#1 Cause of Solid State Guitar/Bass Amp FAILURE, and how to avoid it.
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- Опубликовано: 15 сен 2024
- Most catastrophic failure of solid state amps is due to improper speaker loads. (In my personal experience anyway). This video lays out some guidelines to hopefully allow you to keep the magic smoke inside the transistors of your amp.
People say (including amp manufacturers) that Solid state amplifiers don’t need a load.
It really depends on the design. Take a practice amp with one of those TDA chip modules as the power section......... disconnect the speaker and see what happens....
I've stopped chancing it... I ALWAYS put a dummy load or a speaker on there if I'm powering it up.
It's the Internet........I'm wrong about everything by default.
That what I’m thinking ( no load needed)
Every time a speaker connection was lost an amp would be open to catastrophic damage.
To many of these guys on youtube don’t know what they’re talking about! When in doubt ask the manufacturer.
1000% Correct....!!👍👍👍👍
That's like, Ten Times better.
Never forget: That sneaky little imp Murphy will "gotcha" if you're not considerate. See "Murphy's Law", not a TV show.
Electronics run on magical smoke... don't let it escape.
@@DeadKoby I've seen what happens when it does Escape. Smells funny and then nothing works anymore and sometimes that even attracts the Fire Fairies. I always keep a Fire Blanket around anyhow because I don't trust the Magical Smoke in them magical fire extinguishers not to be old and expired either = Murphy's Law again!
Hello, I have an old solid state Crate B10 xl bass amplifier that has a single circuit board that’s fairly simple, I’ve been trying to get it working again for a couple of years now. I was playing it and suddenly zero sound but it still powers on. Even if I touch the aux or move the knobs there is no sound. I’ve confirmed that the speaker itself is still good and so is the fuse. There is no sound from the headphones input, there is no visible signs of anything that got hot or shorted. All the wiring is good. The aux inputs are clean and have good contact. I e even re-soldered all the points in case of any cracked soldering but still nothing. I’m suspecting the output mosfet but I can’t tell for sure, I’d appreciate any suggestions.
Always start with the power supply.
So if you have a damaged speaker for whatever reason , your unaware it broken, you power up the amp and kaPow! Dead amplifier beyond repair? No safety guard to prevent this? Ohm meter test before every power up needed? This doesn’t sound kosher. Gotta be more to it.
Many amps under 100w have no protection. It's best to put a meter on used speakers in unknown condition before attempting to plug them in.
Excellent video, I've learned a great del about speakers etc..I have a solid state pa amp, and was wondering whether I could use an 8 ohm speaker with it as it'ssupposed to have a 4 ohm but I haven't got one with that impedance.. Very informative..Ed.uk.😁
It's a valid question. The Ohms rating on a Solid State amp is a minimum. You could use an 8ohm speaker, but you may not get the amps full power. Not that it's a big deal in many cases.
@@DeadKoby Thank you for your reply..Ed
Great channel/info... friend brought me a dead SWR 350 Bass amp head... he was replacing cooling fan... pretty sure he powered it up "no load", fried R22 on the power amp board... if you have any familiarity with this amp, would appreciate any advice... thnx in advance...
I really don't.... but you can check the output transistors for shorts. That would be the first thing to try.
Thnx, was hoping you knew if this was one of those SS amps that can't handle a "no load" power on... for that matter, is there dead give away on a SS amp schematic, for ones that can handle it vs ones that can't... I have a screen shot of the schematic, if that helps... thnx again in advance... (FYI: Not a repair shop, just another instance of a guitar player trying to help a friend here...)
I'm not sure I can help from where I am.
@@DeadKoby That's ok... thnx... I'll chk for transistor shorts like you suggested, start there...
Best wishes.
Hi DK, love your vids! Would you be willing to recommend gauge (or possibly even brand and model) of leads with alligator clips for use in connecting amp to test speaker? Amazon has options, but they seem really thin and I'm worried they would fail. Thanks!
You want a heavier gauge wire... like 16awg www.jameco.com/z/GAL1016-Jameco-Benchpro-16-AWG-Alligator-Clip-Test-Leads-2-Sets-of-5-Colors-10pk-_2210239.html
@@DeadKoby Thanks so much! The gauge recommendation along with the link to a trusted supplier is much, much appreciated. I've been messing around with "malfunctioning" amps and it's really fun. Paid $60 for a Fender Deluxe 112 the other day... only thing wrong with it was a dirty input, a couple of dirty pots and a few missing screws. Cleaned it up and now it's a $180 amp I reckon. Clean channel sounds fantastic and I'd almost keep it, but too loud for my needs and the gain channel's only useful in one spot for my taste (contour at zero, gain at 1, bass down to 3, paired with single coils)... otherwise its too mushy. Got may eyes on a small Laney with an intermittent gain channel, but the guy needs to come down in price more. Anyway, thanks so much for your teaching and your entertainment. No way I'd be messing with this were it not for you and a few other other folks. Oh, and I know a lot of guys love the tube stuff, but personally I love the solid state amps. Thanks!!!
@@HereComeMrCee-Jay That's how we all start out... solving level 1 issues. Tell yourself this.... It's already broken.....so may as well try.
Great info thanks dude
No problem 👍
My BXR dual 400 is acting up.
Input is dead unless I tap on the face plate. Any help is greatly appreciated..
Check that all the pots are tight... your ground is on the face.
Thanks for the video. I just got a Polytone Mini-S12L solid state Jazz amp from 1982 according to the pot date codes. Original 12” speaker was blown according to the last owner. I took a chance and bought the amp anyway for cheap. I put in a new speaker and fired the amp up. Has more background his and noise floor than I would expect. Tremolo has a constant tic tic tic… similar to fender tube amps. Also when turned up loud will get a shorting type noise bzzz bzzz when playing chords or digging in and playing hard. I do not believe it is the speaker as it plays fine in other amps. As long as I play clean single line notes amp doesn’t get that bzzz bzzz. Seems like the amp can’t handle the load asked of it when it gets the bzzzz.
Question, does this sound like needing new electrolytics? It has two really big ones next to power transformer they are 7300 uf at 50v. Mouser has them for $50.00 each. Jaimco doesn’t have 7300 uf but does have 10,000 uf at 50 volts for $6.99. Not sure if going up that much is ok. Any thoughts or insights would be appreciated, I usually just work on tube amps.
Sounds like electrolytic to me the 10,000 microfarad should be okay
@@DeadKoby thank you for the reply, I will try new caps. Also I am still really enjoying the Arena Verb you built for me last spring. I still need to do a video on it and post it on my channel.
On a diode rectified solid state amp, there's minimal penalty to upping the filters. The Old Kustom 200 B1 Originally had 4500uf in it... and now it's got 10,000uf. Big loud bass notes were actually DIMMING the lamp before the upgrade. The Power transformer in the old Kustoms is a beast, and it can take it. You're not making a huge leap from the 7300 to the 10,000.
I take my Arena Verb with me often when I play out. I've TRIED to get a pedal to give me that sound....... I've tried a smaller verb unit... Still no dice. The Arena is the sound.
@@DeadKoby thanks for dropping knowledge from experience on the caps. I will be changing them out.
Yep the arena verb is a great sound.