Help! Whats wrong with this Polytone?

[deanmartian]

Hi everyone, can someone please help explain what might be wrong with this Polytone amp I got? I'm a beginner and know nothing technical about amps but I do know Polytones are not supposed to sound like this . It's a crappy phone recording but you can tell... not the full and warm sound I was hoping for. It was described as completely working but it sounds like a telephone. It's like the bass is blown out? Switching to Brite or Dark doesn't help. I just want to make sure I'm saying the correct thing when I request a return. Thanks I appreciate it!

[deanmartian]

Just tried the external out and it sounds great, so its indeed a faulty speaker... thank you!

[garybaldy]

Just tried the external out and it sounds great, so its indeed a faulty speaker... thank you!

What model is it and do you plan to change the speaker and keep it or just return it?

[skiboyny]

Just tried the external out and it sounds great, so its indeed a faulty speaker... thank you!

Maybe maybe not. Isn't the external out a preamp designed to go to a power amp?

[garybaldy]

Maybe maybe not. Isn't the external out a preamp designed to go to a power amp?

Both my Minibrute III and Teeny brute have, at the rear, a "main output" (don't really know what that is) and an "ext spkr" out. Both early 3 knob/diamond tolex models.

[deanmartian]

What model is it and do you plan to change the speaker and keep it or just return it?

Its a baby taurus... I'm going to return it. I was looking for something playable out of the box – which I realize now I shouldn't have gone with a vintage amp if that's what I wanted lol.

[deanmartian]

Maybe maybe not. Isn't the external out a preamp designed to go to a power amp?

I connected the external out to a cabinet and it sounded fine (no more distortion)... so doesn't that isolate the issue to the speaker of the Polytone? Regardless, there definitely is something wrong with the Polytone.

[Mick-7]

I connected the external out to a cabinet and it sounded fine (no more distortion)... so doesn't that isolate the issue to the speaker of the Polytone?

Yes, but it could just be an electrical short, at any rate it's defective.

[John A.]

I connected the external out to a cabinet and it sounded fine (no more distortion)... so doesn't that isolate the issue to the speaker of the Polytone? Regardless, there definitely is something wrong with the Polytone.

It might not be the speaker. It could be a problem with the connection between the internal speaker and the amp. To be sure it's the speaker itself, you'd have connect that to a known good amp with a known good cable. But, yeah, it's broken. Even if it's a minor fix, if you want a working amp get a working amp, not a project.