Fried preamp

floyd · Carvinite Joined: 22 Oct 2009 Posts: 569

I have a Carvin RL1000 and I just recently took it out of the cabinet and put it in a rack. I recently bought an RBI and I hooked it all up and it worked great and then tonight at practice it was cutting out and finally it stopped working altogether. I am able to plug into the SansAmp and still get full power but my preamp controls no longer work and the inputs are obviously dead. I am not at all unhappy with the tone going through the SansAmp , but I would like to fix the amp. I tried changing the preamp tube and it worked for a minute and then cut out again.

Any ideas?

Bass FreeLee · Gold Member Joined: 24 Jun 2009 Posts: 171

My 1000 did the same thing..i took it in to the repair shop and they fixed it..then i brought it home and hit an open E string and then a big cloud of smoke came out and it was done... so i can't help ya but just tellin ya what happened to me with a similar case...Good Luck

floyd · Carvinite Joined: 22 Oct 2009 Posts: 569

Bass FreeLee · Gold Member Joined: 24 Jun 2009 Posts: 171

i traded the blown r1000 in for a bx600(Carvin gave me 140$ for it) ... but now use that as a backup amp .. i use a Gallien Krueger 700rbII

floyd · Carvinite Joined: 22 Oct 2009 Posts: 569

And it's loud enough? I got my dad one of those (700RBII) a few years back and I think I only paid about $500 for it. Money being an issue, as it is, I can't afford the SVT I really NEED, but I can probably scrounge together about 5 bills, as long as it has enough power.

And thanks for the replies. Smile

Bass FreeLee · Gold Member Joined: 24 Jun 2009 Posts: 171

Is it loud enough?,,,oh ya...with room to spare ..
sure its good to match wattage on your cab and head but you don't have to have a full tank to drive! Wink

when your amp is hitting its peak limits at the volume you need or its tapped out and you need more... then upgrading is a must..
but i got my GK off ebay for 4 bills... so for 5 bills you could get carvins BX500 if your feening for a Carvin....everybody seems to love those amps
,,if your wantin SVT sound you can find used SVT-3's for 5 bills

bass4worship

You might have fry the pre-amp section on the amp ( over load ).

floyd · Carvinite Joined: 22 Oct 2009 Posts: 569

Bassman

I bought an R1000 that needed repair. It had several issues, one being similar to the situation described by the OP. One thing I tried was to take a 1/4" patch cable and put it from the preamp out to the power amp in on the back of the amp. The amp then started working. Longer term solution, I took the ribbon cables off their respective plugs, cleaned everything with contact cleaner, then reattached them, wiggling them around a bit while reattaching, to make sure I got a clean connection. This amp is now my go-to rehearsal amp. I was leery about using an amp I repaired myself for playing out live; I'm not absolutely sure I fixed everything that was wrong, so I bought a BX600 for playing out. Nothing against the BX600, its a good amp, but I prefer the tone of the R1000.

Regarding troubleshooting the R1000, as long as the the power section is at least temporarily disconnected, you can find out if the preamp is doing anything by plugging in a bass, putting the input gain to max, & strumming a bit. If the preamp is working, the clip light should come on. If this happens, you can also try running the pre amp to a separate power amp, if you have one available. This will help you to know if there is any life left in the preamp at all. If there is, a trip to an amp repair place might be worthwhile, to restore it to its former glory. If it doesn't respond at all, I wouldn't bother...just use the SansAmp through the power section.

bass4worship

+1 for Bassman

floyd · Carvinite Joined: 22 Oct 2009 Posts: 569

I've had the top off the amp, but to get to most of the ribbon cables I have to start removing those boards. Shocked

Some of those screws on the bottom look like they'd be impossible to put back in too.

Also I was wondering if they attached the tube to the octal socket with silicone for a reason and if my failure to re-attach the tube with silicone could have anything to do with my problem.

Bassman

Pardon me on this one; it's been over a year since I opened up my R1000, but I seem to remember that the bottom plate will come off, just like the top plate. Maybe I'm wrong, but it would explain how it was assembled with screws pointing up... Confused

Regarding the silicone, my R1000 did not have this. I've had the tube on & off several times, even swapped the tube out, without issue. My R600 (also bought used) had the silicone to hold the tube in place; I thought a previous owner might have done that. Anyway the tube part of the preamp does not work on my R600. To use the R600 I turn the tube/ss blend knob all the way to ss, and that takes the whole tube issue out of the equation. (another hint to troubleshooting the preamp Wink

)

floyd · Carvinite Joined: 22 Oct 2009 Posts: 569

I tried turning the tube off. No change in the behavior of the amp/input.

I changed the tube when I originally took the amp out of the cabinet to rackmount it. After the problem started, I took it back out, made sure I scraped all the silicone off the socket. Cleaned every contact I could get to, as well as the socket, with de-oxit and then put the original tube back in. Like I said, it worked for a minute and then crapped out. It seemed to be intermittent at first, which led me to think it was a loose/dirty connection (which it could still be) but then the input(s) just stopped working altogether. I have read that many people have had problems with the ribbons and I would like to try to take them off and clean them, but I'm afraid to take all that stuff apart, not be able to get it back together and then wind up without an amp to use at all.

The bottom plate is not like the top plate, it is a carriage (the sides and bottom are one piece.)

bass4worship

IMO just use the power amp and when you can replace it do so.
If you're using a Samsamp I would get a cheap EQ to go between them, that what I'm doing on my church rig.

floyd · Carvinite Joined: 22 Oct 2009 Posts: 569

EQ on my power amp works fine. My rig still sounds awesome. 100 times better than it did before the SansAmp. I'll probably run it just like it is as long as it holds out.

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