Odd Prosonic Power issues

Travisthedog

So, for the last couple of gigs, my fender prosonic has done this weird thing where you power it up and take it off standby and you get nothing.

Nada.

The only way i can end the mass panic amongst the other band members is to turn it all off and on again and then , usually it fires up. Not massively confidence inspiring - especially when you have just flogged your back up.

Any ideas before i burn it?

ICBM

It could be the standby switch itself.

Are you using it in valve or solid-state rectifier mode?

Travisthedog

It varies mate - on your recommendation last night it was in SS

ICBM

In that case the switch is the most likely culprit. If not, probably a bad solder joint or crimp connector.

Travisthedog

I hate unreliability
Amps are a bloody nightmare - I don't think i have ever owned an amp that didn't cause me problems. Very very seriously considering buying one of the new generation solid state amps.

bingefeller

Travisthedog said:

I hate unreliability
Amps are a bloody nightmare - I don't think i have ever owned an amp that didn't cause me problems. Very very seriously considering buying one of the new generation solid state amps.

I guess solid state could give you problems too, although Roland amps seem to be very reliable.  I've only owned a few tube amps and mostly solid state and the only amp that gave me a problem was my Cornell Plexi Seven...

ICBM

Solid-state amps can break too. Even old Peavey Bandits very occasionally cause trouble, although it's usually something simple and cheap to fix .

Probably half my repair work is solid-state amps. It's not always serious faults, but anything that stops your amp working properly at a gig is a serious enough fault really - you're going to need some sort of backup if you're relying on it to get through the gig, unless you've got some means of going through the PA.

Travisthedog

Well that's the other option isn't it

ICBM

Travisthedog said:

Well that's the other option isn't it

But then you need a cheap amp as well in case your modelling preamp thing dies or the PA goes down leaving the vocalist having to commandeer the powered monitors as a vocal amp…

AKA 'you can't win' .

bingefeller

ICBM said:

Solid-state amps can break too. Even old Peavey Bandits very occasionally cause trouble, although it's usually something simple and cheap to fix .

Probably half my repair work is solid-state amps. It's not always serious faults, but anything that stops your amp working properly at a gig is a serious enough fault really - you're going to need some sort of backup if you're relying on it to get through the gig, unless you've got some means of going through the PA.

Do you get manyRoland Amps in for repair?  They claim to have some of the lowest failure rates in the industry for their XL Amps.  

ICBM

bingefeller said:

Do you get manyRoland Amps in for repair?  They claim to have some of the lowest failure rates in the industry for their XL Amps.  

Not seen any of those. The only ones that seem to appear for repair are really old abused JC120s, and Cube 60s. The Cube 60 failing is disappointing for a Roland.

Travisthedog

So @icbm you advocate not using the standby switch if I recall - in case if it is the  SB switch can i just leave it on?

ICBM

Yes - normally I would advise using the standby, but like many modern amps with valve rectifiers, on the Prosonic the switch is in the wrong place in the circuit and will stress the rectifier valve. If you're using the valve it's better not to use the standby, if you're using the solid-state rectifier it's better to use it - but even then, it's not essential.