After retiring, I sold my SVT with two twin 8x10 cabs and downsized to an Ampeg SVT-7 Pro (Rev. C00) with two 500 watt cabs. One with a 12" and the other with a 2x10. Compact. Sounds awesome. I set up an audition for a band, and two days later I received a call to join an endurance road course auto race team as a driver/wrench. I canceled the audition and went racing. I've done that for several years now.
The SVT-7 Pro sat covered in my bedroom for about six years. This winter, while squestered from Covid, I dragged the SVT and cabs out and set it up. Worked great! A week later, I fired it up to practice, and ZERO sound out of the two cabs. Now, you have to realize I only have about four hours of run time on this amp. I tried everything. It worked through headphones, and all the controls worked: mute, clipping, tones, volume. I connected it to my Fender Rumble 100, and it played through that! I froze the U2 chip that has been notorious for turning output on/off. No effect. Finally, thinking there may be another chip not working, I put it out on my enclosed porch over night in 9 degree F temperatures.
The next morning I took a cab out, and my little Mustang bass and fired it up and it worked! I brought it back inside to let it gradually warm up. Once warmed I tried it again, and it works!
I have a friend who repairs vintage amps for Norm's Rare Guitars in California. I contacted him and discussed. He told me things to try, and recommendations for something else to replace it with if a new board cost too much. In our conversation, he mentioned Class D amps may sometimes be affected by humidity. I'm running a humidifier in the room to keep the room humid enough to stop static electricity and nose bleeds in our super dry Adirondack Mountain winter. I stopped humidifying the room, and the amp now runs for hours and works and sounds great. Who'd a thunk? Too much water in the air and it stopped working.
Maybe somebody else may have this problem someday and save themselves some time and angst.
Mike L.
The SVT-7 Pro sat covered in my bedroom for about six years. This winter, while squestered from Covid, I dragged the SVT and cabs out and set it up. Worked great! A week later, I fired it up to practice, and ZERO sound out of the two cabs. Now, you have to realize I only have about four hours of run time on this amp. I tried everything. It worked through headphones, and all the controls worked: mute, clipping, tones, volume. I connected it to my Fender Rumble 100, and it played through that! I froze the U2 chip that has been notorious for turning output on/off. No effect. Finally, thinking there may be another chip not working, I put it out on my enclosed porch over night in 9 degree F temperatures.
The next morning I took a cab out, and my little Mustang bass and fired it up and it worked! I brought it back inside to let it gradually warm up. Once warmed I tried it again, and it works!
I have a friend who repairs vintage amps for Norm's Rare Guitars in California. I contacted him and discussed. He told me things to try, and recommendations for something else to replace it with if a new board cost too much. In our conversation, he mentioned Class D amps may sometimes be affected by humidity. I'm running a humidifier in the room to keep the room humid enough to stop static electricity and nose bleeds in our super dry Adirondack Mountain winter. I stopped humidifying the room, and the amp now runs for hours and works and sounds great. Who'd a thunk? Too much water in the air and it stopped working.
Maybe somebody else may have this problem someday and save themselves some time and angst.
Mike L.
