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Post subject: Apparent BDRI Failure - Panic Attack
Posted: Mon May 20, 2013 5:40 pm
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Joined: Mon Apr 05, 2010 2:37 pm
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Location: Natural Bridge, Virginia
Plugged into my BDRI tonight to play a bit before dinner and PANIC! Only a quiet, distorted sound came out from the amp. :cry:

I was playing my Ibanez GIO, plugged into my pedal board (A/B switch to tuner or Fulltone FD-2m to Boss FRV-1 Reverb Pedal to Radial Twin-City Bones A/B/Y pedal to BDRI and Wrecking Ball). I had just finished over the weekend changing the feedback resistor to get a little more loop gain out of the power stage, so I figured I must have done something to cause a sudden failure (although it worked fine the day before).

Up on the bench it went and I plugged in my bias probe and DMM to check the power tubes (had a 6L6GC fail several months ago which showed up as no bias on that tube). Turned the amp on and bias was right where I had set it in both tubes. With nothing plugged in, the hiss sounded normal (present but very quiet). I looked around with a flashlight and saw no evidence of anything having been fried. Hmm.

I then disconnected a cable from the pedal board (brand new Planet Waves American Stage cables with Neutric connectors) and plugged the guitar directly into the amp. Suddenly I had sound! I grabbed a second cable and plugged in and .... no sound. Plugged everything back through the pedal board and .... no sound. Then I noticed that the cable that was plugged into the guitar was making crackling noises and the sound was dropping in and out. :idea:

So I pulled that cable out and unscrewed both connectors. All solder joints looked good. Flexing the cable at the connector while checking with my DMM showed nothing amiss. :?:

So I examined the suspect end of the cable more closely with a small flashlight. What's this? Looks like two loose stands of wire from the center conductor (apparently it is braided) are touching the ground lug. I used an Xacto knife to fish them out, grabbed them with small needle nose pliers and yanked them out. Closed up the connector and plugged back in and SOUND!!!!!! Flexing the cable at the connector had no effect. Problem solved. :D

So the moral of the story, boys and girls, when it is suggested that you try a different cable and guitar when you are having amp problems, do it. First thing. No questions asked. :wink: I didn't because my cables were brand new and I had worked on the amp a day earlier. If I had followed the advice I and others give out, I would have saved myself a lot of time and stress. 8)

Gotta go have dinner. Never did get a chance to really play. :lol: :lol: :lol:

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Post subject: Re: Apparent BDRI Failure - Panic Attack
Posted: Tue May 21, 2013 12:40 am
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Joined: Tue Jun 29, 2010 1:20 pm
Posts: 9640
Location: Indiana
Bu-but my cable is brand new! :lol:

I just had a similar experience with a Peavey amp. The amp worked fine except for reverb, replaced the faulty tank, and when I fired it up......very low sound. :o What did I do wrong?!?! Turns out that V1 went kaput at the same time, replaced the tube and all is well. :)

I was tempted to start with your standard advice; RTFM and try a new cable. :lol: :lol:

Glad that it was nothing serious, I know the feeling.

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---> "The amp should be SWITCHED OFF AND UNPLUGGED before you do this!" <---

Por favor, disculpe mi español, no se llega a la práctica con mucha frecuencia.


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Post subject: Re: Apparent BDRI Failure - Panic Attack
Posted: Tue May 21, 2013 3:20 pm
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Rock Star
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Joined: Mon Apr 05, 2010 2:37 pm
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Location: Natural Bridge, Virginia
I'm starting to build up quite a collection of cables.

Maybe I should start a thread called "Cable Porn". :idea: :lol: :lol: :lol:

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Post subject: Re: Apparent BDRI Failure - Panic Attack
Posted: Tue May 21, 2013 4:16 pm
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People don't get how important the cable is. Cheap cables are just that (cheap). I have a pile of cables that just don't cut it. It def worth it to send some cash on a good quality cable always


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Post subject: Re: Apparent BDRI Failure - Panic Attack
Posted: Tue May 21, 2013 8:55 pm
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Rock Star
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Joined: Mon Apr 05, 2010 2:37 pm
Posts: 8708
Location: Natural Bridge, Virginia
tbazzone wrote:
People don't get how important the cable is. Cheap cables are just that (cheap). I have a pile of cables that just don't cut it. It def worth it to send some cash on a good quality cable always


Thing is, the Planet Waves American Stage Cables are not cheap. They are very well built (except for the end of that one :lol: ), very flexible, and do snap into the jack with authority.

http://www.planetwaves.com/PWAmericanStageCables.Page

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