More amp problems... distortion, without a box!

[metallicarocks]

My friend's bass amp suddenly went into permanent distortion mode. The amp doesn't even have a distrotion control on it! It's a Drive CD300B. It's not really farty, it actually sounds like a distortion box was plugged into it. In fact, it was confused for his Ibanez phat head distortion box, but when he went to kick it off, he realized that the distortion was never on and he was just getting the buzz from his amp. [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

What do you think it could be?

Thanks for any replies.

[Twisteramps]

Re: More amp problems... distortion, without a box!

sounds like a speaker could be blown.

Pete

[metallicarocks]

Re: More amp problems... distortion, without a box!

Dammit. I'm glad you guys are here! I would have bought a new speaker for my old amp (pot problem), and tried contact cleaner on my friend's amp (speaker problem). [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

Is there anything else that it could possibly be? The volume was never put up half way, and we had the volume at maybe 30% when we were playing it. Suddenly there was a pop, none of us thought much of it until he tried switching out of the distortion only to find the box was never on!

[toejam]

Re: More amp problems... distortion, without a box!

Just use it to play any Motorhead song on. [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[fabamp]

Re: More amp problems... distortion, without a bo

Drive- 5 Year Limited Warranty.
I would try that first. SS amps are not plug and fix generally. You could maybe trace the a signal through the amp PCB, find the dead IC, confirm with voltage checks, replace the thing, and have it go out again...generally $129 SS amps ain't worth fixing. I know dealers just give the client another one in most cases as the techs time is worth more than the amp.
Don't just assume that the speaker ain't blow. Repair work is a process of elimination and the weakest part may have been the speaker!
Try a seperate cab if your amp has an OP jack for ext spk. No need to buy anything.

[metallicarocks]

Re: More amp problems... distortion, without a bo

Okay thanks, I'll give it a shot. I don't think he knows about the 5 year warranty, I let him know about that. I think the warranty with Musician's Friend is still good too. Which is more worth it? Musician's Friend, or Drive's warranty?

Thanks so much for the advice.

[fabamp]

Re: More amp problems... distortion, without a bo

You are most welcome. Try MF first, they should be able to help if it is still under warranty.
Best of luck.