Davy

The offending screws have been drilled out and I've now got access to the amp! 😊

Cheers guys, some things to try there.

Hi guys, I'm trying to get inside my trace elliot amp head but some of the mini Allen screw heads have shredded. I've tried the usual YouTube tip of putting an elastic band inside the screw head but it still doesn't turn. I've also tried WD40 but the bolts aren't going to shift. Has anyone managed to release shredded Allen screws and if so, how did you manage it? Cheers Dave

So the Ashdown head is now fixed. 😃 I took it to a local repairer and was expecting to leave it with him but I was invited in and he actually fixed it there and then whilst I watched! It turned out to be a bad joint on the amp's speakon socket which was re-soldered and the adjacent jack sockets all cleaned. So one gig under my belt since, everything appears to be working again. That just leaves the Trace head to sort out now but I think I'll start another post on that one. Thanks again for your comments everyone!

Thanks for getting in touch Ashdown Engineering. I have two speaker cables which have genuine Neutrik connectors and one generic cable which I've used only a few times. I have a guy local to me lined up to look at the amp. If he can't fix it then I will certainly send it to you.

Fingers crossed. It's a lovely little amp and I'd like to keep it for a good while longer if possible.

I think I might have found the problem with the Ashdown head. I tried 3 different speaker cables at the weekend(2 speakon to speakon and one speakon to jack) and the sound cut from the amp to the cab when I wiggled the speakon connector at the amp end. It seems like there might be a loose connection in the speakon socket on the amp. Taking it to a repair guy this week for confirmation and will post an update when I have confirmation. Thanks for the suggestions everyone.

I'll check that as it might be a possibility. It seems like too much of a coincidence that two different Amps could break down on the same night

Hi All, I need a bit of input from you basschatters out there please. I've somehow managed to kill two amps on the same night and I'm wondering if the cab has had anything to do with it or perhaps the speaker cables. Firstly let me list my gear: Ashdown Retroglide 800 watt head Trace Elliot 300SMX head Ashdown 1 x 12 cab(fitted with a 500 watt 4 ohm driver). Rockwire Jack to Speakon speaker cable. 1 generic speakon to speakon speaker cable. Ok so my main head is the Ashdown which I connect to the cab with the speakon to speakon cable. I noticed a few months ago that the sound from the Ashdown would intermittently cut out to the speaker but I could see that the input level on the amp was showing ok on the indicator. This happened for a few gigs and then seemed to go away(so annoying). I've used the Trace head with the same cab and rockwire jack to speakon cable without any issues until last weekend. The sound from the Ashdown head to the speaker cut out completely and also the DI signal stopped working which made me think it was the amp that had broken. So I changed to the Trace head which worked for about half a song and then it too cut out but the DI signal kept going to the desk. Now this weekend I tried the Trace again and it worked for a bit and then the sound cut out but not the DI signal. I had a backup consisting of a preamp pedal used with a small power amp pedal which worked fine through the speaker cab all night. So here I am with what would appear to be two broken amp heads but a speaker cab that worked fine for the whole gig with the backup preamp/power amp pedal. Could the cab/connector leads have somehow damaged both amp heads or have I just been very unlucky? I might add here that I never push the Ashdown past halfway on either the gain or the master volume and the Trace never goes above 6 on the gain or 3 on the master volume.