so i dropped my '74 marshall jmp today...

gimmesometruth27gimmesometruth27 Posts: 23,303
edited September 2008 in Musicians and Gearheads
so i played a gig this evening at a winery. i use a 1974 marshall jmp and a 4x12 marshall 1960 av cab with vintage 30s. when i load in and out i just place the head on top of the cab but perpendicular to it so that the feet on the bottom of the head kind of cradles the top of the cab so i can roll it in and out as a unit. well today when loading out i rolled my head and cab out of the place in the usual fashion and as i was opening my tailgate the cab began to roll away. i grabbed the cabinet handle and stopped it but the momentum on the head caused it to fall off of the cab and land face first on the parkinglot. it hit pretty hard, as the patch cable i use to jump channels was smashed and the inner wire was exposed through the cable sheath. i freaked out. i have been doing this for a number of years and never came close to this happening.

i looked at the head and the only thing on the exterior was a couple of new scuffs but nothing major. i shook the head a bit and did not hear anything rattling around like a broken tube or anything. when i got home i removed the back panel and visually examined it and everything looked ok. i removed and checked and replaced all of the tubes and they all looked ok as well. i plugged it in and plugged in my les paul and noticed a major decrease in volume. i can tell because it is not a master volume head so any decrease in volume results in less gain and is really noticable. the funny thing is that the low e string, a string and d string sounded close to normal, but when i tried to play the g, b, and e strings it was like the amp was not even picking them up, almost like playing it acoustically. has anyone ever heard of this kind of thing happening? i wonder if it might be a preamp tube as they are over 15 years old and are probably about worn out anyway. i was just wondering if anyone had any idea about another cause. i plan on taking to to my tech in a few days. hopefully its nothing too terribly bad or expensive.
"You can tell the greatness of a man by what makes him angry."  - Lincoln

"Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
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  • so i played a gig this evening at a winery. i use a 1974 marshall jmp and a 4x12 marshall 1960 av cab with vintage 30s. when i load in and out i just place the head on top of the cab but perpendicular to it so that the feet on the bottom of the head kind of cradles the top of the cab so i can roll it in and out as a unit. well today when loading out i rolled my head and cab out of the place in the usual fashion and as i was opening my tailgate the cab began to roll away. i grabbed the cabinet handle and stopped it but the momentum on the head caused it to fall off of the cab and land face first on the parkinglot. it hit pretty hard, as the patch cable i use to jump channels was smashed and the inner wire was exposed through the cable sheath. i freaked out. i have been doing this for a number of years and never came close to this happening.

    i looked at the head and the only thing on the exterior was a couple of new scuffs but nothing major. i shook the head a bit and did not hear anything rattling around like a broken tube or anything. when i got home i removed the back panel and visually examined it and everything looked ok. i removed and checked and replaced all of the tubes and they all looked ok as well. i plugged it in and plugged in my les paul and noticed a major decrease in volume. i can tell because it is not a master volume head so any decrease in volume results in less gain and is really noticable. the funny thing is that the low e string, a string and d string sounded close to normal, but when i tried to play the g, b, and e strings it was like the amp was not even picking them up, almost like playing it acoustically. has anyone ever heard of this kind of thing happening? i wonder if it might be a preamp tube as they are over 15 years old and are probably about worn out anyway. i was just wondering if anyone had any idea about another cause. i plan on taking to to my tech in a few days. hopefully its nothing too terribly bad or expensive.
    Good luck
    Grand Rapids '04, Detroit '06
    JEFF HARDY AND JEFF AMENT USED TO LOOK THE SAME
    "Pearl Jam always eases my mind and fires me up at the same time.”-Jeff Hardy
  • kitfookitfoo Posts: 125
    Hopefully you learned a lesson from that...NEVER transport amp heads in that fashion. Always carry them separately either by hand or on a cart. You see why that is important now.

    As for your amp, it could be the preamp, or it could be something simple like a capacitor. I'm not an amp tech, so I can't help you on the specifics. Just hope it's a cheap fix!
  • AnonAnon Posts: 11,175
    Ouch. That's not cool. Hopefully it's not as bad as it sounds and it's easily fixed. Fingers crossed.
  • exhaustedexhausted Posts: 6,638
    i hope it's ok in the end.

    i just had my mic stand tip over and crash into my casino last night. putting a nice huge divot in the top horn.

    where's that thread about putting stuff away?
  • Pacomc79Pacomc79 Posts: 9,404
    ouch, hopefully it's just a tube issue and not a transformer.

    good luck with the Amp Tech.
    My Girlfriend said to me..."How many guitars do you need?" and I replied...."How many pairs of shoes do you need?" She got really quiet.
  • oh gawd i hope its not a transformer. if it is i am screwed. does that sound like a symptom of a bad transformer?? if it is, so much for it being completely original and stock....

    i am hoping its just a preamp tube or something simple. i have not powered it on to do any further troubleshooting because i don't want to risk any further damage.

    it had been giving me a funny hum the last few weeks and i had been wanting to take it in to the tech but hadn't gotten around to it. i guess now i have a good reason to get on that huh...
    "You can tell the greatness of a man by what makes him angry."  - Lincoln

    "Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
  • Pacomc79Pacomc79 Posts: 9,404
    oh gawd i hope its not a transformer. if it is i am screwed. does that sound like a symptom of a bad transformer?? if it is, so much for it being completely original and stock....

    i am hoping its just a preamp tube or something simple. i have not powered it on to do any further troubleshooting because i don't want to risk any further damage.

    it had been giving me a funny hum the last few weeks and i had been wanting to take it in to the tech but hadn't gotten around to it. i guess now i have a good reason to get on that huh...


    It sounds from the description that there is an issue with a tube, which is probably the case. I mean they are one step up from a light bulb. That's what my amp does when the power tubes are dying.
    My Girlfriend said to me..."How many guitars do you need?" and I replied...."How many pairs of shoes do you need?" She got really quiet.
  • oh gawd i hope its not a transformer. if it is i am screwed. does that sound like a symptom of a bad transformer?? if it is, so much for it being completely original and stock....

    i am hoping its just a preamp tube or something simple. i have not powered it on to do any further troubleshooting because i don't want to risk any further damage.

    it had been giving me a funny hum the last few weeks and i had been wanting to take it in to the tech but hadn't gotten around to it. i guess now i have a good reason to get on that huh...

    Ouch. I can almost hear that sound and hear that language!
    I'm with Paco. Very unlikely a transformer. I can't see where a transformer would cancel out the treble strings. Probably tubes and maybe it loosened up some connections .
    If it hit that hard, you might look into replacing all the tubes because they don't like impact and they tend to find the worst times to go when they're injured! Like right when you're feeling it and ripping out your best solo ever!
    Be kind, man
    Don't be mankind. ~Captain Beefheart
    __________________________________
  • i took it to the repair shop yesterday. its in our bass player's uncle's vintage guitar shop. all of the employees were looking at it like i was bringing a sick dog to the vet. They were all like "dude that sucks" and "oh man sorry that happened"...

    i talked to the amp tech and told him what is going on. he did a quick scan and said he seriously doubts it is a transformer and feels something soldered came loose and its probably the preamp/preamp tubes. he said "since its 34 years old and had some trauma (getting dropped from 4 ft off the ground) i'm going to have to go through it pretty thouroughly..." he is going to call me with an estimate this week some time.

    one thing he did find is that the ohm selector was very loose. he said a bad connection there could damage the transformer and blow the whole amp. he said it could also cause some single coil like hum from the cab, which i had been having for a few weeks. he said to "gaffer tape that shit to the chassis so the pins don't come out".. i'll keep yoou guys posted once i hear something.
    "You can tell the greatness of a man by what makes him angry."  - Lincoln

    "Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
  • i just spoke to my amp tech. man did i get lucky. he completely went through the amp and said that the power tubes broke somewhere inside the tubes. he said everything else, all pots, connections and solder points, caps, transformers, even the 15 year old pre amp tubes are in great shape. its still all stock original, aside from tubes of course. he said "there's a lot of life left" in the amp, which is great news. he just put in a new set of mulard el-34s, rebiased it and he said it "sounds awesome again". he also taped that ohm selecter down and the hum/buzz i had been having is gone.

    the funny thing is i just had him retube and bias it about 3 months ago. so it looks like i escaped with only a few new scuffs on the front and a $100 go through/retube. what a relief!! i can't wait to go pick it up here after work.
    "You can tell the greatness of a man by what makes him angry."  - Lincoln

    "Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
  • exhaustedexhausted Posts: 6,638
    dodged a bullet there. Glad to hear it's ok.
  • i don't know, something is REALLY not right about this amp. it fires up and works since it was retubed but there is a significant loss of volume, both power and output. it just does not have the balls that is had a few weeks ago, and now quite frankly it sounds like ass. when i use the hotplate on 12 db its really quiet. that is the setting i played an outdoor gig in front of about 600 ppl at the winery last weekend and it was plenty loud then. that is the setting i always use for all practices and gigs. now i get drowned out by the drummer....i played it on 8 db (which is 4 db louder than the 12 setting) it gets close to the volume that the 12 db setting had. also when i rock the volume back to clean up the tone some it gets really quiet and muddy and sounds as if it is trying to cut out. it also is buzzing but not as bad as before it got fixed. i troubleshot all of my pedals and cables using my Matchless and they all checked out fine. I am quite sure there is something wrong with this head. probably a grounding issue at the least but hopefully not a transformer.....i am taking it and my hotplate back to the tech tomorrow. maybe the hot plate is contributing to the problem.
    "You can tell the greatness of a man by what makes him angry."  - Lincoln

    "Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
  • AnonAnon Posts: 11,175
    call the ampulance?
    Yeah that was weak i know :o

    really hope it's not too serious. good luck buddy.
  • mfc2006mfc2006 Posts: 37,447
    ditto. hope it's ok!
    I LOVE MUSIC.
    www.cluthelee.com
    www.cluthe.com
  • Pj_Gurl wrote:
    call the ampulance?
    Yeah that was weak i know :o

    really hope it's not too serious. good luck buddy.

    ampulance lol... i'll find out tomorrow....
    "You can tell the greatness of a man by what makes him angry."  - Lincoln

    "Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
  • ok; i got my amp back today. my tech said that on closer inspection he found that the 3rd preamp tube socket was loose which caused the power amp driver to go dead. this resulted in my significant loss of power and overall loss of volume, and overall muddy clean tone.

    this is how he explained it to me....he said in vintage marshalls, the third preamp tube is the driver for the power section and tubes. when the 3rd tube socket is loose or bad the alternating current to the power section and tubes is halved resulting is lost power. normally when you rock the guitar volume back the amp cleans up. when the a/c is halved you only get the side of the waves that makes the amp distort going though to the power section so it can not get a clean tone, which is why mine got seriously muddy when i rocked guitar volume back.

    he retensioned all tube sockets which fixed the problem. the 15 year old preamp tubes are still good lol....best of all he did not charge me for the repair since he missed it the first time.

    i'm really stoked because i think this amp sounds better than it did when i got it. quite possible the best its ever sounded in its 34 years of life. now its nice and loud and ballsy like it should be. hopefully this will be the end of this problem.
    "You can tell the greatness of a man by what makes him angry."  - Lincoln

    "Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
  • AnonAnon Posts: 11,175
    i'm really stoked because i think this amp sounds better than it did when i got it. quite possible the best its ever sounded in its 34 years of life. now its nice and loud and ballsy like it should be. hopefully this will be the end of this problem.
    Well that's gotta be a relief. Happy it turned out good for you!
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