suddenly no sound from my Crate GX-15?

[cabbit]

Mine is like the pic. I plugged in the guitar cable but no sound came out? the red light does turn on, meaning that there's power to the amp. I also plugged in my bass but still no sound. There're not too many knobs to turn so I don't know what I can do. Last time I used it was 2 weeks ago, it worked fine, and I haven't touched it ever since. Anybody have the faintest idea what happened? Thanks a lot!

[Enzo]

No sound AT ALL? Or no sound from the guitar? Is there any background sound, like a little hum or anything in the speaker?

Take the wire off the speaker and touch a 9 volt battery to the speaker terminals momentarily. A working speaker will pop or thump when you touch the battery to it.

If the speaker is OK, then somehting is wrong inside. COUld be the five leg power amp IC failed. COUld be the inout jack is pulled out of het circuit board - happens when you step on your cord. COuld be a cracked control on the panel. COUld be the little 8 leg op amp IC is bad. or it could be something out of tyhe ordinary.

[stevesamps]

enzo is da man

but I agree I have shotgunned a few of these by replacing that tda2030 or 2040.. 5 leg the thing on the heatsink
output IC..

Steve

[cabbit]

No sound AT ALL? Or no sound from the guitar? Is there any background sound, like a little hum or anything in the speaker?

Take the wire off the speaker and touch a 9 volt battery to the speaker terminals momentarily. A working speaker will pop or thump when you touch the battery to it.

If the speaker is OK, then somehting is wrong inside. COUld be the five leg power amp IC failed. COUld be the inout jack is pulled out of het circuit board - happens when you step on your cord. COuld be a cracked control on the panel. COUld be the little 8 leg op amp IC is bad. or it could be something out of tyhe ordinary.

i managed to find a picture of the back on ebay, it's just like mine. so do you mean detaching the black and red wires and touch a 9 volt battery at that connecting place? I kinda tugged on them and they both feel very tightly secured, i'm not sure if that's the right thing to pull out.

and i also remember when the amp was working, i would hear a short crackling sound the moment I turned it on. but now it's nothing, no hum, no buzz. I tried both my guitar and bass and got the same result, so I think it's the amp.

all the other things you mentioned is beyond my ability to fix... would it cost much if I bring it to a shop? like guitar center? or do they offer this service at all? Thanks a lot!

[Enzo]

OK, see where the red and black wires go to the speaker? There is a little metal tab sticking out to the left and the right. There is another tab at each spot sticking straight up. The red and black wires are plugged onto those tabs. There is a connector on the end of each wire, and it grasps around the speaker tab.

Grasp the conncetor on the end of one of the wires, and pull it straight upwards. Might help to wiggle it side to side as you do. it will tend to release all of a sudden, so don't whack your knuckles against the roof in there. it will come off the tab. Once one wire is off - don't need to remove the opther - now briefly touch the 9 volt battery terminals to the terminal tabs on the speaker. If it makes noise the speaker is working.

if the amp has an electrical problem, the cost depends in what shop you bring it to.

I charge a reduced rate for those things because they are simple quick repairs to me. It builds customer loyalty for when they move up to more advanced gear, and it is a nice thing for us to do. I charge $30 plus parts. The most expensive part is that 5 leg IC, and it is under $10. If your transformer had died, I would be advising you to replace the amp, in all likelihood. If I stuck with a normal bench minimum, I would price myself out of the repair.

[wykael]

Ok, I know this is an old thread. Sorry for reviving it. On my GX-15, it makes the popping sound when I turn it on. Was working great during warm ups. Went to play the show and no sound. It did not get touched between. Something obviously died. Like I said. I hear the pop. But no guitar sound. What do I need to replace?

[soundguruman]

Since the unit POPS when you turn it on, it means the speaker is still ok.

[wykael]

Since the unit POPS when you turn it on, it means the speaker is still ok.

Right. I just have to figure out what needs to be replaced - capacitor, input jack, fuse, no idea...

[52 Bill]

Are both channels dead? Have you tried it with a set of headphones? How about with a speaker connected to the ext. speaker jack?

The channel switch can cause the signal to stop if it gets dirty enough. The headphone jack and the ext. speaker jack both have cutoff switches that could kill the sound.

If you turn up the reverb and shake the amp, do you hear the springs through the speaker?

[wykael]

Now I'm confused. Yesterday, without touching a thing, between warm-up and performance we went from working to not working. Plugged the guitar and pedal into a direct box to the board, and finished the show. During a break, I took the guitar and the amp into the green room and tried it again, and couldn't get it to work. Took everything home after the show, and still dead. This morning, I plugged it in to try the stuff Bill suggested to check, and for some reason, now it works! This is really strange. Crazy.

[52 Bill]

This morning, I plugged it in to try the stuff Bill suggested to check, and for some reason, now it works! This is really strange. Crazy.

It seems that you have some sort of broken connection, dirty jack, bad solder joint, etc. that is causing the amp to work intermittently.

If you have the skills to fix it yourself, then open up the amp and pull out the chassis to see if you can find the intermittent connection. If not, then it's time to have it looked at by a tech.

[Alex R]

try a spray of switch cleaner in the headphone jack