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Another amp bites the dust.....


lefrash
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So my markbass black line amp has stopped working. It switches on, but there's no power output. This is the 4th amp in 5 years to have the same symptoms. Ashdown abm300, hartke lh500, ampeg pf350 and now this. I've used various cabs over the years and some times with a pedal board, and sometimes straight in. Is this pure coincidence and bad luck, or is there something that could cause this? They've never been maxed out. They do get used minimum once a week but never abused.

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How/where do you store the amp when it's not being used?

I remember an article in a magazine where a guy had issues with his TE head and he'd been storing it in its side, the heavier components in the amp were ripping off the circuit and his amp was failing.

Or if you're storing amps in a garage or cellar, the damp can get to them.

Apologies if you've already thought of these...

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Guest bassman7755

Well if we say that the average failure rate of amp is once every 10 years (a completely made up guess admittedly) then the odds of having 4 consecutive amps all going wrong for random reasons in year or so is about 1000:1 so it does suggest some common factor, or your just very unlucky B)

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[quote name='lefrash' timestamp='1437290752' post='2824793']
So my markbass black line amp has stopped working. It switches on, but there's no power output. This is the 4th amp in 5 years to have the same symptoms. Ashdown abm300, hartke lh500, ampeg pf350 and now this.
[/quote]

It's you! :D

Seriously though as said, could be storage issues.

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Presumably these are second-hand amps (or the guarantee would surely have kicked in..?). Maybe revise your buying policy..? Did you know the previous history of these amps..? Spend more; get a guarantee next time..? Could just be a bad run of luck, but the chances are low, ime.

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4 amps failing in 5 years with exactly the same problem?

That's not normal or even a coincidence.

Could be gremlins, sabotage or maybe they just don't like what your playing.

Seriously, it's has to be something you're doing to them.


Have these amps all failed with the same cab? If a speaker has been replaced with the wrong ohms you could be damaging these amps in the same way.

Edited by chris_b
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Yikes - this must be incredibly frustrating for you! Definitely more info on connected components & storage/transport methods needed but it's pretty fair to say all of the amps listed should be lasting longer than a year.

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That's mad! All 4 with same symptoms? :o

It really has to be the electrics in your reh room, or regular venue
or more likely, the place / way they're being stored

Let us know how you're storing your amps....

Better luck with the next amp!

PS. A pal of mine keeps his guitar and amp in the boot of his car
(His wife won't allow it in the house!)
The old Marshall amp seems fine, apart from very crackly controls.....

But his guitar seems to need a set-up and trussrod tweak rather too often for my liking.....

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Now I think about it the ampeg PF350 was returned and replaced under warranty due to the intermittent cutting out (which is a well known fault of this model) so perhaps I should discount that one. But yeah, 3 amps for the same thing to happen is still alot. Ashdown and the LH500 were fixed pretty cheaply and the markbass is on its way back to (hopefully) be fixed under warranty,

We rent a unit which is basically in a warehouse. The place is kitted out with lots of practice rooms and we even sublet our room to another couple of bands... so the room has a number of different amps on the go constantly... noone else has complained of any amps breaking.

I dont really use the amp at gigs, so 95% of the use is in our practice space, and from memory all 3 have not been working at the start of the practice (i.e they dont cut out mid-song)..


if the electrics are a possible cause then I wonder if theres anything I could do? Running a power conditioner maybe?

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I have one of those plug-in power-thingys that I plug my amp power lead into. Bought it off Amazon for about a tenner. Given that 4 amps have failed on you, and 95% of their use is in the same place, I`d be more wary of that than anything else.

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So am I reading this right; it seems they don't fail on you when in use, you arrive at the practice studio and you find them not working?

I recommend you start taking your amp home. YOU might not abuse it, but others may not be so careful. Is someone connecting a lower impedance cab than is recommended? Or some other problem?

Fact: electronic devices don't fail when not in use, unless it's water or heat damage, and you'd see signs of that.

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I'd check the cab you're using - is there any chance it's too low impedance for the amp (wired wrong inside?), do the amps every cut out during use or overheat before they fail?

It sounds like you're blowing power amps, so I'd be checking out the load first and foremost (and the cables used to connect, e.g that there's no intermittent short etc)

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[quote name='lefrash' timestamp='1437393500' post='2825538']

.....We rent a unit which is basically in a warehouse. The place is kitted out with lots of practice rooms and we even sublet our room to another couple of bands... so the room has a number of different amps on the go constantly... noone else has complained of any amps breaking.......
[/quote]

Are other bassists using your amp gear then?
If this is the case, they may not be looking after it as well as you do,
and even over-driving it.....

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[quote name='Marc S' timestamp='1437402035' post='2825663']
Are other bassists using your amp gear then?
If this is the case, they may not be looking after it as well as you do,
and even over-driving it.....
[/quote]

Could be something in this... Some of the settings I've seen from the previous band on amps at rehearsal studios defy belief :blink:

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[quote name='Grangur' timestamp='1437394755' post='2825552']
So am I reading this right; it seems they don't fail on you when in use, you arrive at the practice studio and you find them not working?

I recommend you start taking your amp home. YOU might not abuse it, but others may not be so careful. Is someone connecting a lower impedance cab than is recommended? Or some other problem?

Fact: electronic devices don't fail when not in use, unless it's water or heat damage, and you'd see signs of that.
[/quote]you are correct, most failures happen upon switch on when the most electrical stress is on the amp.

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[quote name='Chienmortbb' timestamp='1437418063' post='2825855']
you are correct, most failures happen upon switch on when the most electrical stress is on the amp.
[/quote]

Therefore it could easily happen when i switch it on. I always find blaming someone else, when something breaks, an easy excuse.

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[quote name='bassman7755' timestamp='1437307747' post='2824962']
Well if we say that the average failure rate of amp is once every 10 years (a completely made up guess admittedly) then the odds of having 4 consecutive amps all going wrong for random reasons in year or so is about 1000:1 so it does suggest some common factor, or your just very unlucky B)
[/quote]
Or

The chance of this happening is 1/1000. There are 33,000 members of Basschat. It had to happen to someone and there are probably a couple of others this has happened to also.

Bad luck but I hope the next amp lasts forever. This is probably just coincidence. Actually I think the general rate of failure of electronic goods is nearer 5% in the first year and rises in subsequent years so there are probably quite a few people this happens to. No consolation of course but I genuinely hope the next amp works out for you.

Edited by Phil Starr
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[quote name='lefrash' timestamp='1437393500' post='2825538']
Now I think about it the ampeg PF350 was returned and replaced under warranty due to the intermittent cutting out (which is a well known fault of this model) so perhaps I should discount that one. But yeah, 3 amps for the same thing to happen is still alot. Ashdown and the LH500 were fixed pretty cheaply and the markbass is on its way back to (hopefully) be fixed under warranty,
[/quote]

Were the Ashdown and LH500 repaired by the same tech? Did you get some detail on what the faults were to see if there was anything in common? Discounting the power supply, as they're switching on, it could still be input jack, preamp, send/return loop (eg. return jack), power amp, or the subsection of the power supply that feeds the preamp, so there's plenty of stages. If it was always the power amp, that might indicate some common factor, otherwise it's just coincidence and being in the wrong place on the bathtub curve.

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[quote name='Phil Starr' timestamp='1437435671' post='2826043']
The chance of this happening is 1/1000. There are 33,000 members of Basschat. It had to happen to someone and there are probably a couple of others this has happened to also.
[/quote]

Then by rights, it should have happened to 33 members or thereabouts. Given that a large percentage of the 33,000 hardly ever post and the regular contributors here probably number less than 200, you'd think the chances are that we'd probably have heard of at least one incidence of this happening. Oh, wait...

Edited by discreet
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