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OK.
I am revisiting this thread with a question.
My Fender Vibrochamp XD shuts down after around 25 minutes of playing. I troubleshot it by pulling out my guitar cord and inserting it into a different amp. That amp played fine. When I plugged it back into the Vibrochamp, still no sound.
I am asking what my options are.
My immediate, admittedly emotional decision, is to see if any friends want it, and if they don't dispose of it at the local dump after I remove the aftermarket speaker and whatever else I can salvage. I know I cannot depend on this amp.
Do any of you have a better suggestion?
Thanks.
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04-09-2016 01:24 PM
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That is the same problem at 6 months ago, yes? By any chance is it still under warranty?
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No, not anymore. I bought it around seven years ago. It did not get a whole lot of use, and that's what so disappointing.
Originally Posted by Cunamara
From the responses in earlier this thread, it appears I will have to jump through a few hoops to get it fixed. And as with all things mechanical/electronic, it could be a simple one or one that is cost-prohibitive.
I think I am going to take it with me to the guitar show we are having in Dallas at the end of the month, and I will see if one of the vendors has some good advice or can recommend a repair person.
I really have too much going on to put a whole lot of energy and money into this amp - especially when I have others that work fine.
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I fix a lot of little Fender amps, the main problems I see are bad input jacks, volume controls and speakers. The first 2 are ones that cause cut out most often. After that touching up / reflowing the pcb contacts are next up unless a land is cracked then removing resist etch and repairing the land is recomended.
After that, tube socket re-tensioning, and checking heat sinks for hole stamping / drilling extrusions that need to be ground off and new heat sink grease applied.
A decent tech can find intermittants but it takes some $time to be thorough.
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Very encouraging, GNAPPI. Originally Posted by GNAPPI
I will try and do the simple stuff first, like the input jack, and see what happens - before I give up!
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Originally Posted by GNAPPI
Gnappi,
I disassembled my amp and found that the input jack was full of soldered points and was soldered at these points into a circuit board. I thought it would just be a receptacle with two or three wires on it. Surprise!
Buy I followed your advise and cleaned it up as best I could. I use some medium grit sandpaper so give the inside a good scrubbing, being careful not to let any pieces fall down into the circuit.
I was able to play the amp for almost two hours with no cutting-out problems.
This amp was bought in 2008 or so, and probably has less than 30 hours of playing time on it.
This failure reminded me of one of my guitars, which would could out and as it turned out, only need corrosion cleaned from it as well.
So corrosion on unused equipment appears to be a common problem.
Conclusion: Play your Gear!
Thanks, Gnappi. You have made me a happy camper.
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Construction can be an issue too. It's pretty common these days to mount the tube sockets directly onto the PCB. It's usually OK, but sometimes heat or stress (eg, like trying to remove a sticky tube) can damage the board or components. Chassis-mounted sockets are better, but more expensive. Originally Posted by Eddie Charles
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It's all construction issues. From cheap parts, to wave soldering, etc, etc.
Just picked up a circa 74 fender, never even been looked at by a tech. Works perfectly and its 40+ years old.
Seriously, anything you buy nowadays with these modern construction techniques should be understood as "throw away items". You may get 10 years out of it, but when a problem creeps up, it will likely cost more than the unit to repair, if you can get the parts at all.
Doesn't mean they are not worth it or they sound bad, but it is what it is. Just be aware of this before making purchasing decisions.
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You can almost always get an older tube amp serviced. Solid state amps, not so much, but can depend on the quality of the amp tech and the quality of the construction of the amp. The new breed of cheap modeling amps OTOH tend to be throw-aways when they go south.
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I had a TC Electronics digital bass amp that died. A friend-of-a-friend who's an amp tech said that basically any problem with it is going to be the motherboard, and that if the motherboard dies, you might as well replace the amp. Very annoying, but since it was a combo amp, I took the chassis out, and hacked a 1/4" jack into the cabinet. Then I found a Hartke head on Craigslist, so I ended up with a much better amp anyway. Originally Posted by D.G.
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It will be interesting to see how my Quilter Aviator holds up over time. I've had it for a couple of years now and done many, many gigs with it with no problems. It seems like a winner at this stage.
As far as reliable amps are concerned, it's hard to go past the old Peaveys of the 70's and 80's. Those things were incredibly well made.
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Well, I am sad to report that the vibrochamp cut out again on me. When I pushed it hard, with high gain, it just couldn't take it. When I turned it off and let is sit for five minutes, it started to work again. Sounds to me like overheating.
It still looks great so I am not going to throw it away.
I am going to find someone in this huge DFW area who can take a look at it, if the price is right.
If not, I will part it out.
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I am getting old and dull-brained. I finally have the amp fixed and was able to play for a couple of hours with no problems. It even sounded better (I say that subjectively) with the replacement of both tubes with so-called higher quality tubes.
For some reason, I thought this amp was a hybrid amp (a mix of digital and tube technology) that only had one tube. I was surprised to find out it has both a preamp tube AND a darn power tube!
I think that when I was initially researching it several years ago, I thought that it only had one amp for power, and that any preamplification was being done digitally. My memory failed me, and I thought for sure that was the set up. I had already upgraded the preamp 12AX7 (I believe that was the designation) so I just knew the tube was not the problem.
I am not sure how this thing works now so I am going to have to research it and see what is digital about it besides the effects.
Don't be a fool like I was, know that just because your amp has been called digital, does not mean that it is not a hybrid.
End of story, as I have thoroughly tested it, even with the volume and gain cranked up.
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I love a happy ending!
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Per the manual http://support.fender.com/manuals/gu..._XD_manual.pdf
It has a !2ax7 and a 6v6 power tube.
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Originally Posted by NoReply
Per the manual http://support.fender.com/manuals/gu..._XD_manual.pdf
It has a !2ax7 and a 6v6 power tube.
All I can think is that I must have been comparing this to my old Ampeg that has a little preamp tupe set up or something similar.
What bothers me is that I read about this amp years ago, and kept the same paradigm in my mind for how it worked. Let's me know I need to be more detail-oriented.
It also lets me know that the old adage, "first learned, best learned" still applies to me more than I would like.
Anyway, I feel like its a NAD (new amp day)!
These are the tubes I bought off Amazon.
https://www.amazon.com/Tube-Compleme...mp+xd+tubes+jj
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My Dr. Z is pretty foolproof. Hand-wired turret boards are a bit sturdier than PCBs.
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Update:
The Fender VibroChamp XD still works perfectly. The tube replacements fixed it.
Also, the Vox DA-5 I have owned for 10 years or so has been fixed. It started shutting down after 15 minutes of playing. A few months ago I replaced the power supply adapter with a different one and it has worked fine every since. I did not consider the power supply in my troubleshooting because the red light was still on, although the amp had no sound coming from it. I should have went to battery power (yes, it also can run on batteries) but I instead would just curse to myself and set it aside after fooling with the switches brought nothing.
Me so happy.
Maybe someone can learn from my experience with these amps.
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