Anyone here a guitar Tech or know how to repair amps?, lol random, but no seriously I need help Options

[HaysoosKreesto]

Well, on the off chance that anyone here knows I decided to post to see if anyone can help me with a bit of a problem I am having. I have a Krank Krankenstein head/cab half stack that is giving me problems and I was curious if someone had an idea as to why .

Well about 4 weeks ago I turned on my Krank to play, and it decided to not play. At first I thought it was the cord, so I got a new one recently (SP1000 Monster) connecting my Krankenstein (original) to the Krank cab.

After I did all the connections, I turned on my Krank for the first time in a while all excited to play but almost nothing came out. I always let my tubes warm up for like a good 2 or 3 minutes and usually that gives a fantastic quality sound, but unfortunately I have not been able to hear this sound because the Krank is somehow malfunctioning.

Now to describe the problem (as best as I can): Well from the instant I turn the stand-by feature off and try to play anything, what comes out is a VERY very faint signal, and what sounds like Filiment moving around. It sounds considerably worse on the Dime channel (the high gain makes it a worse SSSSSSS sound and the Filiment sound and almost no signal, maybe 1% of what should be close to 50% of volume). All of the tubes glow evenly and the Krank is VERY rarely moved anywhere, never dropped or smoked around. The closest thing I can describe it as, if you ever had a guitar that had connection issues, you know the sound of it semi-connecting to the amp giving only a small sample of what is being pushed out by the pick-ups. My guitar works just fine and I know all the cables are fine, so logically the only thing that is left is the Krankenstein.

Before I take it in to get repaired and probably shell out a couple hundred for the repairs, I wanted to know if anyone on here has the knowledge of possibly if anyone has experienced such a problem or has any idea what I could do to get this problem fixed.

[solidxsnake]

Have you checked the speaker cable from head to cab? That could be gone.

[HaysoosKreesto]

Have you checked the speaker cable from head to cab? That could be gone.

I replaced it with a brand new SP1000 monster cable but it still makes a sizzle sound when played. Someone told me that the master tube could be busted and would need to be replaced or the input to 16 ohm speaker cable input will probably need to be re-saudered.

At the worst I could need a new transformer going from my tubes to the output but God willing that isn't the case. So far I am using my back-up amp and have not considered fixing my main as of yet, mostly because of my lack of funds . Thanks for the concern though.

[solidxsnake]

I'd definitely pull the cab and head apart and check for crappy solder joints. I'm not sure on how well QC'd Krank amps are. Always an extremely easy fix.

I would very likely doubt it's the tubes, unless all of the poweramp tubes are completely shot I feel like you wouldn't get any sound (though I can't say I'm too confident in that).

[HaysoosKreesto]

Well the cab absolutely works, so I am assuming that the head has the problem.

I don't know how to check to see if the solder joints are shotty. What is QC'd? The tubes always glowed when turned on after I noticed the problem and I never heard a filiment sound strait from any of the tubes, but I asked the Krank forum and they said to check that first. Apparently the way a Krank tube amp works, the are 8 power tubes, 4 small 12AX7's and 4 5881 Sovtek power tubes. One of the small 12AX7's controls whats called a "Phase Inverter" which affects all the channels and make strangle the output of the volume.

It's all explained on this Krank amp forum I started to hopefully find some answers.

http://forums.krankamps.com/krankforum/yaf...h-my-Krank.aspx

[solidxsnake]

If you're not scared of pulling the amp apart, do so. Check the solder joints on the speaker-output jacks.

QC'd = Quality Control(ed). Basically, how well a device is inspected at factory before shipment.

The tubes in any tube amp should always glow. When you flip the amp on (but leave it on standby) the poweramp and preamp tube filaments will start to glow, as power is being applied to the heating elements to warm up the tubes. When the standby switch is flipped to put the amp into it's fully-on state, signal will start to be sent through the tubes and the amp should start working.

Try cleaning the pots on the amp. Turn it off (or on, doesn't matter) and turn all of them all the way up and down vigorously for a little bit. This has the potential to loosen up any dirt built up inside the pot.

Otherwise, I'd try switching the tubes out and around (try the ones you have in different combinations and see what happens). For the record, Sovtek tubes are garbage, from my experience as well as most others I've talked to. JJ-Tubes are my favorite.

[Bigblock]

Blown speaker(s) or bad connections?
I never had a 1/2 stack, only a back stage 12 inch practice amp!

I had bad wires on the speaker, and a couple tears in the cone.
Sounded 100 miles away! Got a free replacement speaker & cord.

SIGH-- always wanted a stack!!

PS-
Guitar ground good?

[solidxsnake]

Blown speaker(s) or bad connections?
I never had a 1/2 stack, only a back stage 12 inch practice amp!

I had bad wires on the speaker, and a couple tears in the cone.
Sounded 100 miles away! Got a free replacement speaker & cord.

SIGH-- always wanted a stack!!

PS-
Guitar ground good?

He said he tested the cab, thus the speakers should be fine.

Stacks aren't all that important. Tons of guitarists (who don't know their gear very well) go out and get a cheap half-stack or full-stack (Marshall MG100HDFX series comes to mind...) and think they're awesome. I guess more power to them, but the amp is garbage and the cabs aren't all that great either. I'd be happier with a small 50w tube amp (and am, I use a Peavey Valveking 1x12 Combo). Gets plenty loud for a 1x12 amp (and when outputted to a cab will get much louder even with the same wattage), and if I'm playing a real big gig, it'll be mic'd anyway and volume doesn't matter.

[HaysoosKreesto]

Blown speaker(s) or bad connections?
I never had a 1/2 stack, only a back stage 12 inch practice amp!

I had bad wires on the speaker, and a couple tears in the cone.
Sounded 100 miles away! Got a free replacement speaker & cord.

SIGH-- always wanted a stack!!

PS-
Guitar ground good?

He said he tested the cab, thus the speakers should be fine.

Stacks aren't all that important. Tons of guitarists (who don't know their gear very well) go out and get a cheap half-stack or full-stack (Marshall MG100HDFX series comes to mind...) and think they're awesome. I guess more power to them, but the amp is garbage and the cabs aren't all that great either. I'd be happier with a small 50w tube amp (and am, I use a Peavey Valveking 1x12 Combo). Gets plenty loud for a 1x12 amp (and when outputted to a cab will get much louder even with the same wattage), and if I'm playing a real big gig, it'll be mic'd anyway and volume doesn't matter.

I semi agree with you. Stacks (while very nice) aren't what it's all about. For me personally I can't use anything but because I don't like the sound of a combo or a single 12" speaker, it doesn't project the same way. And I never trusted the "sound guys" over at gig's because their ear for what the amp should sound like through speakers continuously sucks at every venue I have played at, so I just said screw it I need something that I can use and make it sound the way I want to, it can fill a venue easy but not harshly and sounds phenomenal, thus I ended up purchasing a Krankenstein when tough times weren't around.

I used to love the Valveking sound for more classic tube sound, but now that I play a bit heaver music along with classic music, I needed something that could produce both sounds. My only complaint about the Krank (aside from the predictament it is in right now lol) is that it doesn't have a natural spring reverb or a noise gate, which it should have both. That is annoying, but nothing that can't be fixed with some pedals.

Oh and Bigblock, yes it made a magic guitar tone that made me cream my jeans when it worked. I haven't gotten around to fixing it but I exactly need to within this month so I'll probably post something a bit later.