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aksteve
11-24-2012, 08:58 PM
im worried that my carvin MB10 may have just about taken a dirt nap.....Im getting nothing but static (no, sillys, not on CHannel Z....for all you B-52s fans LOL) when i power up the amp. ive tried to mess with the EQ to no avail and the volume is also at abut HALF of what i should be.....i really dont want to have to send it back to Carvin. I see tht there is a Fuse at the Power chord input to the Amp. has anyone had that go bad on em? and could that have an affect on static and low volume?

I have treated the amp with kid gloves since i got it, and the only giging it gets is my sold out shows at the My room club in front of a full house of two cats, a dog and a russian tortois, so its not been abused at all.....help me obi wan bass people, your my only hope! LOL

hope everyone is having a great Thanksgiving holliday weekend!!

Steve

Bassix
11-24-2012, 09:09 PM
THAT stinks. Might be something minor - the cable you plug into your bass/amp might have a short in it or the battery in your bass could be dead (assuming active electronics). Switch them out with spares and see if (pray that?) your thunder returns. :)

aksteve
11-24-2012, 10:35 PM
Thanks Bassix. the basses are all passive, so i was thinking some sort of short also. its weird, worked perfect last night.

DaveB
11-24-2012, 10:44 PM
I had a similar problem with my MB210 a while back. It was really noisy with lots of hum and static. Turned out that the power plug had worked out of the power strip a little bit and was not supplying a good ground. Check the power cord to make sure it is plugged in good at both ends. A good ground is essential to a clean signal.

Good luck.

Ditto
11-25-2012, 01:02 PM
I don't have a Carvin, but my Fender BASSMAN was doing that. So I opened it up just to look in the amp (I like doing that kind of stuff) and found that the cable connector had come apart inside the amp. I screwed them back together and BOOM. it all worked fine. Now I gave it to my wife to use as a keyboard amp.

aksteve
11-25-2012, 07:03 PM
I might try that. It would be cool to see what the inside of the amp looks like anyway :)

stantonl
11-25-2012, 09:22 PM
I've read that the new Carvin amps can have issues with their ribbon cables coming disconnected inside the amp, might want to open her up and take a look. I believe I read it on Talkbass, you could probably find more info if you did a search there. Good luck!

aksteve
11-25-2012, 09:37 PM
Thanks for the heads up! i will do some digging!

5Slinger
11-26-2012, 04:50 AM
WAIT! before you do that, you might want to check your warranty conditions. I think if you open it up, you void the warranty. I know it sucks, but if it is a real problem, I would send it back to carvin and let them fix it.

AB

TobiasMan
11-26-2012, 11:26 AM
+1 If it is under warranty, unless it is something "non-invasive" like cleaning the jacks, let the factory look after restoring it to like new condition.

aksteve
11-26-2012, 10:47 PM
well, now I REALLY hope that its not something serious.....my one year purchase anniversary was november 11th....imagine that! its only a one year warranty! ugh...oh well. i guess there is no time like now than to learn how to work on my own stuff! I am going to email them anyway before i do anything. maybe they will have some idea of what i may be facing. thanks again guys!!!

ghsky1
11-27-2012, 10:08 AM
Be very careful when looking around inside. Remember, even when unplugged amps will store potentially LETHAL voltage in those capacitors.

TobiasMan
11-27-2012, 11:20 AM
Yep, before you go poking around at components inside your amp, you should find out how to discharge the capacitors - they do hold a wallop of an electrical charge, even when the amp is off!!!!! :eek:

aksteve
11-27-2012, 09:50 PM
thanks for the heads up! i had no idea! that would be below average LOL

aksteve
12-02-2012, 03:16 PM
So a buddy of mine has a lot of experience working on electronics and knows how to discharge a capacitory, and how not to shock the heck out of me! :) so, we are going to leave it unplugged for the week nad dive into next weekend. he says he things soomething is loose, so here is to hoping!!

Roy
12-10-2012, 03:15 PM
I've always just let an amp tech work on my Carvins when there were problems. The amps are great and a great value, there are just some idiosyncratic ways they're built that some techs are comfortable with, others not so much. If you are in Anchorage this may be prohibitive, but I might contact Carvin and see if they can just swap a rebuilt Microbass head for yours or do a repair and quick return. Just a thought....

aksteve
01-19-2013, 10:55 PM
Thanks Roy! i did just that. they told me to send the head back....turns out it they replaced the Preamp Circuit board....wonder if a power surge could have caused it??? it cost me 135 because i was a month past the warranty, but the customer service was great. should get the head back next week!!!

BluesWalker
01-27-2013, 06:41 AM
+1 If it is under warranty, unless it is something "non-invasive" like cleaning the jacks, let the factory look after restoring it to like new condition.

+1, I had a Carvin combo several years ago, it went out while under warranty. I mailed it back and they send a new one.

aksteve
02-01-2013, 04:32 PM
So i think i found the culprit....I received a reply back from someone on the Carvin website forums who said that static electricity can blow a Pre-amp. That makes sense to me living in the climate i do up here. we have a TON of static...i have also been known to plug in or pull the plug while the amp is still on, so between the two things, i think that is what caused the failure. now i know though and i can take the extre precautions! love the little amp! I want to get the 210 cab or a 1x15 to go with it!