Crate Vintage Club 50, Input Jack Issues?

[mt_spiffy]

I bought one of these, 3x10, for a session in LA. I loved the sound, but it had what seemed to be input jack issues: every so often the sound would die, and I would wiggle the input jack, or unplug and re-plug the guitar, and the sound would come back. I left it with a friend there, and told him to take it back to the store and have them replace the jack.

I am long since back in the midwest, and needed to replace all my gear (it was stolen). I remembered how good this amp sounded, and how cheap it was, and sure enough I found the 2x12 version for $250 delivered to my door.

The amp is mint out the box, and comes with the footswitch and cover. However after playing it for ~10 minutes, it exibits the EXACT SAME SYMPTOM.

So before I go at it with DeOxit, then solder, then a new input jack, is there anything I should know?

I've googled Crate Vintage 50 Input Jack, and I see a lot of posts about these having input jack problems, but not if it's bad jacks, bad solder joints, or something else.

Any input is appreciated.

[pecorporation]

I'd get a Crate service center to cover it under warranty (if it falls within the warranty period). Have them touch up eveything. Soldering, that is.

[mt_spiffy]

1. How do I find a service center?
2. How do I know if it's under warranty? I kind of doubt it is.

[pecorporation]

You need a copy of the original sales receipt showing a purchase date from an authorized dealer within 3 years.

You can find a service center here:
Service Centers

[Enzo]

You go to the Crate web site and look for service dealer finder, probably under SUPPORT.

If you bought it new, it has a warranty, what you need is "proof of purchase", another name for a copy of your sales receipt. Preasnt that and the amp to the service center.

Crate used to be 5 year warranty, it may ony be 2 or 3 years now, I forget, and I am too tired to look it up.


And as a technician, it doesn;t really sound like an input jack p[roblem to me. I could be wrong. When you diddle with that jack, you are also sending vibration and little flexations through the circuit board the jack is on. SO when you wiggle the jack, you are also wiggling other parts. First suspects are really the FX loop jacks. Plug a cord from send to return and see if it helps.


it is misleading to see these amps having input jack problems on the internet. ALL amps have such problems, and inoput jack issues would probably be just about THE most common complaint across the board.

[mt_spiffy]

Well I just bought it used from Guitar Center (they shipped it from another location). So I would have THAT receipt, but not one for buying it new.

I thought these were older than 3 years old?

[pecorporation]

I've seen several of these amps suffer from failing solder on key components from input jacks to pots to tube sockets even pc plug pins...I reflow everything and replace the effects loop jacks as a precaution.

[mt_spiffy]

And as a technician, it doesn;t really sound like an input jack p[roblem to me. I could be wrong. When you diddle with that jack, you are also sending vibration and little flexations through the circuit board the jack is on. SO when you wiggle the jack, you are also wiggling other parts. First suspects are really the FX loop jacks. Plug a cord from send to return and see if it helps.


it is misleading to see these amps having input jack problems on the internet. ALL amps have such problems, and inoput jack issues would probably be just about THE most common complaint across the board.

It has a single TRS jack for effects look. I guess I need a TRS cable that I can short on the other end of it.

[mt_spiffy]

I've seen several of these amps suffer from failing solder on key components from input jacks to pots to tube sockets even pc plug pins...I reflow everything and replace the effects loop jacks as a precaution.

My soldering skills are probably too sloppy for that. I suppose I will be putting it in the shop.

EDIT: I hate to put anything in the shop, so ignore that last statement, until necessary.

[mt_spiffy]

If it makes any difference, I dont use the Dirty channel, the footswitch, the effects loop, or the reverb. Just the Clean channel and it's three knobs.

[Enzo]

Look, it certinly could be the input jack. I just don;t like coincidences. There is no systematic input jack failure in any amp model. All the Crate amps are made on the same assembly lines from the same engineering staff, from the same materials. No reason to suspect one model will suffer more from a jack than all the rest.

You don;t need the cable to test the insert jack. Just probe some plug in and out a few times and see if it wakes the amp up.

YOu may not use the other channel, but when teh clean fails, it might be informative to switch over to see if the dirt channel is also affected or not.

[mt_spiffy]

I'll try that in the morning.

Yes both channels are affected. I was bringing that up because, if I can disable the unused features to make the amp more reliable, I will.

Thanks again.

[mt_spiffy]

A spray of DeOxit, and working a plug in/out of both the input and loop jacks, and the problem is gone, at least for now.

[TimWaldvogel]

ok so now im having a problem with my vintage club 30 !? all the tubes appear to be fine, but i was getting a small intermitted bleeping, i figured it was my phone near by messing with the speaker. i manually switched over to the clean channel, ( i have no footswitch) and the clean channel is barely there. i can hear a very little something, so it IS passing signal, but the volume will not go up at all when i turn it up. my drive channel has no problems whatsoever and sounds great. but the clean channel with not turn up at all.

help? idk if it would be the optoisolators or whatever, i do not have the footswitch to try that out, i DO have another footswitch though. does it use latching or momentary?

[mt_spiffy]

ok so now im having a problem with my vintage club 30 !? all the tubes appear to be fine, but i was getting a small intermitted bleeping, i figured it was my phone near by messing with the speaker. i manually switched over to the clean channel, ( i have no footswitch) and the clean channel is barely there. i can hear a very little something, so it IS passing signal, but the volume will not go up at all when i turn it up. my drive channel has no problems whatsoever and sounds great. but the clean channel with not turn up at all.

help? idk if it would be the optoisolators or whatever, i do not have the footswitch to try that out, i DO have another footswitch though. does it use latching or momentary?

With my Club 50's, I sprayed each of the 3 1/4" jacks with a liberal dose of DeOxit, then worked a 1/4" plug in and out several times. After I did this, I have had no problems.