Thunder 1A bass - intermittent cut out

A quick question - I think I have a loose wire somewhere. (ok, I'll say it before anyone else does - what about the bass...). Plug in, play, twice now the sound has gone. Makes no difference whether I switch the by-pass switch thingy or not. First time I gave everything a bit of a wiggle and it came back. Second time, wiggling didn't work but I gave the battery compartment a sharp tap and it came back. Obviously I need to get this sorted before I can gig with it again, which is a nuisance.

Does this happen often? If so is there are particular area/connection known to be a problem?

I should add here that I am a complete dunce when it comes to anything like this and will just pass the info over the my guitar man who will do the necessary. just thinking maybe it might save his time and my money to check a known fault.

ta.

Make sure the batteries have plenty of juice, and that they're on properly... then quietly go through and check each connection with a probe - I use a wooden chopstick because they don't conduct electricity, not so important on a guitar but bloody vital on an amplifier!!! - to see if anythings loose or come adrift; it's dead easy to do, have a crack and see if you can nut it out and if you don't find the fault, or find it and don't feel up to fixing it yourself, then it's off to your guitar bloke!!

John

That, sir, makes perfect sense and is in no way technical. Thank you.

I had a similar problem on both my IA and 2A guitars.

If the batteries are juiced up, then look at the wiring. In my case, after whipping of the cavity covers to check all was well soon after I bought the guitars produced an intermittent connection.

The fault, if you can call it that, was that one of the components on the amp PCB on the back of the cavity cover was being pressed into an odd position by the mass of wires in there. Carefully pushing the wiring into different positions and identifying which component was being affected solved the problem. If I remember correctly, on component was pressed on and shorting out on another. All because I took then cavity plate off.

Trial and error I'm afraid

Steve777 wrote:All because I took the cavity plate off.

Well, don't take the bloody thing off, then!!! Isn't it funny how this sort of thing happens, though... machines going perfectly well, and then we decide to see if we can "improve" it.... and things go to hell in a handbasket!!

Well, I didn't quite take the cavity plates to improve anything ... just exercising my interest in what was going on in there!! And the moral of the story ... if aint broke, dont fiddle !

Your comment John, "Well, don't take the bloody thing off, then!!!" reminded me of a U2 concert I read about, I think in Dublin, where Bono, in one of his "I'm going to save the world" speeches, said to the audience " Every time I click my fingers, a child in Africa dies" to which a voice in the audience replied " well, don't click your fingers then ". You cant beat simple logic !

With you saying that it makes no difference with the pre-amp switched in or not, I would be inclined to check that the nut on the jack socket is properly tightened and that the bits of bent metal inside it that touch the point and shaft of your jack plug are clean and pressing properly against it. 80% of on and off faults that come back with a waggle are caused by this. Otherwise do as John suggested and have a gentle poke around inside the gubbins for loose wires and check that the battery snap connectors are not rusty giving bad connection (if so rub them up with sand paper where they make contact with battery).

A little feedback - I didn't get around to having a poke about before my guitar man picked it up. He came back and reckoned it was the jack socket that needed cleaning and tightening - now done (and he didn't charge me, which was a nice surprise).

He also mentioned in passing that the jack socket was wired for stereo. Being a complete dunce I have no idea what this means in practical terms - how could this be used?

I think that you will find that the guitar socket is not wired in stereo, it just looks that way. The added wire is the battery earth that is cut out of the circuit when you pull out your jack plug from the socket. Which incidentally brings me to say, don't leave your guitar with a jack plug in when not in use as it will drain your battery.

Martin.

umpdv5000 wrote: don't leave your guitar with a jack plug in when not in use as it will drain your battery.

Oh yes... it certainly will!! Ask me how I know....

Yes, I know - I've done the same thing.

Well, I'm almost disappointed not to try and stereo effects, whatever they might have been.

I've never used a stereo guitar but I think that it's just 2 signals to separate amplifiers...

corsair wrote:I've never used a stereo guitar but I think that it's just 2 signals to separate amplifiers...

Give that man a carrot.

So you could use effects on one channel, none on the other? Or high/low boost on different channels? Is that the same as 'bi-amping' (which I always thought sounded a bit like a sexual practice than anything to do with amplification) (but maybe that's just me).

PaulS wrote:So you could use effects on one channel, none on the other? Or high/low boost on different channels? Is that the same as 'bi-amping' (which I always thought sounded a bit like a sexual practice than anything to do with amplification) (but maybe that's just me).

Your idea of a stereo guitar is correct, although not really as practical in use as you may think. Check this one out that I have, notice the two jack sockets. One socket is for them humbucker out and the other is for the single coil out. This is a more practical arrangement for stereo, as you can have 2 bridge based pickups on at the same time from different sets etc. Where as if you have just two pickups on a guitar that are wired into two separate outs, then one would always be trebley and the other bassy (if you get my meaning).



As for bi-amping, that's driving separate amplifiers into bass and treble speaker systems to separate the frequencies.

On about stereo guitar.... I have a couple of valve Marshall's and two separate 2x12 cabs. I usually only use one amp with the two cabs when I am gigging with the band, as there is another guitarist as well as myself in the band. We both stand at opposite sides of the stage so as to give a broader sound. However, when I gig with a band that just has me as the guitarist, I sometimes put one cab at one side of the stage and one at the other. I will then use both my amps (one powering each side) and feed each amp from the two stereo out sockets from my FX units. The last two units that I have in my FX line are a Flanger and a Chorus, both of which generate a second signal to create their effect and both have two outputs. If you have the Chorus unit (or Flanger) last in line and set the signal to be slightly Chorused (or slightly Flanged) and their outputs sent to the separate amps, the effect is really big. If you have a stereo effect like this and just a couple of practice amps to try it with, give it a go, you'll love it.

Gee, that's funny, seeing your DOD boards; both my pedalboards are Boss ones in the Boss roadcases and set up pretty much the same too; I once tried a rack system with the switch-y thing on the floor and hated it and went back to the stompers....

Do you not mike up your amp to the PA? I stopped carrying 4x12 cabs quite some years ago and used up until I stopped gigging an old 100w tube 2x12 combo, miked with an AKG D190 into the desk/mixer; much better on the back!!

I have one of those all singing all dancing Boss GT-8 units, that is supposed to be the most powerful FX unit ever produced (superseded now by the GT-10) and I hate it, so it was back to the pedal board.

I would love to drop down to a nice little all valve 15w Laney combo that I have and stick a mic in front of it, but the problem lies with the rest of the band. When your stood next to a drummer that whacks it out, a bass player that has an Orange 4x12 sat on top of a 15's Bass Reflex cab, powered by an even more astronomical amount of watt Peavey amp head and the other guitarist with his Marshall JCM800 and 4x12, it would be impossible to get an on stage balance. Besides, I love being able to feel the notes as I play them and being able to get the re-vibration of the guitar into play. Sad at my age I know, did I tell you that I am deaf?