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Hello everyone, and thanks for checking out my thread.
I recently purchased a used Line 6 Spider IV 15 (the 8" combo), which has an issue, and I was hoping I might find some help in addressing it. I understand the prevailing perspective among techs is that modelling amps are over complicated and so cheap as not to warrant attempting to fix, but the issue it has seems pretty consistent and simple, so I'm hoping some of you may be on board to lend your thoughts, and if the options are between me throwing it in the trash or attempting some diy soldering, I don't see why I shouldn't.
The issue is that while the volume is up enough to hear the guitar ie. bedroom level, so too is an incredibly loud noise floor, far beyond anything acceptable for any application at all. I believe this is a grounding issue, because when I've touched the chassis with my hand, it has reacted dynamically, sort of calming down as I do. This only happens when a cable in plugged into the front of the amp, but it's definitely not my guitar or cables, because I have another amp which is totally fine. While testing different outlets, I plugged a short cable into an unpowered tubescreamer just so I could move it around easily, and I discovered that while the tubescreamer was sitting on a screw in the top of the amp that's connected to the chassis, the noise would completely stop.
The previous owner claims that he was playing through it just before he sold it to me, so if that's true, and it didn't survive the drive home, maybe there's hope there's simply a solder connection that cracked? I've taken the chassis out and peered inside, and nothing seems obvious to me, granted I'm but a layman, and I didn't unscrew all the knobs to pull out and look at the underside of the pcb. There is a screw securing a wire to the chassis and everything there looks perfectly intact. The guitar input is a discreet component mounted to the pcb, and it's close enough to the edge that with a flashlight it seems soldered well enough and secure. I also looked at the mains plug from the inside, and nothing stands out as damaged to my untrained eye. The power cord does feel kind of looser than I would expect, but jiggling it around yields no variance in results.
Anyway, thanks to anyone who's read this and is willing to lend their two cents! I got this for a friend who's less savvy, and now I look like the fool. If anyone has advise another place to post this, I'm all ears. I googled "amp repair forum" and this was the first hit.
I recently purchased a used Line 6 Spider IV 15 (the 8" combo), which has an issue, and I was hoping I might find some help in addressing it. I understand the prevailing perspective among techs is that modelling amps are over complicated and so cheap as not to warrant attempting to fix, but the issue it has seems pretty consistent and simple, so I'm hoping some of you may be on board to lend your thoughts, and if the options are between me throwing it in the trash or attempting some diy soldering, I don't see why I shouldn't.
The issue is that while the volume is up enough to hear the guitar ie. bedroom level, so too is an incredibly loud noise floor, far beyond anything acceptable for any application at all. I believe this is a grounding issue, because when I've touched the chassis with my hand, it has reacted dynamically, sort of calming down as I do. This only happens when a cable in plugged into the front of the amp, but it's definitely not my guitar or cables, because I have another amp which is totally fine. While testing different outlets, I plugged a short cable into an unpowered tubescreamer just so I could move it around easily, and I discovered that while the tubescreamer was sitting on a screw in the top of the amp that's connected to the chassis, the noise would completely stop.
The previous owner claims that he was playing through it just before he sold it to me, so if that's true, and it didn't survive the drive home, maybe there's hope there's simply a solder connection that cracked? I've taken the chassis out and peered inside, and nothing seems obvious to me, granted I'm but a layman, and I didn't unscrew all the knobs to pull out and look at the underside of the pcb. There is a screw securing a wire to the chassis and everything there looks perfectly intact. The guitar input is a discreet component mounted to the pcb, and it's close enough to the edge that with a flashlight it seems soldered well enough and secure. I also looked at the mains plug from the inside, and nothing stands out as damaged to my untrained eye. The power cord does feel kind of looser than I would expect, but jiggling it around yields no variance in results.
Anyway, thanks to anyone who's read this and is willing to lend their two cents! I got this for a friend who's less savvy, and now I look like the fool. If anyone has advise another place to post this, I'm all ears. I googled "amp repair forum" and this was the first hit.
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