ADA Depot - A Forum To Support Users of ADA Amplification Gear

Non ADA Gear => Amps => Topic started by: Dante on August 13, 2017, 10:01:00 PM

Title: Trusty ol' Crate Powerblock
Post by: Dante on August 13, 2017, 10:01:00 PM
Well, it finally happened. My worst fear.

My entire rig went down before soundcheck. All I had to play the entire 4-hour gig was my trusty ol' Crate Powerblock, a Tube Screamer and my wah. That's IT. No other tones, really just using the Tube Screamer as a solo boost.

Did the entire gig. Used picking dynamics & the volume knob to adjust my tone, but it wasn't great tone. It was passable, at best.

Not sure what happened to my MP-2. When I got to the gig, there was an awful hum & all the LED meter lights were solid. I shut it off, turned it back on, and got nothing. NOTHING. No sound at all  :dunno: This morning, it worked fine.
Title: Re: Trusty ol' Crate Powerblock
Post by: rnolan on August 13, 2017, 11:05:49 PM
Hey Dante, I know the feeling, and it's not a good one  :facepalm: .  So MP-2 is working again ?  It's worth checking the ribbon cable between front panel and PCB, it can become dislodged and when it does can causes lots of weird stuff.  Hey it may not be the issue but easy to check, but be gentle with it.  I found it easily becomes dislodged when you do the screen change (which IIRC you have done ??) because the lead to the screen runs under the ribbon cable and it's easy to accidentally put upward pressure on the ribbon cable when reconnecting the screen lead (harness) to the new screen.
Title: Re: Trusty ol' Crate Powerblock
Post by: Systematic Chaos on August 14, 2017, 05:28:00 PM
Bummer!!! If that happened to me I be pissed beyond belief... I'm sure MJMP will chime in with what could have been the culprit.
Say, you still got that iRig App thingy....?? I still have BIAS on my iPad and I always carried that along as a redundancy just in case.
Plug'n'Play....and (at least to me) way better sounding than just a TS into a Powerblock ;)
YMMV
Title: Re: Trusty ol' Crate Powerblock
Post by: Dante on August 14, 2017, 06:16:31 PM
Richard, that is good advice, I'll double check that ribbon cable.

SC: I have the iPad all loaded up with iRig, but I use the iPad for our mixer...so i can't use it for a backup rig :/

It occurred to me the next day, I could've had a bank already set up in my GX-700 for just such an emergency and just used that  :facepalm:
Title: Re: Trusty ol' Crate Powerblock
Post by: rnolan on August 14, 2017, 11:11:34 PM
The GX-700 option sounds like a sensible fall back  :thumb-up: . At a pinch you can at least get through the gig with reasonable tones..
Title: Re: Trusty ol' Crate Powerblock
Post by: Soloist on August 14, 2017, 11:31:37 PM
I hate it when that happens! :facepalm:
I had a similar issue last year, my G major 2 flaked out after soundcheck. Man I was pissed, had to do the whole gig with no effects.  >:( It was my ribbon cable on the Gmajor 2 worked it's way loose. Now I have my G Force to back it up and multiple preamps for back up. If all else fails my last line of defense is my gsp1101. Triple coverage! :metal:
Title: Re: Trusty ol' Crate Powerblock
Post by: MarshallJMP on August 15, 2017, 02:11:03 AM
So Dante is there any life in the mp-2 ? Anyway what you describe sounds more then just a loose cable.
Title: Re: Trusty ol' Crate Powerblock
Post by: Dante on August 15, 2017, 05:46:09 PM
SC & Soloist: Believe me, I had a friggin meltdown. I was so pissed. Thankfully, my band members are very very close friends, they talked me back from the cliff and I played that gig very well. Oddly, I finally got compliments on my playing and not my tone  :lol:

It was painful, I had to walk over to the amp to clean up the tone for Santaria. All the other songs were kinda 'classic rock' sounding...meh

Richard: I tried the GX-700 last night and would probably take the Crate's tone over that thing. YUK. Those gains are not great. Good FX though.

MJMP: It's working fine now. I don't get it.  :dunno:

I'm considering picking up another preamp just in case. If I could find another Peavey TubeFEX, which I sold  :facepalm:, it sounded damn good, almast as good as the MP2.
Title: Re: Trusty ol' Crate Powerblock
Post by: rnolan on August 15, 2017, 11:20:20 PM
Hey Dante, I wondered if the GX-700 would cut it, I've not used one so  :dunno: . Need to get your Classic fixed, hopefully soon  :thumb-up: .

Another idea, again it may not be the issue ?? but worth the thought.  How decent was the power at the gig ?  MP-2s are a bit sensitive to fluctuating power and the symptoms you describe are "similar" to issues I was having when running off a generator, the unit would go haywire (often in the middle of a solo  :facepalm: ), the display would look like hieroglyphics and a bunch of leds came on.  Turning off and on again usually fixed it, then I bought a Battery UPS and it's been fine ever since.  Anyway worth asking the question.

Title: Re: Trusty ol' Crate Powerblock
Post by: MarshallJMP on August 16, 2017, 11:40:16 AM
Dante, did you do something or did you just try it out?
Title: Re: Trusty ol' Crate Powerblock
Post by: Dante on August 17, 2017, 11:44:29 AM
Richard: The place has probably the crappiest power of any bar in town, if that answers your question. A BPU may be the ticket for that place.

MJMP: I took it out of the rack, opened it to see if a tube fell out. Everything looked fine, so I put it back in and fired it up. It worked just fine. I'm still considering checking that ribbon cable though
Title: Re: Trusty ol' Crate Powerblock
Post by: MarshallJMP on August 17, 2017, 02:24:28 PM
Well I agree with R, might be crappy power and maybe the caps are getting old.
Title: Re: Trusty ol' Crate Powerblock
Post by: rnolan on August 17, 2017, 11:19:00 PM
MP-2s are not fond of crappy power so this may well be the culprit, also with switched power supply amps (including active PA cabs) the power draw varies allot, which is something else I noticed running off a generator.  Also as MJMP says the caps will be getting quite old, the unit I've had issues with is my original MP-2 which is still stock.  2 of my MP-2s have the noise mod done (21 caps & R 913) but I've not used them in that setting, just at home in the studio rig.  I routinely use my 1kVA UPS when there's a generator involved.  More recently I got a bit of power fade with my live rig (includes the Carvin DCM200L these days) and I was also running a desk and a Carvin active 15/horn PA cab on the same outlet in a garage, the output would fade and then come back which I suspect is because of the variations caused by the switched power supplies in the carvin gear  :dunno: (and probably not helped by the home made power board  :facepalm: ).  Anyway, combine that with crappy power and it's not a good recipe.

Have you used the MP-2 at that venue before ? or only the Classic ??  Also the crate powerblock is switching PS (I assume) so your power draw will fluctuate depending on volume as the switched PS uses just what it needs at any given time (from very little to max).  A B200s on the other hand, has all the power available all the time so is a much more even load/draw.
Title: Re: Trusty ol' Crate Powerblock
Post by: Dante on August 18, 2017, 10:43:19 PM
I have never used the MP-2 in this venue, but I heard from another guitarist who said; that hum always drives me nuts when I play here. Now, my hum was as loud as my tone...so there's that.

As far as i know, I had the noise mod done by 'the official Legacy ADA repair guy' in the East Bay Area (near Oakland, the home of ADA). He had my MP2 far too long, and is no longer listed here: http://www.adaamps.com/Service.htm ....so there's that.

I'll do it myself this time. The MP2 is a bit noisy on the high gain channels, but hey...it's the high gain stuff, so there's that.
Title: Re: Trusty ol' Crate Powerblock
Post by: rnolan on August 19, 2017, 02:53:46 AM
Take some pics of the top and underneath the PCB (particularly around the power supply area), also remove the tubes and take a close up of/around R913, it's under one of the tubes.  Then we can tell if the noise mod was done.
Title: Re: Trusty ol' Crate Powerblock
Post by: Dante on August 19, 2017, 06:33:54 AM
Will do  :thumb-up:


UPDATE: Just played the MP2 a bit, it is definitely not well. It sounds week and lifeless. The tones are there, but there is a hum, and the tone isn't fully 'opened' it sounds choked, like a gate set too strong. I feel like I better check that ribbon cable Richard mentioned.
Title: Re: Trusty ol' Crate Powerblock
Post by: rabidgerry on August 31, 2017, 01:58:24 AM
Ahhhh the Crate power Blocks, they served me well.  I am selling all mine though.  Sold one already and now selling my second one and later probably my third as I now have a backup to my Rocktron Velocity.