gareth1982

Anyone reading this thread in/close to Sheffield? My band are playing at firth park wmc tonight....and we just happen to be a soul band, edging more toward the stax Philly sound than Motown (although we play my girl)! I've posted the gig info in the gig section, so mods please feel free to remove this...but if anyone is close by and at a loose end tonight, it's a great venue and we put on a good show!

For the best in stax/Atlantic (and a bit of Motown), catch us at firth park wmc Sheffield tonight from 8:15 :-)

If you like Stax/Atlantic/Otis Redding kinda stuff and a 3-piece brass section and you aren't too far from Chesterfield (that's a lot of ifs, I know), then that's where we will be on 19th Dec.

Haha! Cheers dad! Father in law is retired so it will give him something to do if nothing else :-) Now, back to the sunbathing and all inclusive bar :-)

Good advice. I've got the schematics for it, so I will open it up again and trace the signal path (when it's playing up) and see what I (and my father in law who is a bit of an electronics buff) can one up with. I'm not in a particular rush or have a particular need for the amp, but it's just an annoyance that it's beating me! I will report any findings.

Update! I write this from holiday (in Morocco, it's gorgeous!). I took the amp to rehearsal last Friday; it worked perfectly for 15 mins then the output to the speakers just stopped working again. So it's not dirty Jack barrel contacts, it's not the lead, it's not s dry joint, it's nothing that I can see that's loose....Aaagh! Any further ideas chaps. I'm sure that when I get home and try it, it will work for 15 mins again, then do the same thing. It's doing my head in!

Now there's an idea! I do have a futon in the back of my van that I could stick on stage next gig....

Not quite! It had been cutting out at 'home practice' volume levels though previously, so I'm hoping that the fact it hasn't cut out since I cleaned the contacts is a good sign. Practice later in the week will be the real test. Thank you for all the advice given on here.

If you like Stax/Atlantic/Otis Redding kinda stuff and a 3-piece brass section and you aren't too far from Rotherham (that's a lot of ifs, I know), then that's where we will be on Saturday!

Update - the TV's still playing fine through the amp and the 4x10; we've got snooker on Eurosport at the mo then summat about the Orient Express in a bit. If the emap is gonna go off the rails, it will be during that programme, I'm sure....

Thanks for all this advice chaps; I think I may have cured it.... There were no dry or loose joints on the output board or the fx send return board, nor were the capacitors loose or improperly soldered (I checked the main board too), BUT, and I think this is the crux, the 'tags'(?) (the bit that the tip of the speaker cable contacts) inside the Jack barrels(?) were filthy. A few cotton buds and some contact cleaner and they've gone from dark brown to silver. I haven't got time to play my bass thru it this week until rehearsal on Thursday , so I've currently got our Tv connected to it and outputted to my 4x10 cab. The Mrs says it makes a nice coffee table, but most importantly, we've had the telly on all yesterday and she has had it on for a few hours this morning (loud), and it hasn't missed a beat; I will give it a good blast with my bass at rehearsal on Friday for the acid test, but does this dirty contacts theory explain the problems I've been having?

I've got some servisol in the garage so I will do as you suggest. Cheers. Thank you for the advice. :-)

Quick update; the problem manifests itself with any combination of cab and cable (and the cabs and cables work fine with my other heads), so it's definitely a problem with the head. I'm gonna try the fx send and return connection trick first this afternoon, and if that fails, open it up again and meticulously check for dry joints. I will report findings!

Yes, the fans (there are 2) are working fine, and the problem can manifest itself just after a couple of minutes at low drive levels when the amp is stone cold. I'm sure its a dry joint or loose connection, or the fx send/return (as has been suggested - thanks icastle) so will have a good look again and report back. Cheers

On around 9:15 tomorrow if anyone's local and likes Otis Redding/Stax type stuff?

Fabulous advice within 12 minutes! Thank you very much icastle. I will get the screwdriver out (again) and have a(nother!) look. I have a HA3500 as well which has been my main amp for years and this has NEVER let me down. I was hoping the HA5500 would be just as reliable but with a bit more oomph, but I haven't dared gig it yet because of this problem. I got it cheap anyway, so nothing much lost even if I can;t fix it. Thank you.

Evening chaps and chapesses; first of all, this is my first post on here in probably 4 years or so, but I did used to be a regular basschatter, then life, and a messy breakup seemed to get in the way of things and four years down the line, I find myself here again! So hi all (again). I will update my profile once I've typed this out.... I have a problem with my Hartke HA550 head. It works perfectly with no issues and tricks you into a false sense of security, then suddenly and randomly there will be no output from the amp to the speaker. It doesn't get warm, it hasn't been driven hard, and sometimes it will be fine for an hour, then the outputs (I've tried both) stop working. Signal is still reaching the amp incidentally. It sometimes comes back on after a minute, sometimes 10 minutes, sometimes not until I try it again the next day, but it ALWAYS works again (perfectly...for a bit). So, 'loose connection on the wiring to the outputs' i thought....lid off, nothing obviously loose,,,so I wiggle wires and it works fine (for a bit). I had it on the dining room table with the lid off for 3 weeks. I played various basses for hours through it, my ipod through it for hours too, and no issues.....so lyesterday I put the lid back on, but it back in it's casing and took it to rehearsal...it worked for ten minutes then the same thing happened once more! I brought it home, back on dining room table, plugged in a bass and it works fine!!! It's GOT to be something loose or a dry joint maybe?, but I cannot see anything, and believe me, I've looked and wiggled and probed and everything seems solid and sound. Any ideas? Cheers Gareth