Crate MX65R . . . vague problems . . .

[Enzo]

That is fine. The B means "better." Yeah, that's it....


ANyone who works on Crate amps much keeps these in stock.

[poplars]

its fixed and it sounds great, thanks all

[jimdangle]

diode zeners 12v 5w

Hi, my amp is a performer 1000 but the diode issue arises there too...should i just buy a replacement 12v 5w diode zener or is there something better to put in there?

i know mine is a long posts, but it seems relevant and I would like some input. please just scroll past it if u don't like it....


I think I want to mod r172 and r172 (as detailed below) in my fender performer 1000 to use a 240 ohm value

also cr56 and cr57 run too hot and looked kind of burned.* I hear these two 5 Watt Zener's run at a stupid temp (burn finger in less than a second)...should I just get the same zeners for replacement or is their a modification?

cr 56 and cr 57:* 028119 DIODE ZENER 1N5353B 5W 16V 5% CR56,57


The other parts that I see ass looking burned out are:
r118:* 026493 RES CF 1/2W 2.7K 5% R118,155

r119:* 028021 RES FILM 2W 470Ω 5% R119

as for r172, and r173:* 041276 RES WW BT 10W 100Ω 10% R172,173

the tech notes I pasted below indicate that increasing r172 and r173's ohm rating to 240 ohms up from 100 ohms (that is what the schematic says, but the board shows 120ohms) would help, especially with the cooling of the diode zeners cr56 and cr57...* Do you have something with that spec?

also, what are some big common things that one should replace in a 100w head like this that is about 14 years old?* Should I replace the two big black cylinders:* 031756 CAP AE 4700µF 50V 20% C71,72 ?

lastly, it appears I recently blew the thermal breaker (which to me looks like a fuse).* 031910 BREAKER THERMAL 15A 155/195DEG TH1* the sticker by it on the board says 4av 250v.*

Thank you very much for your help in identifying what to buy, please let me know what you have available and or suggest


Below I am including some research and correspondence I have done on this issue.

Detailed pics of the top and bottom of my board are linked to below at flikr.

Thanks,
me

An update, apparently Fender Performer 1000's have issues with cr 56, and cr 57, which are two of the four parts of my board that have a little reddish brown, burn look around them on top and blackening on the bottom of the board.* The pictures I posted are very high quality and it zooming in provides a suprisingly detailed view of any part of the board.

I talked to a authorized fender tech and he says there are some technical notes that only fender authorized techs have access to, but he mentioned something about diode zeners (which is what cr56, and cr57 are labeled as in the schematic) running hot and some modification or fix involved.** One of the pins on the back of the board that corresponds with one of these looked to be a cold soldered joint problem...

Is there some standard modifications or routine replacements/maintenance* you would recommend for this board and what would the costs be?* Can I use my own new parts?


Here is something that seems on point:
New Member/Performer 1000 Issues
93greenstrat:
Hello all.* I'm new here and am looking forward to learning as much as I can about amps.* I have a Fender Performer 1000 which had been giving me problems for a while; it's practicaly unusable and one step away from going into the trash.* Some of the amp's strange behaviors include:

* Intermittent sound.
* Loud crackling an popping noises.
* Momentary channel switching.
* Variable volume levels.
* Reduced output.
* Sudden, unexpected volume spikes.
* Touching any knobs (volume, EQ) will result in crackling.

I've read a few reviews of the Performer and its RocPro successor (well after I had gotten mine) and it seems that part of the problem may be the vaccum tube in the drive channel; it heats up and wrecks havoc on the solder connections.* I have not attempted to do anything to it yet, but I 'd be more than willing to get rid of tube.* I really like the amp's clean sound and prefer to use pedals for distoriton.* Any advice would be appreciated.*

Thanks.
joecool85:
Quote from: 93greenstrat on September 02, 2009, 10:35:19 PM

Hello all.* I'm new here and am looking forward to learning as much as I can about amps.* I have a Fender Performer 1000 which had been giving me problems for a while; it's practicaly unusable and one step away from going into the trash.* Some of the amp's strange behaviors include:

* Intermittent sound.
* Loud crackling an popping noises.
* Momentary channel switching.
* Variable volume levels.
* Reduced output.
* Sudden, unexpected volume spikes.
* Touching any knobs (volume, EQ) will result in crackling.

I've read a few reviews of the Performer and its RocPro successor (well after I had gotten mine) and it seems that part of the problem may be the vaccum tube in the drive channel; it heats up and wrecks havoc on the solder connections.* I have not attempted to do anything to it yet, but I 'd be more than willing to get rid of tube.* I really like the amp's clean sound and prefer to use pedals for distoriton.* Any advice would be appreciated.*

Thanks.


Start by cleaning or replacing your potentiometers (the volume, tone etc controls).* You can buy a cleaner at radioshack, it should have directions on the packaging.* If you go the route of replacing them, make sure to get the right taper and rating pots (linear 100k, log 250k etc).
phatt:
Hi 93greenstrat,
As it happens I've got one in my shed right now and the owner is wanting it tweaked up.

One big design flaw that was immediatly obvious was the brute force approach to derive the low voltage rails. The board on this one is almost black from the stupid amount of heat dissapated by R 172, 173, 160, 161
and Zeners, CR56/57.
The R's can probably hack the heat but should be *Raised well above the PCB* so the tracks don't get delaminated. This Heat dissapation oversight seems to be quite common even in big name Amps,,, makes you wonder how much they know??
I'm not so sure about the Zeners,, even though they are likely 5Watt devices At such elevated temp they will likely stuff up prematurely as well.

I have never understood WHY makers insist on running commponents at such elevated heat when there is no need to?
At a guess *Two 10 Watt 470 Ohm resistors* would probably work far better,, others here are better qualified and will likely know the right value off the top of there heads.

All the preamps and the switching circuits are powered via the 16 volt rails and dodgy regulation could be the cause of phantom switching and other ill's you describe.

The Valve you mention is powered from the 40 volt rail via a drop across 3 x 470R 5 watt resistors,, they also run quite warm but nowhere near as HOT as the others.
So I doubt that would be an issue.

One other major design flaw I noted is the *Extention speaker jack* on the back panel. Upon insertion of a plug it *Also* lifts R90 off ground and activates C49.
The problem is the *Switch* (mounted on the socket itself) it could actually intermitantly bridge the HOT Speaker output back to R90.
(I noted a blob of Factory goob to help isolate the problem terminals ,,obviously Fender where aware of it)

I fixed this potential hazard while tweaking the tone by simply cutting the *Red and Black* wires from the circuit. The whole silly trick does very little anyway and leaving it out will (ever so slightly) boost the output. *

I'm only tweaking the *tone* on this unit but all my observations will get relayed to the owner,,, and he can then decide whether to sell it or overhaul it before it gives him more grief.

I don't know what tone you're chasing but this owner want's the horrendous excess treble ripped out. My fix was to *Add* a 470pF at C47. I left the original 22pF in place and It did change the amp in dramatic fashion.
(you don't have to pull out the main board to do this trick :tu
He has already changed the speaker to a much more civilised mellow unit which I gave him some months back.

Yes Joecools idea of replacing pot will work wonders,, I've never had much success with cleaners,, ie, you have to pull the darn thing apart to clean them,,, then do it all again a few months later to replace them,,, twice the work plus the extra cost of a can of cleaning fluid??

I've only been inside this amp for 2 hours so there may well be other things wrong that I have not noticed Yet. Sadly without a "scope and sig-gen" and all the other fancy gear I won't see all potential issues.
Hope it helps you out a bit,
Phil.
mibeaulieu:
I have the same amp and need to replace a bad volume pot.* Has anyone used Fender Performer 1000 Clean Channel Volume Control Pot:Catalina Guitars ?*

I know how to solder, I wire my own guitars, mod my own effects - do I have to drain the caps on this amp before I work on it?
jbjr:
Not really anything useful to add - apart from the fact that I had one of these and rue the day I sold it* :'( (long story).* It was a great amp.* Best distortion I've every heard on a Fender and clean was pretty damn good too.* Stupidly loud for most uses.* Not loved by many amp techs though from what I gather

Sounds like pots to me...get the electrical lubricant can out...


phatt:
Hi,
*If anyone is interested here is a pic of the board on a ten year old Performer 1000.
The two 5 Watt Zener's run at a stupid temp (burn finger in less than a second).

This amp had switching issues about 5 years ago,,, and this is *As I found it inside*.
My guess is the zener's solder pad had let go. As you can see it has been re touched with solder at some stage.

I also found R172/173 have been changed from 100 ohms (as per schematic) up to 120 ohms. Obviously not good enough as the Zeners where still overheating.

I've uped that value to 240 ohms and now the Zeners are only warm.
The voltage readings are now stable at -15.9VDC and +16.1VDC and the switching circuits are working normally.

The 3 x 470R 5Watt for the AX7 heater circuit are rather hot so I've raised them off the board as the tracks are starting to discolour.

I'll see how this runs for a few days before I'll claim success.
Cheers Phil. "...

> > Here are two high quality digital photos of the board's
> > front and back:

> > fender performer 1000 head board - a set on Flickr
> >
> > I have a Performer 1000
> > guitar amp by
> > Fender (it is my understanding that the Roc Pro 1000 by
> > Fender is
> > just a rebranded version of the Performer 1000, there is a
> > 650
> > version too, the following schematic is dated as early
> > 1990's and