lee4 Posted April 14, 2010 Share Posted April 14, 2010 At rehearsals last night my LMII head made a distorted sound.Batteries/leads/cab are fine,so what could it be. And,you guessed it,it's out of warranty! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
machinehead Posted April 14, 2010 Share Posted April 14, 2010 First off all - keep an open mind about things like this. You say your amp made a distorted sound when actually, it was your speaker that made the sound. Work back from there. It might be an intermittent fault in your amp or your guitar or speaker or cables or effects. See what I'm getting at?. Sorry, but from the information you give it would be impossible to diagnose your problem but I hope you get it sorted. Any more info? Frank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMT3781 Posted April 14, 2010 Share Posted April 14, 2010 Give all the pots a good working, if any feel loose, play while turning them/wobbling them about simple stuff, but its good to start simple Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dood Posted April 15, 2010 Share Posted April 15, 2010 I'll only add the same as above. First rule out each individual component of your signal path first. Try a different cabinet, different leads, a different bass - then try a different amp with the rest of your set up. Then, if you can prove it's the amp distorting and nothing else, then it's time to visit the repair man - as I'm pretty sure, that like the F1 the components inside are all SMT - and thus will require a skilled hand to fix. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lee4 Posted April 15, 2010 Author Share Posted April 15, 2010 Myself and the drummer(he builds PA cabinets for a living;knows his stuff.)checked the leads ,cabinet and conections. These seem fine,but I will double check everything tonight. I am in contact with Stevesamps at Godalming,so if the idiot checks fail,it could be a bloody dear repair.Or a new amp. Any suggestions for a 300w to 500w head that won't break the bank? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dood Posted April 15, 2010 Share Posted April 15, 2010 [quote name='lee4' post='807048' date='Apr 15 2010, 12:31 PM']Myself and the drummer(he builds PA cabinets for a living;knows his stuff.)checked the leads ,cabinet and conections. These seem fine,but I will double check everything tonight. I am in contact with Stevesamps at Godalming,so if the idiot checks fail,it could be a bloody dear repair.Or a new amp. Any suggestions for a 300w to 500w head that won't break the bank?[/quote] Hartke LH500 / LH1000 are cheap as chips - especially second hand - and will do very well as a stop gap at worst ;o) and they have gotten really good reviews, as they share a preamp that is very similar to Alembic and Trace V-types. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lee4 Posted April 16, 2010 Author Share Posted April 16, 2010 (edited) [quote name='dood' post='807053' date='Apr 15 2010, 12:34 PM']Hartke LH500 / LH1000 are cheap as chips - especially second hand - and will do very well as a stop gap at worst ;o) and they have gotten really good reviews, as they share a preamp that is very similar to Alembic and Trace V-types.[/quote] Cheers Dood.I've been checking out LH500 reviews online;they seem solid,and arn't burdened with too many unneccessary controls. As for the LMII,I now know that the fault is in the output stage.The drummer and I took a line out into a power amp,and fed that to my cab. No distortion! I'll let you know the result when Steve looks at it. Edited April 16, 2010 by lee4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tombboy Posted April 16, 2010 Share Posted April 16, 2010 Just remember too that warranties (or lack of) do not mean that you have to pay for repairs. All consumer goods sold must be 'fit for purpose' for their expected lifetime. If components have failed within a 'reasonable' time period, regardless of warranty, you have the right to challenge the manufacturer to make good. Your first port of call should be the Markbass website and contact Peter Murray. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dood Posted April 16, 2010 Share Posted April 16, 2010 [quote name='tombboy' post='808323' date='Apr 16 2010, 12:46 PM']Your first port of call should be the Markbass website and contact Peter Murray.[/quote] I think he's the MarkBass MySpace contact too - so could try him via there too. Nice chap, very friendly! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lee4 Posted April 16, 2010 Author Share Posted April 16, 2010 [quote name='tombboy' post='808323' date='Apr 16 2010, 12:46 PM']Just remember too that warranties (or lack of) do not mean that you have to pay for repairs. All consumer goods sold must be 'fit for purpose' for their expected lifetime. If components have failed within a 'reasonable' time period, regardless of warranty, you have the right to challenge the manufacturer to make good. Your first port of call should be the Markbass website and contact Peter Murray.[/quote] I only read this AFTER I dropped the amp off to be repaired! I have sent a message to Markbass outlining the problem and asking them why the amp has failed after so short a time. Watch this space for updates. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WalMan Posted April 17, 2010 Share Posted April 17, 2010 I would definitely speak to MB, or indeed any manufacturer in such an instance. Had a couple of problems with my BassPod xT Pro, both out of warranty. Got a return no, shipped it back and received it back repaired both times with no charge. Now I suppose its possible that the bits were chips or boards that were a straight unplug old / plug in new, but all the same I was impressed with the service. The guys from MB always seem pleasant when I have met them so perhaps worth a call to your local repair man to say "hang on a mo 'til I hear back from MB" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lee4 Posted April 23, 2010 Author Share Posted April 23, 2010 [quote name='WalMan' post='809116' date='Apr 17 2010, 02:19 AM']I would definitely speak to MB, or indeed any manufacturer in such an instance. Had a couple of problems with my BassPod xT Pro, both out of warranty. Got a return no, shipped it back and received it back repaired both times with no charge. Now I suppose its possible that the bits were chips or boards that were a straight unplug old / plug in new, but all the same I was impressed with the service. The guys from MB always seem pleasant when I have met them so perhaps worth a call to your local repair man to say "hang on a mo 'til I hear back from MB"[/quote] Spoke to the MB guys,and they are willing to sent me a returns note.Very helpful. But,a mate of mine has had some dealings with Proel and has said that whilst they are helpful,they arn't they fastest movers. Steves amps have run the head through a dummy rig and it hasn't distorted. The next step is taking the cab over to him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lee4 Posted April 28, 2010 Author Share Posted April 28, 2010 OK,all gear was taken to Steve on Tuesday.No distortion.Not a single sizzle. Much scratching of heads was done,until Steve said "Play as hard as possible,and I'll do this." This being lifting the amp off of the cab. Hey presto,no rattles,no buzz.He then checked all the screws,retightened all of them,and sent me on my way. He did not want paying,but as he is such a nice guy,I forced £10 on to him,and left a happy man. The next thing to do is to find a shockmount flightcase! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tombboy Posted May 2, 2010 Share Posted May 2, 2010 [quote name='lee4' post='822464' date='Apr 28 2010, 09:33 PM']OK,all gear was taken to Steve on Tuesday.No distortion.Not a single sizzle. Much scratching of heads was done,until Steve said "Play as hard as possible,and I'll do this." This being lifting the amp off of the cab. Hey presto,no rattles,no buzz.He then checked all the screws,retightened all of them,and sent me on my way. He did not want paying,but as he is such a nice guy,I forced £10 on to him,and left a happy man. The next thing to do is to find a shockmount flightcase![/quote] Again, check the MB website. They now do shockmount cases for the LM2 heads. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.gif.9ad672bb8b84505709f76b39c8c256ec.gif)
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.