Bass Gear Blown Up

[Pete Academy]

Has anyone ever had their bass gear blow up completely on a gig?

What happened, and how did you cope?

[bigjohn]

[quote name='Pete Academy' post='664226' date='Nov 24 2009, 07:36 PM']Has anyone ever had their bass gear blow up completely on a gig?

What happened, and how did you cope?[/quote]


Yup. I fiddled about with it for a bit. Then walked off and got drunk. The rest of the band carried on.

Was only the second time I'd used the amp too. Nice.

[Moos3h]

I'm yet (oh god, here goes) to have it happen to BASS equipment at a gig, but I've had them go in rehearsal - two Ashdowns both gave up the ghost. Thankfully we rehearse at a studio so obtaining temporary gear was no issue.

I have had guitar amps fail at gigs, and done the rest of the gig with a stompbox straight into the PA. It wasn't the last word in tone, but it got me through the gig.

I've been meaning to purchase something similar for bass actually, just a basic preamp that would allow me to DI straight to the PA. Sods law says I won't need it, but that's an insurance policy worth having, I guess!

Cheers.
James

[Protium]

We had a keyboard amp catch fire (hot light bulb tweeter protector vs wadding) at a band practice when the singer used it as a PA. Also the same singer destroyed a PA head by putting a wrong rating fuse in the power supply and melted the IEC socket and the end of the power lead together. They were both sh*t amps that had been left in our practice space (a rotting barn) for years anyway.

[Moos3h]

Oh, I just realised....I had a Marshall Bluesbreaker combo that not only caught fire, but then set fire to the curtains in the pub we were playing in.

Weird thing was, whilst it was on fire, there was still sound coming out of it!

[ahpook]

i had a sh**y marlin bass combo fall over and go bye bye at a gig, years ago.

halfway through a song the bass amp crackled, a small burst of smoke appeared and the sound when very distorted.

we played on, but we played heavier to fit in with the fuzzy bass sound.

[Buzz]

Damn, I thought this was going to be someone telling me Trace Elliot has upped their testing from dropping gear from cranes to full on bomb tests.

I don't feel ashamed to admit that, however I do feel cheated that it isn't so.

[Rayman]

Yep, my Trace Elliot blew up halfway through a wedding gig, just as the bride and groom had started to dance.

I plugged straight into the PA and did the rest of the gig that way.

I got the Trace repaired no problem, but I was nervous for a few gigs after that. Apparently the power amp had blown, a common problem in older models I'm told.

[ahpook]

[quote name='Moos3h' post='664248' date='Nov 24 2009, 07:55 PM']Oh, I just realised....I had a Marshall Bluesbreaker combo that not only caught fire, but then set fire to the curtains in the pub we were playing in.

Weird thing was, whilst it was on fire, there was still sound coming out of it![/quote]

tell me you were played a burst of 'smoke on the water' whilst it was burning !

please !!

[Moos3h]

...sadly not, I think it was an awful version of 'Addicted to Love' as it goes.

Guess I could have made a joke about love giving me a burning sensation, but at the time I was more concerned with unplugging it and chucking it outside!

[bassbloke]

My amp died in soundcheck. Loud pop and then nothing. Luckily, the bass player in one of the other bands came to my rescue and let me use gis GK combo (and rather fantastic it sounded too). It ended up beng a costly repair to as the power supply board had blown, taking a few other components out too.

[retroman]

[quote name='Rayman' post='664272' date='Nov 24 2009, 08:11 PM']Yep, my Trace Elliot blew up halfway through a wedding gig, just as the bride and groom had started to dance.

I plugged straight into the PA and did the rest of the gig that way.

I got the Trace repaired no problem, but I was nervous for a few gigs after that. Apparently the power amp had blown, a common problem in older models I'm told.[/quote]
Sounds familiar.........

Used to use a Trace Elliot 7 band EQ thingy in rehearsal with my old band. That blew the power amp, and filled the room with choking smoke. Then exactly the same thing happened with my AH600 V-Type head.
Getting the V-Type repaired wasn't that funny either. Eventually got someone on the phone at Trace, and managed to get a replacement board. My repair guru told me that the power amp section had absolutely no circuit protection what so ever.

IMHO, I'm never surprised to hear of Ashdown amps doing the same thing, as they were developed by ex-TE engineers weren't they??

Felt totally un nerved recently at Derbyshire Band Of The Year, as we weren't allowed to use our own amps, and the bass amp supplied was a Trace

[Raslee]

I had a Behringer head, my first bass head, got it out the box and plugged it in at rehearsal and pumph....the smoke set off the alarms
Blessing in disguise though...i got my money back (eventually!!!) and got a Hartke 3500...much better amp too!

[septicrat]

I had a Laney R4H head blow at a gig, didn't as much Blow as just fizzle out and a little puff of smoke issue from the air vent.
It was 3 years old and had been extensivly gigged and rehearsed so it did serve me well.
After I just went straight through the PA, sounded better lol!!!

[Protium]

[quote name='retroman' post='664391' date='Nov 24 2009, 09:49 PM']IMHO, I'm never surprised to hear of Ashdown amps doing the same thing, as they were developed by ex-TE engineers weren't they??[/quote]

When I was changing the valve in my Ashdown ABM I looked and there are about 8 glass fuses in there. At least one on each of the circuit boards, two big ones on the output, time-delay before the power supply, etc. TE with a few improvements

[Cat Burrito]

I had my amp die on me at soundcheck at the last gig. The cause was a 4a Slo Blo fuse that are pretty rare. Incredibly the venue had a bass amp & 4x10 cab that I was able to use. I found the fuses on EBay and stocked up accordingly. I have spare tubes etc but lesson learnt on the Slo Blo fuses

[budget bassist]

yeah my old ashdown EB180 head blew up, wasn't very dramatic, one day it worked, the next it didn't. Was the power section (familiar story).

The same thing happened to my guitarist's marshall valvestate head at practice the other week, the room filled with the smell of smoke, we all went sniffing our amps and it was coming from his amp, and it was a lot quieter than before. He had just bought it too.

[RhysP]

This is getting to be a very familiar story........
My old Trace Elliott AH150 head went dead mid gig - no dramatic bangs or smoke, just cut out. Luckily I was DI'd as well so I just got a bit more bass put through my monitor & carried on.
God I hated that amp (even before that happened).

[casapete]

[quote name='Moos3h' post='664248' date='Nov 24 2009, 07:55 PM']Oh, I just realised....I had a Marshall Bluesbreaker combo that not only caught fire, but then set fire to the curtains in the pub we were playing in.

Weird thing was, whilst it was on fire, there was still sound coming out of it![/quote]


Had a similar experience with a Vox AC30 when playing at a club in Knaresborough. Saw the audience pointing at me,turned round and the amp was on fire,as was the curtain at the back of the stage. Think the audience thought it was pyrotechnics!

Regarding early Trace stuff catching fire, this happened to a bass player in Hull who I think had the first Trace rig in the area.
The keyboard player saw it was on fire and promptly threw his drink on it - which unfortunately was a large brandy resulting in more flames!

[cetera]

I had an Ampeg SVT II-Pro die on me twice... but each time I had a SansAmp BDDI to hand to plug into.

Sold the amp & got an SVT III-Pro. Never had another problem....

[Mr. Foxen]

[quote name='budget bassist' post='664447' date='Nov 24 2009, 10:32 PM']yeah my old ashdown EB180 head blew up, wasn't very dramatic, one day it worked, the next it didn't. Was the power section (familiar story).[/quote]

My 180 and my older 150 both had fuses on the power section, managed to blow them both trying a duff speaker, but easy enough to fix.

[Killstarz]

nope, never (touch wood) and i had an ashdown rig for 3 years

[Adrenochrome]

The fuse went in my Ashdown during soundcheck 2 weeks ago.
I plugged in my Crate Powerblock and carried on.
(It's a tiny class D amp that can be used for alsorts in emergencies, £49 new).

[Jarhead]

Not in a sound-check or gig, but both times in rehearsals. The first was a second hand Warwick Profet 3.2, which just stopped working when I turned it o, absolutely no sound whatsoever coming from the cab when it was plugged in, so I got a new head, plugged that into my Marshall MBC 115, where the speaker promptly failed, filling the inside of the cab with thick smoke.

Zach

[allighatt0r]

The only time I've ever had an amp give out on me was a SWR Black Beauty combo. It just lost volume/power. It was still working, just very quietly. Got it fixed in less than a week for the next gig, then it did the same again! So was left standing with my ear to the PA trying to hear myself, as the "professional PA" guys were frigging hopeless.

All sorted now though. Not sure I'm entirely happy with this Marshall gear though! Ah well, a whole rig was a good trade for a single (temperamental) SWR combo!