I must be practicing too hard

try not to crank your amp all the way up and it won't blow up. It's a practice amp. If you wanna play loud buy a "non-practice amp". seriously, I've had two amps in my life time and neither one has ever blown up. one is a big gig amp and can be cranked up for hours, the other is a small marshall practice amp and i never turn it up past 4, because i really want to hear what I am doing. LOL 8)

And it you're not playing at "11" , then you might want to have someone look at the wiring at your place.

Were both kamakazi amps plugged into the same plug? In the same room?

Bummer! That really sucks. You really dont need the amp for chromatic 1234 drills at all really (unless youre in an environment where you cant otherwise hear the notes ring out).

When since do people have to hear you play the blues? I would certainly lend you #3 but, only after you had your place checked by an electrician. Seriously, forget about the amps. YOU could end up getting hurt if you have bad wiring. Get that checked out man.

Congrats on reaching your goals btw.

I don't think that's the problem (my wiring). My father built our house, keeps everything up pretty well, and knows what he's doing in the first place. My guitar runs through two pedals which are powered by AC adapters, and then to the amp input. The amp power cord runs to a surge protector (as do the ACs for the pedals), which then plugs into the wall. I've posted about this setup before and was told it was safe, so I didn't really think twice about it. It's only a 15 watt amp, so I don't think there would be any overloading, but who knows....

I keep things at bedroom levels, most of the time. Ocassionally I'll crank up a little bit for fun and to get a different feel, but that is only for a few minutes tops. And, yes, I plug in to make sure I can't hear notes ringing out, but I also play unplugged a fair amount. I think my friend abused his amp a little to much. I'm pretty careful with my stuff, since I can't afford to replace anything. My Marshall was bought via ebay and was nearly four years old at the time of purchase. Who knows how it's been treated...I'm pretty sure it just needs a tube job.

And thanks, but haven't reached them yet! Things are generally going well, though. It's nice to see work pay off :)

My father built outhouse,

Gee, I thought my place was small.... :wink:

I've gone through plenty of equipment over the years and still do. It's slowed down some but still from time to time something goes a-stray. Mostly just from playing on them pretty much 24/7. What kind of sound did they make before they stopped working?

joe

There was a drop in volume - I thought the battery in my pickup system was going - and then the clean channel started breaking up and got really, really weak (while making the above sounds)... almost no bass...then it died. What does that sound like to you

Matt

I would repair the DSL401. It will cost you about the same as a low cost amp, but you will have a great amp after the repair. I bought my DSL401 on EBay like you. I had read about the many problems people had with this amp, but for the low price it was worth it. The amp played good for one year and then the volume started dropping out. Sometimes it would come back, other times you had to turn the amp off. I went to a Marshall amp site and saw where several others had this identical problem. It was the preamp heater rectifier. Anyway, I took it in and it cost me about $175 to get it repaired. But now this is one awesome sounding amp. It is loud and has great tone. I love it.

I thought about just going out and getting a new solid state amp like the Behringers. They sounded good too. But I am glad I got this amp repaired.

And this brings up another issue. You can usually repair a tube amp and get it working again. But usually when a solid state goes, it is finished for good.

Matt
And this brings up another issue. You can usually repair a tube amp and get it working again. But usually when a solid state goes, it is finished for good.

Crap, you're kidding :evil: I think the DSL is definately a better amp (no question), but I like the vox a lot too...Its a great practice amp.

Matt

I am probably wrong. There is no reason why you couldn't repair a solid state amp, but hardly anyone does. Perhaps because solid states are not that expensive to begin with. Why pay $200 for repairs when you can just buy a brand new amp?

Yeah, that of course makes sense. Which is what I will do if things get that expensive. I'd like to have someone diagnose it, but that costs $ as well. I'll have to get the Marshall fixed up soon and then go from there.

technically, the Vox is mostly a solid state amp anyways. just one tube.

Yeah, the technical term is hybrid. Maybe you might want to try a Epiphone All Tube Amp. You can afford one. My Valve Special ran me only $180 dollars new. You could probobly afford the valve special, which is a whole 10 extra watts, plus 2 more inches of speaker. Or the fender tube amps. They just cost more.

i don't like the fender amps, especialy the ones that come with the stratpacks(i don't own one though) . i'd go with the crates. those are amazing