

[Ventura]

Tubes, mostly. But sometimes hot solder points going apeshit and melting the PCB...FX loops that didn't like the strength of signal and would pop a pre then send a blast to my power section (never pleasant)...transformers getting weird.

That's about it. Few and far between really.

V.

 

[Jimmie]

Triaxis, burned up a resistor so badly that I couldn't tell the value, Mitch Faber at Mesa hooked me up with the right value and it never blew again. then I had both RM100's blow up bad, I bought one of them already blown up for a song. Doug at Randall hooked me up with two updated power distribution boards before he made the move to Egnater. they don't arc out anymore. I had a Gallian Kruger 250ML blow up also, actually loaned it out to a buddy, he blew it up when he was playing out and made it right, apparently the transformer fried? cost him an arm and a leg. I told him not to worry about it, but he went ahead and did it anyway. blew up a shitload of Marshalls over the years, cept for my Diamond Jubilee, wish I still had it, traded it to get into the triaxis. ah well

 

[threadkiller]

Other than some tubes I never really had much trouble until I got my mp-1 a couple of years ago and I can't really complain about that since it is so old. Minor problems with it but it turned out to be a real saga to figure out.

First the input jack was positional and worn out basically. Unfortunately, that jack is apparently unavailable. I took it to an electronics guy (not an amp tech, first mistake) and he was able to clean up the jack and tighten the contacts. The level pot was also dirty and he cleaned it up but really didn't help that much. I bought a Fryette 2502 to use with the mp 1 and with a triaxis I had bought used. Brand new and the power amp started blowing the channel fuses. Couldn't figure it out and ended up sending it back to Guitar Center within my 30 days and got a replacement. Everything worked fine for about 3 months. Then I started getting this brown out/loss of signal on one channel of my power amp. It happened only on the side I was running the mp-1 on and I figured it was something with the pre amp. Bought some new tubes for it and no help. Shortly thereafter it started blowing the power amp channel fuse on that side again. Great, more trouble with a second, supposedly rock solid, power amp. Emailed Fryette and their customer support was really good. Sent me some new power tubes. Didn't help. They had me take it too a tech under warranty. He ran it on a load for about 4 hours and went over it and there was nothing he could find wrong with it. I was like, why is it blowing fuses on me then? He had me bring my whole rig to him. Turned out I had a loose speaker wire in my cab. He theorized that this might have been causing some kind of high frequency oscillation causing the channel fuse to blow. These are only 1/2 amp fuses. While we had it all hooked up he said you know your input jack is screwed up on your mp-1 not to mention your cruddy level pot. I said I know but I've already had it looked at and was told this was as good as I could get it. He told me to leave it with him. He was able to replace the input jack though the original type jack is indeed unavailable. He was also able to actually clean up my level pot so that it actually works. We think what happened was the combination of the bad input jack and dirty pot was causing the "brown out"/loss of signal I was experiencing and that channel fuse on my power amp was blowing because of a combination of this and the bad speaker wire connection in my cab. The tech is awesome and will bend over backwards to fix your problem. His name is Yontz at Mad Science Works in Raleigh, NC and if you ever need any amp work in the area I highly recommend him.

Overall this was a couple of stupid little problems but it was a massive pain in the ass to sort out and took several months. Guess thats what I get for buying 20 year old used gear. If it didn't sound so good I would scrap it all and go back to a head.

 

[zee1usa]

Mesa

I had some issues with a couple of Dual Rec Roadkings about 5 years ago right off the production line purchased new.
It took almost a year to resolve this issue, partly due to guitar center as well.

1)Boost or solo circuit had an issue on one did not work even after a new cable for foot switch and taking amp apart to confirm gounding on pot.
2) the other had a relay issue where it would click or drop out while playing which I believe was an issue with the early RK1 before a certain serial number.

Diezel:

My VH4 had to be serviced in LA because the relays would freak out usually when I turned the amp on, click back and fourth a hundred times, and the lights would freak out. I believe a board was swapped out for a midi problem?
before sending it in for service I was sent a new microprocessor board which did not fix.


I still have both amps and seem to be fine so far. Both are killer amps!

 

[Bishop5150]

Fuses and tubes.

 

[Code001]

GH100L - It was dirty as hell, so I decided to clean it up a bit. I also went inside and cleaned the pots with cleaner. I didn't let the cleaner fully dry, and when I turned it on, I blew a screen grid resistor.
5150 - I had two bad batches of preamp tubes (both 9th gens). Third set seems to be going strong.

 

[zuel69]

My main amp problem right now is caused by freaking UPS. They managed to lose a Wizard Metal in my home town. Nothing like waiting for the brown truck and having it not show up...f*ckers.

 

[EXPcustom]

Mesa and their shitty series loop on the later rectos.

 

[Giga]

Peavey Special combo: would pop so loud at powering up and down that speakercone got stuck in the fully-outward position.
VTM120: burned ribbonconnectors on/to powerampboard. Line6 AX212: suddenly no sound, repaired under warranty, no idea what caused it. Diezel VH4: random midi drama, apparently couldn't be solved. Herbert: also midi troubles and a mid-cut circuit acting up, also no solution. VHT GP3, had that one during the time of the bad JJ's and the first batches of Tungsol 12AX7's, so a lot of tubefailures. VHT 2/50/2 popping fuses randomly during the first few hours, a problem I've heard about on more than one occasion, later a disintegrating impedance-switch. VHT SIG:X: bad contacts in the loopjacks, switchingcircuit malfunction, running very very hot. Old London City: blew the OT. SLO: bad contacts in preamp tubesocket. Basically, I ruin everything

Giga

 

[Code001]

Mesa and their shitty series loop on the later rectos.

I think you mean parallel loops, unless you're talking about the 2010 ones?

 

[rottingcorpse]

juggernaut broke my randall x2.

i had an isp theta head that sounded like ass, no matter what i did with it. it sounded so bad, it's tone still haunts the corners of my amp room years after selling it.

and my marshall kerry king had a noise gate problem after kerry borrowed it. yep, kerry king broke my amp. and the plastic nut on the input jack is stripped.

 

[stephen sawall]

Tubes, resistors, capacitors, jacks and pots that need cleaning or replacing, blown speakers. One time I had a power tube go and it melted the stand by switch open. A friend had a gig and I let him borrow one of mine. He decided to run a preamp into the front of it to get the "crunch" he likes and messed up a good chunk of the preamp. I melted a transformer (and I do mean melt). It sounded amazing right before it went, a true swansong. I am sure I have forgot a few things.

Amps are like women and cars .... it is only a matter of time till you have a problem.

 

[EXPcustom]

Mesa and their shitty series loop on the later rectos.

I think you mean parallel loops, unless you're talking about the 2010 ones?

Parallel loops

It was late last night when I posted and I mixed up the terminology.

 

[Digital Jams]

Blew up 2 power tubes on the mkiv while it was dimed.

My wet/dry rig with full rack tripped my 20a breaker once

Have 3 greenbacks in the corner smoked from the fortin cali