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Post subject: Advice for a Greta
Posted: Mon Jan 28, 2013 1:07 am
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Joined: Mon Jan 07, 2013 10:48 pm
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I've had a Greta for a little over two months. I bought it listed new from an authorized online dealer, but the manufacture date says 05/2012. As this is my first tube amp, I had planned to get a cab to try with it, but have only used the internal speaker so far. But about a week ago it stopped producing sound.

There's only a very faint hum from the speaker when I put my ear to the speaker, and no changes when turning the volume or tone knobs. The line-out produces no tone (but had worked previously). The VU meter lights up, as do both original tubes. The smell of the amp is less than appealing, however. Trying a like-for-like tube change resulted in no change in sound.

Assuming the 1-year warranty still applies, service centers listed on the website are at least an hour in any direction from me. Between transportation costs and the new tubes, I'd be set back about half of what I paid for the amp. Getting it repaired by someone more local would run up a tab at least in terms of diagnosis and "bench time" labor, which is expected. These costs would be approaching what I paid for the amp during a sale.

So if you've gotten one of these, or are going to get one, you might want to think about paying a little more for an extended warranty from a merchant. When they're broken in, and they work, they do sound pretty good. I'm still trying to decide whether to submit mine for repair vs. pooling the "shipping/repair" money with holiday gift cards and getting another amp for now.

Thanks for reading.


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Post subject: Re: Advice for a Greta
Posted: Mon Jan 28, 2013 7:41 am
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Unless it is a simple tube problem, I doubt Fender bothers to repair these amps. They probably just trash them and give you a replacement. That is the policy with the Champion 600 and most of the small solid state amps. They aren't worth the cost to repair. Contact Fender for a schematic. You can probably fix it yourself. At the very least, just put in some new tubes. There are only two, a 12AX7 and 12AT7. They are cheap and can be ordered on line.

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Post subject: Re: Advice for a Greta
Posted: Mon Jan 28, 2013 9:20 am
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FWIW, it seems that you have a possible power supply problem. There are three fuses, F1, F2 and F3. Possibly F3 is blown, maybe a shorted diode or other problem. The power transformer has a very distinct smell when burnt, different than a burnt component smell, and I suspect diodes and/or capacitor over the transformer. Since the tubes and VU meter light up, F1 and F3 are OK. This could be a great DIY project, chance to learn about amp repair as there are few components in this amp compared to most others. I agree with bluesky636, if you don't want to DIY, check for warranty to see if you can just get a replacement.

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Post subject: Re: Advice for a Greta
Posted: Mon Jan 28, 2013 3:03 pm
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Thanks, bluesky and shimmi. I did swap out the tubes for JJ tubes but that didn't change the condition of the amp.

So the amp doesn't work, but at least right now I have a couple of JJ preamp tubes alongside an aesthetic marvel that doesn't look like anything else I have in my home. So there is some value in that. Beyond that, I have no knowledge of electronics repair at this time, but the future could be different.

Still, I hope the failure rate of these Gretas ends up being very low, because they are charming in both looks and sound. I wouldn't want these to actually end up in a pawn shop for real.


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