Unlucky with amplifiers (plus questions)

[nevpugh308]

Seems I'm some kind of jynx when it comes to amps. First off, I've got to mention the fact I'm my own fool really, coz I just LOVE the tone from tube amps (particularly with the acoustic which I use on some numbers) but you'd have thought that now-a-days they could be made a bit more reliable.

Starting about 8 months ago I bought a Ashdown DSP60. Which had a horrendous earthing problem, so went back and I got a replacement DSP60. Which had the same horrendous earthing buzz, so went back and was swapped for another one. Guess what ? Yup, that was faulty too, so in the end I decided to upgrade to a Peavey Valveking 212.

The Peavey started blowing the odd fuse at practice, and then blew a main tube in the middle of a gig (guess who carries a spare old Line6 amp with him to gigs now )

Now, to be fair (with that valve replaced) the Peavey has been okay recently, but I got some money from selling a number plate at xmas, so I decided to treat myself to a lovely Fender Twin Amp, over a grands worth of dripping tone.

The Twin Amp lasted two weeks before it was being sent back to Fender with a reverb circuit problem (if you used reverb it went into an ever spiraling feedback loop, even if the volume was set to 0). The courier company very kindly decided to trash the amp en route to Fender however, so 1.5 weeks ago I was given a brand new, still boxed, shiny new Fender Twin.

Which lasted 4 songs into the first set at a wedding gig on Saturday before expiring

Upon getting it home, it appears to be just the 2 amp (T2A) fuse which blew ... with the fuse replaced everything else is working perfectly, no blown tubes, no warning lights on the rear etc. I was only running at about 4/10 volume wise, so not exactly stretching the amp.

1) So, what the HELL is wrong with me, am I some kind of amp bad luck magnet or what ?!?

2) What could cause just the fuse to blow ? I had it plugged into two (computer type) spike protectors, and no other equipment was affected (though there was a lot working that night, with lights etc)

3) What would be the impact of putting a 2.5 amp or 3 amp fuse in as a replacement ? 3 amp still is pretty low, if something is going to blow ... ?

4) Are there any better methods of protecting the power supply into the amp (assuming that is what caused the fuse to go) other than your standard Argos type spike protectors ? I dont mind investing a bit of money if it means the rest of the band will stop taking the p*ss out of me

5) If I stick with the Fender is it likely to "settle down" and be reliable ?

Cheers !

(p.s. no-one say "go solid state", that's not useful )

[Animal]

Nev,

Are you plugging your guitar straight into the amp? If not, what do you put in between?

Have you tried Marshall or (if money allows) a MESA/Boogie?

[nevpugh308]

Animal said:

Nev,

Are you plugging your guitar straight into the amp? If not, what do you put in between?

Have you tried Marshall or (if money allows) a MESA/Boogie?

I use a Boss GT8, though I only really use it for the Strat (for all my punk sounds and jingly jangly sounds) ... when I'm using the acoustic it's there but not doing much (bar being a volume pedal) as I use the amp clean (with reverb). When using the Les Paul it's similarly doing not much (and using the amp's natural overdrive). The output on the GT8 is set around the 1/3 to 1/2 way mark, and the output on the GT8 is set for combo.

Love the Mesa stuff but out of my price point. When I bought the Twin I looked at a similar Marshall (forget the model) which sounded glorious with the LP, but a bit pants with the strat (clinical) and awful with the acoustic.

Thing is, okay you could say the Ashdown and Peavey are "cheapos" but the Twin is a high end item.

What annoys me most is these amps get used for 3 or 4 hours practice with the band every Saturday when not gigging (at full gig volumes) and countless other hours during the week, but they never pack in other than when I'm gigging ... DOH !

[Animal]

The only thing I can think of (apart from really bad luck) is that the output from the Boss unit doesn't match the impedance at the amp. However, you've had a series of different problems which makes me think it could just be luck.

Did you try different examples of each amp? It might be worthwhile, even with a shiny new Twin, taking the amp to someone who knows what they're doing and having some hand-matched valves fitted. Don't forget that brand-new valves loosen up and your sound will change slightly after a few weeks of regular use.

Forgive the stupid question, but you do warm your amps up beforehand don't you?

I don't think you can regulate the voltage better than you are at present, so I'd say stick with the Twin and hope your luck changes!

[nevpugh308]

Thanks for the thoughts and input Animal. Yup, you're right, I put the amp on standby a good few minutes (minimum) before I need to use it, and tend to leave it on standby and hot inbetween sets etc.

[rumpelstiltskin]

If you can afford a twin Boogies aren't that far out your price range!Apart from sounding fantastic they are built like tanks.Try a DC-5 or an F-50,i've had both and they've never let me down,they are pure tone,also unbelievably loud!

[bigbadbikercats]

rumpelstiltskin said:

If you can afford a twin Boogies aren't that far out your price range!Apart from sounding fantastic they are built like tanks.Try a DC-5 or an F-50,i've had both and they've never let me down,they are pure tone,also unbelievably loud!

Current equivalent would be the Express 5:50 which, at (IIRC) ~£1150 doesn't seem too outrageous at all compared to the Fender Twin. I've got it's little brother (Express 5:25), the "clean" channel/mode isn't quite as nice as my Superchamp but it's still Pretty Damned Fine, the other 3 voices are fantastic (and make for tremendous versatility), it packs an outrageous amount of "thump" for a single 10" speaker (actually the cab's more 1x12" sized - certainly it dwarfs the Superchamp!), and I haven't yet had call to switch it out of 5-watt class A mode.

Juries out on reliability (and to be fair my amps don't exactly lead a hard life, only occasionally coming out of the spare room for the odd jam or pub night with a few mates) but it certainly looks and feels confidence inspiring!

--
JG

[51mes]

thought..

When you rig the stage for a gig - do you plug your amp in to the same sockets in a multiblock every time - is this different in practice?

I used to help a mates band and everythign was labeled so things got put in the same socket every time - stopped overloading things and generating odd interference once we'd got it right..

if there's somethign wrong with the distribution unit you use this woudl affect whatever amp you use?

Simes.