Hello all, I'm a proud owner of a Mesa boogie D800+ and big fan of Traynor bass cabinets. I've been playing through a single 8ohm TC210 with my subway for over year and they pair very well. However, everytime I try to play my subway with either a 4ohm 4x10 or with 2 8ohm 2x10's the Amp goes into protect mode. Even with the Amp in 2ohm mode I cannot play with a 4ohm speaker load. In 2ohm I can play finger style very lightly but the second I dig in or slap/pop it cuts out and goes into protect mode. This happens at any volume /gain setting. I can play my passive jazz bass with the input gain just barely even on and the master at 3 ( literally plays so quiet a baby can sleep next to it ) and this still happens. Any other amps I've used with these two cabinets have been fine taking the 4ohm load. However, I recently noticed these cabs are rated at 400watts Program power, not 400 watts RMS...could this be the issue? Under 4ohms the subway will push 800watts so....could this be triggering protect mode? If so why wouldn't this happen with an 8ohm load ? Because the Amp would still technically be pushing out double the watts that a single one of my 2x10's is rated for. Anyways the local music store is doing a once over on the Amp itself to see if anything is wrong with it but I just realized the whole program power vs rms power after bringing it in.....opinions? Thoughts?
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Mesa Boogie Subway D800+ protect mode issues with Traynor cabinets
- Thread starter Ericfingersbass
- Start date
agedhorse
Commercial User
- Feb 12, 2006
- 52,447
- 176,650
- 14,248
- Disclosures
- Development Engineer-Mesa Boogie, Development Engineer-Genzler (pedals), Product Support-Genz Benz
First, I would immediately suspect the cabinets because the OC protection circuit is very well defined.
The very first thing I would look at is if the cabinet got “rewired” or was accidentally loaded with incorrect drivers. This is by far the most common cause.
Be sure your shop doesn’t create a problem with your amp in their attempt to guess at the cause (which is extremely unlikely to be the amp).
The other cause is a crossover that was poorly designed and creates an illegal load of the tweeter fails (either open or short, 2 different conditions).
The very first thing I would look at is if the cabinet got “rewired” or was accidentally loaded with incorrect drivers. This is by far the most common cause.
Be sure your shop doesn’t create a problem with your amp in their attempt to guess at the cause (which is extremely unlikely to be the amp).
The other cause is a crossover that was poorly designed and creates an illegal load of the tweeter fails (either open or short, 2 different conditions).
Thanks for the reply Agedhorse, we actually talked about this together over the summer and I have since re bought the second 2x10. Both cabs were purchased new. The shop I brought it to will use a Mesa trained tech to trouble shoot the issue so I'm hoping all will go well in the testing of this issue. It's just weird that other amps have not had this same issue running these two cabs together. I will keep this thread updated with what they find
agedhorse
Commercial User
- Feb 12, 2006
- 52,447
- 176,650
- 14,248
- Disclosures
- Development Engineer-Mesa Boogie, Development Engineer-Genzler (pedals), Product Support-Genz Benz
Every protection circuit is different, the protection in the Subway models is very sophisticated and tries to protect from things that might in fact cause damage rather than just gambling that it might be ok.
The only other possible cause is if the 2 ohm switch was installed 180 degrees from normal. Then, it would be operating in 4 ohm mode when the amp is being presented with less than 4 ohms. I haven't seen this yet, but it's at least theoretically possible.
I'm a Mesa and Traynor cab fan myself!
I run/ran my WD800 ( and previously D800/D800+)into Traynor cabs with no problems. I have 2 x Traynor 8 ohm 400 watt neo 15's as well as the Mesa Subway 15's and either stack works without incident at the 2 or 4/8 ohm settings. Never seen the protect light up. The WD/D800+ also went into 2 x Ampeg Svt 210s at 2 or 4/8 ohms without any problem. It's a puzzler for sure if it's two different sets of cabs. I'm not doubting your savvy but have you gone though a troubleshoot starting with the speaker cables ? correct ones? in good shape ? Sometimes it's the simple stuff that I forget about.
I have had a couple of janky Traynor cabs in the past though. (Even though I like the Traynors), after a clean cable etc. troubleshoot? IMHO, my money would be on the cabs before an undamaged normally working D800+ Hope you get it sorted out either way.
I run/ran my WD800 ( and previously D800/D800+)into Traynor cabs with no problems. I have 2 x Traynor 8 ohm 400 watt neo 15's as well as the Mesa Subway 15's and either stack works without incident at the 2 or 4/8 ohm settings. Never seen the protect light up. The WD/D800+ also went into 2 x Ampeg Svt 210s at 2 or 4/8 ohms without any problem. It's a puzzler for sure if it's two different sets of cabs. I'm not doubting your savvy but have you gone though a troubleshoot starting with the speaker cables ? correct ones? in good shape ? Sometimes it's the simple stuff that I forget about.
I have had a couple of janky Traynor cabs in the past though. (Even though I like the Traynors), after a clean cable etc. troubleshoot? IMHO, my money would be on the cabs before an undamaged normally working D800+ Hope you get it sorted out either way.
Hey agedhorse, it's been a while but I have finally received my Amp after undergoing repairs directly at Mesa. My local shop decided it was best that Mesa handle the issue directly.
All I can tell you is the detail I got on my receipt. They stated that they confirmed my complaint that the Amp would not handle a 2/4 ohm load even at low gain/volume and they replaced the "class d module" and have tested it to be working properly now. I also tested it with a couple cabinets in the store and with my 2 2x10's at home and am happy to say all is well. Thank you for your input on this issue! Take care!