Crate Music - Page 10 - Recent Questions, Troubleshooting & Support
1 Answer
Crate bass amp bt220 limit led is flashing
You can reach the limiting IRRESPECTIVE of where the volume control is set when you have a guitar or other source that has HIGH output.
Guitars that have battery in them with internal amplifiers are an example of a high output guitar. Plain inductive pickups may require the volume control to be set at say 70% to reach limiting.
Please NOTE that the volume control is NOT linear, but is an "audio taper".
Limiting means you are probably driving it too hard. Many learn the hard way when speakers and thee power amp fail.
When the cone is driven too far beyond the pole pieces of the magnet, then the IMPEDANCE of the speaker becomes relatively low and can damage the power amp. The limiter tries to prevent this by sensing the current and or voltage and will back off the gain internally. This causes distortion when it happens.
Crate Music
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Answered
on Dec 14, 2009
1 Answer
The effects do not work on my Crate VTX 350 H,
Are you getting sufficient power to the amp?
Could be a loose connection inside the amp (such as a wire), a bad component, or a severed ground. Many possibilities here. If you know electronics, take a multimeter and start testing all the components. Look for any burn marks, check for broken solder connections, and continuity test all wires. Be careful since amps can hold a deadly voltage for a good while. Be sure to drain the capacitors before doing anything else inside it. If you do not feel comfortable doing this, you can take it to a electronics repair person. Keep in mind that Crate is one of the harder amps to fix because most of their components are surface mount.
Crate Music
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Answered
on Nov 24, 2009
1 Answer
Buzzes and feedback
Make sure the "ground lift" option is used on the direct box.
DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES use a headphone output jack as the output of this unit. The headphone jack is for HEADPHONES that have no return to ground. Use of this as drive to a sound board is sure to cause problems and in some cases can fry these amps due to the circuitry.
The cable used to go to the direct box should be very short and high quality.
You should source the power for this unit from the SAME source and receptacle as your sound board if at all possible.
Crate FlexWave...
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Answered
on Nov 08, 2009
1 Answer
I have a crate PA 8 and it makes a crackling noise
Hi
The problem is with the amplifier itself. Crackling is usually capacitor related and you will need to have the amp checked over to properly identify the cause.
Some amps are also prone to pick up static from other electrical items which can also cause these problems. I had a crackling issue with an old Crate amp of mine which turned out it was due to being too near a computer/monitor so it is worth eliminating these things as a possible cause before having the amp checked.
Hope this helps. Thanks for using FixYa.
Crate FlexWave...
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Answered
on Oct 28, 2009
1 Answer
No sound unless a plug is partially inserted into
The switch that is a part of the effects loop jack is making poor contact.
Open the unit and ALSO check the soldering of the jack pins.
MANY of these have a contact as part of the strip that contacts the plug. This spring strip often gets weakened and doesn't contact the metal contact below. The contact "forwards" the preamp to the power amplifier. If the contact doesn't quite make, no power will get to the power amp. If the jack is bad, you MIGHT also try a jumper plug. You MIGHT be able to bend the contact to get moore force as a repair.
If it is a mono 1/4 jack, then use a short jumper from the FX send to the return is another non-invasive fix..
IF it is a TRS type effects loop, plug in a plug that has the Tip and the Ring jumpered in the plug as a quick fix.
In general the jacks in these guitar amps are JUNK !!!
Crate Music
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Answered
on Oct 10, 2009
1 Answer
Crate 100 head. Reverb doesn't work.
Check the input RCA plug going into the reverb tank (silver box with two wires connected to it). Make sure the amp is off when you do this. Sounds like the output is working fine if hitting the amp does it.
Crate Music
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Answered
on Jun 19, 2009
1 Answer
Crate amp blew a house fuse and stopped working
When a piece of equipment causes a fuse to blow or a breaker to trip, it normally means something in the equipment's circuit was shorted. Either because of heat, moisture, a loose screw, loose wire, loose part, a bug, etc. For safety reasons, don't plug it back in and take it to a repair shop.
Hope this helps!
Crate Music
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Answered
on Jun 04, 2009
1 Answer
Crate V16 1X12 Palomino loses power, guitarist robbed of fame
Start easy. You could have a bad power switch. Do you get any kind of indication of any life at all, like tube filiments or front panel indicators? If the fuse is blown you have a fault that is drawing excess current, in which case you can check the rectifiers that create your bias voltages, yank the output tubes to see if they have an internal short, less likely would be a shorted filter capacitor (although I have seen it). You could also have a bias problem on the output tubes that causes them to draw excess current and likely makes the tube(s) glow bright red before popping the fuse. If this is the case, look for shorted or leaky coupling capacitors and burned bias resistors, or maybe just a tube with internal shorts, and you will likely have junk tubes as a bonus (they don't take kindly to glowing bright red- meaning a glow that is far more intense than the soft glow of the filiments). If the fix gets more involved than all of this, give me your email addy and we can get hard core.
Crate Music
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Answered
on May 28, 2009
1 Answer
Crate tube amp will not power up but cooling fan tries to run
Yes.
Are you saying that the only indication that it is running at all is that the fans are running? So the tubes don't light up? No indicators on the front of the amp?
Power supplies that provide multiple voltages, which your amp has, can provide some of the voltages while having a problem that prevents them from providing others, all while not blowing a fuse. If you are not confident in your ability to work on a piece of electronic equipment that has 120VAC coming in and at least 175VDC or more present inside it, bring it to a service center.
The good news is that it is probably not horribly serious. Problems like this can almost always be repaired in a cost effective manner.
Crate Blackheart...
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Answered
on Apr 24, 2009
1 Answer
Amps broken need to fix it
Their may be a schematic on the inside of the amp.I don't remember if Crate puts one or not. And I have had several Crate amps. never needed repair except for tube replacement. If there is not one in side , go here and find what you need . http://www.crateamps.com/support/warranty/ Good luck DFD please rate me TK U
Crate Music
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Answered
on Apr 19, 2009
1 Answer
Plugging line level into my crate TX15. all inputs sound distort
guitar amps are all set to a low Z resistance configuration. wich are made for guitar only. make sure you are using the right cables.
you need sheilded guitar cable not unshielded speaker cable in many cases these cables look exactly the same. look at your cable look for the words speaker or instrument. you need the instrument cable. if you still have that problem. then you may just not be satisfied with the quality of the amp it self.
Crate FlexWave...
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Answered
on Feb 27, 2009
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