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Post subject: Power / Fuse issue with a Frontman 15R
Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2009 5:09 pm
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I bought a Frontman 15R a little over a month ago. It worked great the whole time up until last night when it cut power out of the blue. I noticed the fuse slot under the power input in the back. Popped it out and saw that it came with an additional fuse. So i switched in the new fuse, and when i turned the power on, it came on for a split second then cut right back off. Seems like its blowing the fuse's for w/e reason. But i just found out that i can get the same 250v fuse from Radioshack for a couple bucks. Seems easy enough but i dont want to put something in the amp that will ruin my warranty. Just wanted to see if anyone has had a similar problem and if i should try a new fuse or just go straight for the Fender warranty.

Thanks for any info/help.


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Posted: Fri Jul 10, 2009 4:20 am
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I have had similar issues with the 15G. My problems began when using the aux inputs on the front, to connect another input source (laptop). Did you have anything connected to those jacks?


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Posted: Fri Jul 10, 2009 6:11 am
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Yea, I had my iPod hooked up to it. But I pretty much always had it that way. How did you end up fixing yours?


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Posted: Fri Jul 10, 2009 5:43 pm
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My first amp never recovered and kept blowing the fuse right away. I ended up getting a warranty replacement. Then a month after getting the replacement amp, I hooked up an mp3 player and the same thing happened again. Since I have another amp to use, and have an electronics background, I decided to see if I can figure out what's going and repair it myself. Fender just replaces the amp and destroys the old one. Kind of a waste if you ask me.

I posted a message here about it a couple weeks ago, but didn't get any response. I'm curious if others have had the same experience.


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Post subject: Same problem. No warranty
Posted: Mon Aug 03, 2009 9:04 pm
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Hello,

Brand new to the forum. I was all excited today to play my guitar through my Frontman 15r with headphones and my iPod plugged into the aux input jacks. It worked then for a minute, then died. I checked the fuse. Blown. I replaced, unplugged the headphones, iPod, and guitar and plugged the amp back into the outlet. It clicked on and then died. I bought the amp used, so i don't have a warranty on it. I'd like to learn to fix myself. any ideas?

Thanks.


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Posted: Tue Aug 04, 2009 3:59 pm
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Just fixed mine (posted about it above). Turns out there can be certain situations that cause a ground problem, particularly if your aux device is also connected to an outlet (instead of just running off of batteries). It causes the output IC to blow. Here is what I did to isolate it.

1. go grab the schematics (they help, but are missing the aux input section)
2. you can test the output IC by removing power to it, I traced the circuit and lifted the leg of a neighboring component, connected to pins 3 and 5 (+/- 23v), then replace the fuse and power it up. If the fuse doesn't blow, you know that's it.
3. Purchase and replace the IC (U4) TDA2050 with a new one.

I ordered 5 replacement IC's at a cost of $1.79 each from Mouser Electronics. I also grabbed the data sheets for that IC from the internet and can see exactly where it shorted internally. Checked it with my meter after I removed it and sure enough, both voltage inputs shorted to pin 4 (the output), causing high voltage to pass through and blowing the fuse.

Good luck, let me know how it turns out.


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Post subject: where in the amp is the output ic on frontman 15r
Posted: Wed Aug 05, 2009 5:31 pm
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where do i look in the back of my amp to find the output ic
been having same problem but i have no eletronics background what does it look like?


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Post subject:
Posted: Wed Aug 05, 2009 6:58 pm
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The IC that typically goes bad is located on the main circuit board. It is attached to the large heat sink. My word of advice would be to try to find someone with some soldering skills to assist with the replacement, provided that the IC is what's wrong with your amp. You can find the schematics pretty easily, but without some basic electronic skills, troubleshooting will be your challenge.


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Post subject: need more help with frontman 15R
Posted: Wed Aug 05, 2009 9:22 pm
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well here is my issue i recently aquired a frontman 15R it did not come with a cable so i got one of those when i plug in nothing happens. i cannot read schematics so that didnt help me much. i did take the back off and looked at the fuse it was still good so i am unsure as to why the amp will not power on. no noise jewel doesnt light up no burning smell nothin so as of finding this thread i figured maybe it is the same problem as everyone else is having. as i said before no electrical knowledge so not sure what i am looking for. i can solder quite well so fixing wouldn't be a problem if i knew what to look for. cant seem to find a pic of this output ic you speak of
please help however you can


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Post subject: Thanks
Posted: Mon Aug 10, 2009 7:06 pm
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Great info. This is going to sound really bad, but how do I get the circuit board out. Do I just remove the metal bracket that is holding it up in the back. All of those nuts have red ink or something on them. Is that how I remove it?

I peaked around to find the IC, but i didn't see anything like it. I think i have to take the circuit board out.

thanks!


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Post subject:
Posted: Mon Sep 21, 2009 6:21 pm
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I am going on my 2nd amp with this problem and just can see it happening again and dont want to deal with it since my warranty guy is 30 minutes away. How does one go about trading it back for store credit? It was a GC purchase. Thanks


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Post subject:
Posted: Mon Sep 21, 2009 7:39 pm
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hello
i just bought a guitar and amp package that had the frontman 15, well need less to say it has the same problem as every one else blowing fuses that is. i have identified the ic it appears to have a burn ring around one of the solder spots. gonna have to try your test. i also noticed that this amp has all the spots for reverb to be added on the board, has any one done this?


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Post subject: Attempting IC replacement
Posted: Tue Sep 22, 2009 5:40 am
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Okay, I've got the amp in pieces. I took out the speaker, pulled the back plate andmesh front panel, and now if i turn the amp upside down i can see the circuit board. I see the IC and I bought some replacements off Mouser. My question is whether i have to completely remove the board. To do that, i'd have to remove all of the metal bracing which i also understand to be heat sinks? Is that right? Anyway i'd have to remove this by unscrewing the nuts as the bolt heads are all inaccessible. Should i disconnect the wires to everything else first?

Thanks for the help, guys. I'm completely new to this, but I really want to learn how to do this myself. I like to pick up new skills....you know, nun chuk skills, bow hunting skills, etc. I'd like to continue learning awesome guitar skills, but this amp is a turd.


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Post subject:
Posted: Tue Sep 22, 2009 12:51 pm
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hello
the board comes off the metal bracket,there are two gold screws that hold heat sink to metal plate as for the knobs in front index all knobs to 1 then get a butter knife and slowly pry up the knobs. now the you my not need a butter knife all but one of mine came off by pulling them.

then you take off the nuts holding all dials in front and the screw holding in the aux, then slowly manipulate the board out taking care not to damage any thing further. did you test it like was mentioned in earlier posts if so could u explain how u tested in detail. i believe i have found leads 3&5 am i right that they are the outside two when looking at the three in front of the chip. am i correct?


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Post subject: I did it!!!!...kind of...
Posted: Sat Sep 26, 2009 7:59 am
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Well, I replaced the IC and got my amp to stop blowing fuses. So that's good, right? But now when i turn the amp on I get a loud hum and when i plug in my guitar, nothing happens. Just the hum, uninterrupted, even when i turn all the knobs.

When I was trying to remove the old IC chip, i didn't have a soldering wick so i just put some needle nose pliers on the chip spokes one at a time and heated the solder on the other side. Then i just pulled them out one by one. I kind of made a mess of things though. Is it possible to ruin the board with heat? I dobbed on a good amount of solder on the new chip hoping to compensate for the harsh treatment i used to get the old one out. None of it is touching the other contacts though.

Since i'm not blowing fuses, i figure i fixed that problem. I probably caused a new one though. any ideas what it may be?

Thanks.

Oh, and i never tested the old IC. I dont' know how to do that so i just guessed that it was bad. All the research I did indicated it to be so. and it was.


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