Having Amp Problems

MadHatter

Hey guys,

First let me say, I know nothing about amps.

A week or so ago, Channel 2 (Distortion channel) of my Crate VFX5112 (Tube amp) went quiet. There was no sound coming from it when I switched over from Channel 1. Channel 1 was fine though. Then days later, Channel 1 went dead.

Last night, I went over my dad's and we took off the back panel and checked wires to make sure everything was tight. One wasn't and I fixed it. We turned on the amp and both channels worked again. We though, "well, maybe seomthing was just loose from travel and so on".

I took the amp home and played for about 20 minutes, then (on both channels) the sound started to drop in and out. Sort of like as I was playing, someone was slowly turning the volume knob loud to soft then back.

Is this a case of tubes going dead, or something else. As I said I don't know anything about amps, and this is my first one. Any help about what the problem is, and what I can do about it would be appreciated.

Thanks!

-Brendon

Pacomc79

take it to a tech certified to work on that amp. St Louis Music owns the rights to Crate and Ampeg and should be able to find one for you or you can find one off off http://www.webervst.com

it's probably the tubes, but don't run it anymore because you could be doing damage to the output transformer and that's hella expensive.

with digital circuits and tube circuits that's a tough one to diagnose, it'd be better off if you got it checked out just to make sure.

http://trentino.best.vwh.net/

11. If you hear the amp cutting in and out, reduce the amp volume then wiggle the speaker cord. If this influences the cutting in and out, STOP! An intermittently open or shorted speaker connection or cord might blow up your amplifier. This one is very important.

who's_pearljam?

If the volume's changing up and down, it's probably a tube going, or loose in the socket, but it could be a lot of other things. If you had to fix one wire, there might be others. Especially of it's been travelling. Amps don't like to bounce around a lot.
Like Paco says, take it in to a tech or smokage may occur!, but it's most likely something simple.

mccreadyisgod

It sounds like an intermittent short somewhere. Could be the speaker leads, could be wires inside, could be a loose tube, could be a lotta things.

I'd take it to a tech... it'll probably be something stupid like a loose wire or screw, but it'll prevent much more expensive repairs later.