Unwanted distorted sound from my Trace Elliot AH60012 - Sorted!

[MarkG3]

As the title really, just plugged in my TE ah60012 and at very low volumes and low gain it sounds like my bass is distorted then as I turn the master up the actual bass tone comes through but you can still faintly hear this distorted sound.

I have set all eq to flat turned off compression etc and changed leads and speaker leads and no change.

Originally thought it was the cab but is the head.

Any ideas would be great.

Thanks

Edited March 1, 2012 by S9_S12_Bass

[ahpook]

might be worth trying the head with a different cab, just to ensure it's not the amp that's at fault.

[d-basser]

Is is definitely distortion, could it be a mechanical rattle? Something in the cab, amp or even the room you are in might be just loose enough to rattle giving a buzzing sound. I have had that a few times.

[andyonbass]

If its an active bass, have you tried changing the battery? Mine gets horribly distorted when the battery dies

[MarkG3]

[quote name='d-basser' timestamp='1326563168' post='1498942']
Is is definitely distortion, could it be a mechanical rattle? Something in the cab, amp or even the room you are in might be just loose enough to rattle giving a buzzing sound. I have had that a few times.
[/quote]

Deffinately distortion, I've turned off everything electrical near it in case it was interferance as well but that didnt make a change.....

[MarkG3]

Also its a passive bass! Fender highway one

[Moos3h]

I had that with a Trace Elliot GP7 head and it turned out to be a fault with the head - volume masked the issue, but at very very very quiet levels, there was an audible distortion.

[MarkG3]

[quote name='Moos3h' timestamp='1326564224' post='1498960']
I had that with a Trace Elliot GP7 head and it turned out to be a fault with the head - volume masked the issue, but at very very very quiet levels, there was an audible distortion.
[/quote]

Yea that sounds the same, if I have the gain on 1 and master just under 1 pretty much all you can hear is the distortion

[Moos3h]

Yep, identical. The repair was something along the lines of "replaced capicator somethingsomethingsomething" but wasn't that pricey.

[MarkG3]

Ok an update, I have a combo amp with a speaker out, so connected the super 12 up with that and it was fine no distortion. So looks like I now have two amp heads that are faulty. Great! Thanks for the replies and any other help towards this would be good. Thanks

Edited January 14, 2012 by TraceElliotBass

[Mr. Foxen]

Little bit of distortion that stays the same when you turn up and can drown it out is crossover distortion, just been talking to the SS amp tech guy locally. Its the bit where your push/pull class A/B goes from push to pull messing up, so it stays the same when pushing and pulling harder because the crossing over point stays the same. Fixing depends on how adjusty the inside of teh amp is and what has gone wrong to make it happen.

[MarkG3]

Nice one thanks, I'll do some googling into it.

[MarkG3]

Any ideas on how much roughly it would cost to repair? I have emailed a tech who has previously repaired my V6 so hopefully I'll get a rough price.

Edited January 15, 2012 by TraceElliotBass

[brensabre79]

Thats a how long is a piece of string question really... But I would talk to them and mention Mr Foxen's advice (that should save you at least an hour's labour), and ask them how much to perform that repair first.

My advice would be to get it repaired then sell it and get a proper amp so you can have your Super12 the right way up

[MarkG3]

Thanks! haha the S12 was only that way for the pictures! I did mention what has been said but he didn't seem to know much about it unless he looks at it which again I can't really be pumping in ££ for his time alone to be told yea its going to be this amount + parts. I think I'll do some thinking on this

[brensabre79]

You could try talking to Trace Elliot (are they still going?) they were really helpful with me when I had a V6 from them a few years back - not that it needed repairing - but they may know about this issue and be able to advise...

[MarkG3]

I have sent them an email but got a reply back saying we are all at namm so we will reply when they are back, just tried the ah600 with another cab and now at louder volumes there's pretty horrible crackling noises

[brensabre79]

Looks like you got your shuttle just in time! The Trace sounds like it needs a service/cremation, try them again after Namm they'll probably ask you to send it to them though and charge you for anything that isn't a manufacturing defect. But at least then when you sell it you can say it has just been serviced by Trace Elliot.

[BanditSid]

I had a similar problem on my 300w 1215 combo and replaced all the capacitors on the power amp board, the amp is around 10 years old so it made sense to change them all anyway. Depending on the version of power amp you have you may need to adjust a couple of things after changing capacitors, so it would be best to pass it on to a tech if you aren't happy to do it - they should replace all the caps on a typical PA board in a couple of hours and the parts aren't that expensive, just a few quid.

[MarkG3]

ah ok nice one yea I don't have a clue what's what inside the amp so would rather someone who knows what they are doing to have a look, I should get a reply from Trace next week, if not I'll send another email

[MarkG3]

Just an update, Trace will repair this as it is still under warranty so that's all good. Just waiting for them to send me returns info so I can get it to them! - Recieved so I just need to package it up and send it to them!

Edited January 27, 2012 by S9_S12_Bass

[MarkG3]

Update - amp recieved back today and the repair note says they looked over everything and replaced a pre-amp valve so looks like that was the cause! Still yet to test it and will post later once I have!

Edited February 17, 2012 by S9_S12_Bass

[MarkG3]

Great the issue is still there thanks TE.....I worked out the problem after 2 minutes of playing, basically if the second led is lit on the gain it distorts and crackles and this snycs exactly in time with the second led going out. As it crackles the led flickers on and off then as soon as either the led below or above it comes on it stops.

So 3 weeks my amps been away and it takes me all of 2 minutes to find the probable answer. Makes me wonder how long TE looked at it for.....

[MarkG3]

Update - Trace have been really helpful on the emails and respond quickly and they have organised for it to be picked up tomorrow to go back for repair!

[MarkG3]

Ok so I sent the amp back to Trace Elliot last week, had a phone call yesterday saying they can't find anything wrong with it but have replaced all the internals so if it still does it, I am told it must be a problem at my end.

Ok so I just got the amp back and..........yes it's still f***ed, same old noise that I can make within 2 seconds of turning the amp on.

I thought ok I'll give TE the benefit of the doubt and change speaker leads and bass leads. Nope still making the same old noise distorting in time with the second LED on the gain.

Now its funny how my Genz Benz S9 doesn't make any horrible noises with the exact same leads and bass? Sounds to me like I'm being fobbed off.

I have sent a pretty frustrated email to Trace asking what the bloody hell is going on or does it take all this effort to repair a very expensive amp?

I apologise if the swearing offends but this is ridiculous.

I have asked Trace what can I expect from them for this inconvenience.