agedhorse

Or, they had inventory from orders placed months ago and you were lucky to find them.

I spend some time each day tracking down parts and production schedules that have been upended by one thing or another related to this matter. Just as a glimpse into the manufacturing world, here's the availability of SMT resistors from a large supplier of parts for all industries (including ours): https://www.trustedparts.com/en/search/tt-electronics/M55342K12B I have had nightmares less scary than this.

Yes, it’s a very real thing.

No, a class D amp can reproduce DC if the designer wished it to, just like a class AB amp. In fact a class D amp generally has higher performance at low frequencies. The HPF has to be designed into the amp, the same as for any amp.

This is basically what has driven most companies down this path, it the consumer won't buy it because of price alone, then price will become the overwhelming driving factor.

Everybody shares responsibility, and for many, many reasons.

Everywhere in the world is having these problems. For slightly different reasons, but no region is unaffected.

The problems are global, not related to our side of the pond. We have European manufacturers that can not build components for exactly the same reasons we can’t… unavailability of raw materials and component parts. This has nothing to do with our side of the pond. Transformer vendors (of line frequency parts) today can’t get materials in production quantities without long delays. Lamination steel of all grades, bobbins, terminals, insulation tubing/tapes and TCOs are all impacted. This has nothing to do with our side of the pond. Transformers “wound” in back street shops are not an option for real manufacturers because for the EU market, they MUST be designed, certified, constructed and tested to YOUR EU safety standards. The factories must also be inspected at least quarterly by a nationally recognized test lab inspector.This has nothing to do with our side of the pond. Currently that would be IEC 62368, it’s a European standard, and it’s not optional. All power and output transformers must comply. The shop must be registered as an approved manufacturer by the NRTL that’s responsible for certification of compliance. This has nothing to do with our side of the pond Test labs globally, including in the EU, are backed up with extremely long lead times. This has nothing to do with our side of the pond. Regarding tubes/valves, there were as many western European manufacturers of tubes as US manufacturers back in the day. Now, there are no US or western European manufacturers, they are all built in eastern Europe and Asia. This has nothing to do with our side of the pond. The global shipping industry is heavily impacted. We are experiencing very long delays and prices that are ~10x higher than before. This includes products originating from the EU as well. We use a lot of European components and materials, we struggle with delays due to our European partners inability to source materials, shortage of labor and shipping. This has nothing to do with our side of the pond. This is a global issue, it’s almost certain that delays and shortages will continue for maybe even a year or two at this point as manufacturers work through their back orders. This has nothing to do with our side of the pond.

The commonality of parts is not just a recent thing, it goes back 50+ years to the use of common tubes/valves, semiconductors, pots/switches, knobs, etc. There are commonly accepted architecture based on years and years of development and then refinement, architectures that didn't work out get dropped by the wayside and the successful architectures live on. Every designer has their own take on several basic power amp architectures for example. Every day, and sometimes in the middle of the night in a bad dream that seemingly won't end.

Yeah, too bad it took them forty-something years (and tens of thousands of amps) to "fail". Plenty of pro bassists used them as well.

The protective earth ground is never lifted from the chassis, it’s not allowed (via a switch or otherwise) under any code for a class 1 safety certified device in any region that I am aware of. Lifting circuit ground is different, though generally goes hand in hand with transformer isolation on unbalanced applications (including ABY boxes).

Erm, no it’s not. A DI takes an unbalanced ground referenced signal and balances it. It also floats the signal from ground. It requires a TS input cable, not TRS. that amp has the balancing circuitry built into the amp, so all that’s needed is a TRS to XLR male adapter cable.

This is what you want, the terminations are standard.

No idea, I never saw that. Peavey used a black MEK glue that was really tough and hard. Usually the aluminum fractured at the edge of the dust cap where it became the lip that fit over the top edge of the bobbin. Once it stated cracking, the fracture would travel and the dust cap would kind of come apart. It's possible that Peavey used a different glue for the European market, the MEK glue was quite toxic and for the most part it's been phased out in the favor on more advanced adhesives. At one point, the industry tried CA adhesives, they didn't work all that well until new formulations came into being, and now some manufacturers use UV cure adhesives. Also, at one point, Peavey used a one piece dust cap/bobbin assembly, that was also problematic and expensive to form. These also fractured right at the edge:

Where the joint at the cone neck fails, if you do an analysis of the failure you will find that the glue itself was fine but the paper of the cone neck itself fails. This was before the industry recognized the need for reinforcing the cone necks in higher powered speakers, especially those with shallow cone profiles. Other manufacturers encountered the same thing, and one of my projects was the development of revised cones with reinforced necks for drivers that we had originally used throughout the company I worked for at the time. The surround separating from the basket is more likely a production problem rather than a glue problem, this is also something that every manufacturer has to deal with. The dust cap separating from the cone is also likely a production problem since the glue used for that bond was completely different from the other glues. Back then, there were 3 different adhesives used. There were also issues with the aluminum dust cap fatiguing and actually fracturing around the glue line because the MEK glue was so hard and there was too aggressive heat treatment of the aluminum. This too was an industry wide issue, and one reason why manufacturers moved away from aluminum dust caps. They must be very thin (IIRC it's about 0.003" (0.07mm) aluminum and it must be very stiff, therefore it must be heat treated to a high degree which makes it vulnerable to stress cracking. Even JBL had some issues over the years, and they were the first to successfully perfect the process.

It's possible that there's a bit of magnetic debris stuck in the gap, or just as common would be bits of deteriorating foam from the magnet structure vent. To remedy this, two different methods are used depending on what the problem is. 1. Magnetic debris requires the use of folded over masking tape (sticky side out), and patiently running around the gap. It may take 5 or 6 iterations of doing this before it's clean. 2. Foam residue requires the use of a business card type paper stock, wet it with mineral spirits, and run that around the gap again and again, changing cards as needed. It may take a dozen iterations of this before it['s clean. Also, very gently clean the inside and outside of the voice coil to remove any foam debris that may have melted to the surfaces. I have never heard of the defective glue issue, nor have I seen it, and I serviced a lot of BW drivers (both in and out of warranty). The assembly is generally very well done. IF you need to buy a replacement basket, be sure to use the same part number that was originally used with the motor, there are some newer baskets that are not fully compatible with the old motors. They may physically fit (sort-of), but the power handling is no greater and the sensitivity ends up being significantly lower. You can always email Peavey support to verify that your basket and motor are compatible. IIRC, there were 3 different motor series.

Generally it has to do with timing issues, but with the protect LED on, it sounds like either something g else, or multiple problems simultaneously.

The lube residue is a very thin, almost microscopic layer. The D-5 is a 5% solution of Deoxit (red) and 95% carrier. If you were to place one drop on the surface and then remove 95%, you can see how little we are talking about.

There's noting inherently wrong with SMPS, they just require a lot more knowledge, skill and test equipment to repair. It's a trade-off for smaller size and weight and greater performance. Because SMPS (not unlike transformers) area custom product, there's only so much support available when the parts are no longer available. This is one reason why we went with the more expensive ICEPower platform, they build these by the tens of thousands because they are used by other bass amp manufacturers and in other industries as well. This means that the parts are stocked by many more sources. Without being able to identify what exactly is not working properly, it's hard to suggest a solution.

One of the biggest issues with the coiled cords is that they are usually manufactured with twisted "foil wrapped around a fiber core" tinsel wire which has a smaller than expected cross sectional area. What appears to be say 18 AWG may in fact be 22 AWG in reality. (AWG = American Wire Gauge). Because of the cylindrical wrapping and twisting in the tinsel wire fabrication, the inductance can also be higher and depending on how it's fabricated (twisted or braided), even the capacitance can be higher too.

Unfortunately, I see thing often enough to suggest that your next step is a new set of pots. They will probably continue to deteriorate due to the element being damaged. D5 contains all the lubricant necessary for regular rotary pots, just the tiniest amount possible is plenty. The F5 is for faders, it's way more oily and frankly doesn't work well on fader or rotary pots. Faders, being so exposed, are particularly vulnerable to debris and all that lube does is attract more debris.

The problem has nothing to do with tubes or anything like that. Generally the power supplies are not repairable because the safety certification (especially in the EU) depends on many critical factors within the power supply itself. It's no different than trying to repair a conventional power transformer that fails... it can't be rewound without break-down voltage testing and re-certifying as the EU safety regulations view these parts as critical to safety. This is true of all SMPS (including those integrated into class D power amps, mostly designed in the EU by the way, we are not allowed to repair except for a limited number of specific faults). That said, I see a failed NeoPak SMPS maybe once a year at the most, and I'm the factory service guy (the brand is still supported, but sometimes it's not economical to do so outside of N. America. Generally I can repair most defects, but some components are no longer manufactured and as of the beginning of this year I don't have any of those components left. I did have a few replacement supplies, but none are left. The amp was discontinued 18 years ago, and though I still support just about everything with the amp except the parts (specifically the power supply) that I do not have. I can support any Fender authorized service center in the EU that is willing to work on it though. They are not easy to work on however (even with the factory test fixtures), they are tricky and depend on critical timing throughout the circuit. They can also be very dangerous without a transformer isolated test bench and equipment. Most techs don't work on SMPS for these reasons. Regarding the more recent amps that use the ICEPower modules, these are all still in stock (still a current part) and available to any Fender authorized service center through the Fender EU parts network. For those in N. America, there's an $85 flat rate factory service program for all of these amps. I know that doesn't help you, but those members in N. America may find this useful. If you message me, I can look to see who in your area might be an option. The challenge is that the cost of repair is likely more than the amp is worth because of the amount of labor involved. If you were in the US, I certainly look at it, but even if I couldn't fix it, I would make you an offer because it still has value as a boneyard piece.

That's exactly what you don't want to use (actually one of the two worst kinds, especially for pots). Contact cleaner is like brake cleaner, it dissolves "stuff" and washes it away. It's fine for electrical switch contacts, connectors and contactors/power relays and such, but it's not intended for electronics. That's why they call it "electrical" rather than "electronic". It's intended for automotive use (they distribute brake cleaner, car polish and such), where pots are not used (or fully sealed for things like servo feedback or sensor applications). 1. The solvent is formulated for dissolving grease... the grease needs to stay exactly where it's been placed inside the pot, because it's an essential component to how the pot is supposed to operate. 2. There's no lubricant... that leaves the carbon track and wiper assembly vulnerable to rapid wear. The lubricants used for the pot's conductive element surface is specially formulated for the application, and when properly applied is microscopically thin (in the angstrom range). 3. Only use the tiniest amount possible, this application is an instance of "less is more". A can of DeOxit D-5 lasts a couple of years in a busy commercial service shop.

They use a switch mode power supply combined with a class D amplifier, designed by ICEPower in Denmark.

What’s ironic about your post is that the class D (has nothing to do with digital) power amp modules are far more available than the earlier class AB parts. They are still a current part stocked by Fender (the last owner of SWR), and it’s a part that I also stock as we used the same part in some Genz Benz amps.