I Released The Magic Smoke!

bassfran

bassfran

Supporting Member
Mar 1, 2012
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Chicago
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Endorsing artist: Lakland basses
#1
It's new (to me) cab day. Woo! I had it shipped to work as I was out of town for a few days but knew I could sneak in over the weekend to make some racket. Our shop is in an industrial zone and I can get as stoopid loud as I want, so I brought along my other gigging cab to do some comparative testing and make with the double stack.

I got everything set up and thought, "Hey, why not run the back-up head 1st and dial it in with this new cab by itself?" It's a Carvin BX500 that worked fine before and hasn't been used on a gig since late June. Plugged it in, turned it on and then, "Huh? Why is the mute light still on? OH, NO! UGH, the SMELL!" And I immediately shut it off and put it outside to air out.

This is the 2nd head I've had crap out in recent months but at least it wasn't on a gig this time. I may start looking around for a new power amp instead. Any suggestions?
 
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#2
bassfran said:
It's new (to me) cab day. Woo! I had it shipped to work as I was out of town for a few days but knew I could sneak in over the weekend to make some racket. Our shop is in an industrial zone and I can get as stoopid loud as I want, so I brought along my other gigging cab to do some comparative testing and make with the double stack.

I got everything set up and thought, "Hey, why not run the back-up head 1st and dial it in with this new cab by itself?" It's a Carvin BX500 that worked fine before and hasn't been used on a gig since late June. Plugged it in, turned it on and then, "Huh? Why is the mute light still on? OH, NO! UGH, the SMELL!" And I immediately shut it off and put it outside to air out.

This is the 2nd head I've had crap out in recent months but at least it wasn't on a gig this time. I may start looking around for a new power amp instead. Any suggestions?
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Bad speaker cable? 🤔

What was the first head that died?
 
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#5
bassfran said:
Cable's fine and the other was a Kustom KXB 500.
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“Do you keep these things out in an old leaky barn?“

1724626150699.jpeg


🤔
 
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#6
bassfran said:
(Snip)

This is the 2nd head I've had crap out in recent months but at least it wasn't on a gig this time. I may start looking around for a new power amp instead. Any suggestions?
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Mesa Boogie Subway TT-800 (I like mine!), or your flavor of the Subway series. Check your speakers with a Multi-Meter, to make sure it's not causing the problem?

Good luck, let us know how it works out!
 
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#7
agedhorse said:
Maybe something different than what has failed?
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DJ Bebop said:
“Do you keep these things out in an old leaky barn?“

View attachment 7013745

🤔
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The only thing I can think of is that something shook loose inside from getting jostled around. No leaky barns (lol) or otherwise questionable storage- I bring it all inside when I get home from a gig.

I tend to take care of my things, overall. I got 15 trouble-free years from my old SVT2Pro but I simply can't haul 80lbs. of amp around anymore.
 
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#9
“Bad wiring” is a fallacy, there’s nothing endemic to the power supply circuit that puts the amp at risk.

Both are entry level products with typical entry level reliability issues. Both brands (in terms of ownership) are also gone, including service and support of any kind.
 
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#11
agedhorse said:
“Bad wiring” is a fallacy, there’s nothing endemic to the power supply circuit that puts the amp at risk.

Both are entry level products with typical entry level reliability issues. Both brands (in terms of ownership) are also gone, including service and support of any kind.
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Not gonna argue with the master but the BX500 Boards were absolute Crap until about Revision "G'. I put 7 Boards in mine until REV G could handle the wiring where I was gigging it.
 
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#13
FunkHead said:
Not gonna argue with the master but the BX500 Boards were absolute Crap until about Revision "G'. I put 7 Boards in mine until REV G could handle the wiring where I was gigging it.
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How do you know it was the wiring where you were playing that was the root cause?

7 boards sounds like you had the worst luck of any owner I have ever heard of. I thought they exchanged or replaced the entire amp rather than sell replacement boards, I never saw them make those available for repair.
 
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#14
Voltage or mains wiring issues at your shop?

Long shot guess - any possibility the outlet you plugged into was wired for 240V but has a 120V outlet on it for some strange reason? I ran into that (only once thank god) at a former industrial site that had been converted to office space. Fortunately for us, I always had our techs check the line voltages on every outlet they were going to be using and verify it was wired correctly before installing anything on it. There’s a lot of bad wiring out there.
 
#15
agedhorse said:
How do you know it was the wiring where you were playing that was the root cause?

7 boards sounds like you had the worst luck of any owner I have ever heard of. I thought they exchanged or replaced the entire amp rather than sell replacement boards, I never saw them make those available for repair.
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I finally tested the circuit. It showed reversed Neutral and ground on cheap tester. But it was a very old building. It was the only place that fried the BX-500 Boards REV A-F.

"G" finally made it through the Gig> All my(and Banmdmates) Other/backup amps worked perfectly there so I just kept getting replacement BX-500's and each one had a revised Board in It. I knew because it's clearly visible on the Board what revision it is. Carvin was the one who told me that I was getting a revised board with each successive replacement.
 
#16
40Hz said:
Voltage or mains wiring issues at your shop?

Long shot guess - any possibility the outlet you plugged into was wired for 240V but has a 120V outlet on it for some strange reason? I ran into that (only once thank god) at a former industrial site that had been converted to office space. Fortunately for us, I always had our techs check the line voltages on every outlet they were going to be using and verify it was wired correctly before installing anything on it. There’s a lot of bad wiring out there.
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Nope, (my main amp was fine) but thanks for contributing.
And thanks to everyone else as well.
 
#19
I was suspecting by "magic" smoke you really meant: carcinogenic.
That happened to me once with my Hartke HA3500 on a parade float. I'm pretty sure the funky generator power was at least partly to blame. (It was messing with other gear, too.)
My solution to that - never ever playing another parade float - has been pretty effective thus far.
Homicide detectives don't believe in coincidence, but I do sometimes – after all these years of troubleshooting music gear.
That said, this seems like a good time to double check the power at your shop, and make sure there are no short circuits in your cable and/or new cab.
... before your shiny brand new amp arrives. :woot:
 
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