SamPlaysBass Posted July 17, 2017 Share Posted July 17, 2017 Recently bought a TecAmp Puma 900 (Made in Germany) from a lovely chap in Cardiff. It sounded the dogs, but recently I've found it distorting at the input stage. Even with the gain at 8 o'clock, it sounds like I'm running a Big Muff through it! I've emailed both TecAmp USA and Eich who have offered to take the amp and repair it at my expense, which may be rather costly depending on what needs replacing and shipping etc. The guy who I bought it from owned the amp from new and purchased the head from Bass Direct. He has also said that he'd give me my money back, but before I do, where else can I go? Where is the A Team when I need them? Help? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
franzbassist Posted July 17, 2017 Share Posted July 17, 2017 Have you eliminated all other possibilities? If you play an active bass, has it got a fresh battery for example? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukeFRC Posted July 17, 2017 Share Posted July 17, 2017 What Walbassist said. Then try this - get an active bass (or a preamp of some kind something else with more gain to it than a passive bass) - Plug it in the the effect return, this bypasses the front end totally. Does it still distort? If not (and I suspect you've worked this out already) its the preamp stage. the good news is the preamps in these aren't totally complex - and my old puma was all sensibly designed PCBs - so an electronics expert in the UK should be able to fix it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M@23 Posted July 17, 2017 Share Posted July 17, 2017 If it is faulty, and German, I'd go to Eich. They were extremely friendly and helpful when I was I the same situation. They diagnosed it over a Skype call and then gave me info to relay to my tech. If it has to go back, Germany has to he cheaper than the states? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SamPlaysBass Posted July 17, 2017 Author Share Posted July 17, 2017 I've tried the bass with fresh battery and with a GK RB700 A/Bing with the same cables, cabs etc. Worth checking though, cheers Wal! The fuzz only happens after you give it some beans - it's like it hits the limiter but doesn't return to normal properly, if that makes sense? And that's not stupid clipping (i.e. full gain and whacking it), that's using the blue LED to show you where it's clipping and turning down. It's also audible though the headphone socket leading me to think it's the input stage, but I'll try putting it through the FX return to see what that does. Thank you for that! The misleading thing is that when you fire the amp up, it plays beautifully. It's only when you increase the input gain and play with some force that the distortion happens - but it's as instant as stepping on a pedal. Beautiful, clean tone and then.... METAL CLIFF BURTON NOISE EVERYWHERE haha. I'm impressed at the reply time, how much have people been charged? I know it could differ, but just to give me an idea. Eich seem like a good company to deal with. Or could a tech have a go? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
franzbassist Posted July 18, 2017 Share Posted July 18, 2017 (edited) Thomas Eich is a great guy and if it were me I would send it back to him. I wouldn't even begin to consider sending it to the US. The price differential between shipping to the EU and somewhere in the UK for a small amp like that won't be huge, and that way you know it'll be sorted by the man who knows best... Edited July 18, 2017 by walbassist Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassBunny Posted July 18, 2017 Share Posted July 18, 2017 Might be worth dropping Mike Walsh, Zoot Bass, as he used to be the UK distributor for Tech Amp and had to stand any warranty claims. He should know a repairer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V2factoryman Posted July 18, 2017 Share Posted July 18, 2017 All I can say is that I had a problem with a Puma 1000 which I'd bought used on here (to be clear, a problem eventually arose, not straight away) and Thomas Eich was extremely helpful. It took a while to identify the actual problem, and it had to go back again, but it got sorted in the end Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.gif.9ad672bb8b84505709f76b39c8c256ec.gif)
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.