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I have a Crate Palomino V16 Amplifier. The Reverb

Looking over the schematic I see all sorts of poor design. The reverb is driven by IC TL072 chip and the output is received by the same.

This chip is supplied with +/- 15.5 volts UNREGULATED which is stupid! If you get a power surge, the IC will be destroyed. Myself I would put at least a shunt Zener regulator on these voltages. Use a 100 ohm resistor in series and Zeners to ground for both the plus an minus 15.5 lines.

First thing check those 15.5 volt... the plus is on C23 pos term and the neg is on C24 neg term.

They have a 1 meg resistor to ground from pin 3 of the chip to bias the + input of the chip. This is TOO big as the input leakage current can be too much. I would reduce this resistor to 220K and increase C22 to 0.0047 mfd.

Check the DC voltage at pin 1 of the chip (IC1). It should be VERY near zero.

The output buffer for the reverb has better design. Check for zero volts or very near it on pin 7 of the chip. Be careful not to short to pin 7 which is pos 15.5.

If either of the above tests show a voltage over 0.5 volts from ground, replace the TL072 chip as it is likely fried by power surge..

Since there is high voltage (320 volts) use great caution when working on this amp.
3/15/2010 4:55:10 AM • Crate Music • Answered on Mar 15, 2010
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Crate Flexwave 120h (Half Stack) volume issues

Perhaps you have a bad capacitor on your volume control?

You can get an ESR meter and test your exposed isolation caps for leakage? The have to be removed so unplug the unit if you are gonna do any work inside the cabinet.

Also, try a shorter or higher quality guitar cable. This will cut impedance between the pickups and the amp.

Good luck and be careful!
3/8/2010 8:44:06 PM • Crate FlexWave... • Answered on Mar 08, 2010
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Crate flexwave 120 head sound cuts out

You have a broken solder joint. You'll have to disassemble the amp enough to get at the soldered side of the circuit board that the controls are mounted to and touch up any suspect solder joints. Just be sure to resolder only the joints that were originally soldered or need to be soldered. Hope this helps.
3/8/2010 8:13:16 PM • Crate FlexWave... • Answered on Mar 08, 2010
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Have a Crate V50-112.Have had it for 1 year.

Check for bad tube... it HAPPENS that brand new ones fail... USUALLY if they last 50 hours, they will last for the expected life. The bad tube would likely NOT be the main power tubes, as the amp would still run on one cylinder...
2/2/2010 4:26:18 AM • Crate Music • Answered on Feb 02, 2010
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I have a crate cpb150 amp i want to connect it to

I can understand your confusion... and a lot depends how you are going to use this. There are some caveats regarding the connections,
If you use the 1/4 outputs on the GSP, there is a speaker modeling like function that is NOT available, that IS available IF you use the XLR outputs.
The STP is an "Insert Snake" which is not really what you want as it is intended to send and receive (audio going both directions in the cable.
If you want that speaker function, then you should get two XLR to 1/4 TRS cables and go from the XLR's on the GSP to the Left and Right inputs on the back of the Crate. Your audio or guitar then is connected to the GSP guitar input.
If you connect the guitar to the crate and then use the STP, Plug the TRS single connector into the Left/Mono/send/rtn on the Crate. The Send cable of the Y should go to the Send jack on the back of the GSP and the return should go to the left return jack of the GSP. This connection I would NOT recommend as it will be noisier and you will lose the stereo effect capabiltiy since the effect is inserted as a mono.

I believe you would be happier with using the XLR's to carry left and right to the Crate and run your inout to the GSP. In short, you have the wrong cable to do the best job.
1/31/2010 5:59:12 AM • Crate Music • Answered on Jan 31, 2010
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Crate Bass Amp B100 - No sound.

Do you happen to have another speaker that you could hook up to speaker output? This would bypass the amps internal speaker and lf you get sound from that setup, it would mean either a jack failure or possible internal speaker problems. Please let me know.
1/24/2010 10:46:28 PM • Crate Music • Answered on Jan 24, 2010
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Intermittent shorts in a Crate Limo TX50DE Guitar

turn that ****** on and get a can of freeze spray. coming and going type issues is usually related to a failing electrolytic capacitor. there may also be a bad mosfet, rectifier, diode, etc. i would be suspect to caps. schematics probably only available thru crate and you have to pay a couple bucks, but trust me its worth the couple bucks spent and having it on its way than wasting hours online not getting anywhere. by the way i checked my sources and came up with nada.
yostamplifier.com
1/21/2010 6:45:59 AM • Crate SPA1600... • Answered on Jan 21, 2010
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I have a Crate PA-8 that hasn't been used in a

you have either a failing fuse or a failing power transformer. take out the screws on the top of the amp, leave the handle in tact and pull out the chasis. look at your fuse to see if it is in its holder correctly, and see if the fuse is burnt. the correct fuse values will be printed on the circuit board. if the fuse looks good then, it may be the power tranny going south.
1/21/2010 5:01:39 AM • Crate FlexWave... • Answered on Jan 21, 2010
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It will not work what colud be wrong

its a crate. 60% of all crate amplifiers go back on defects. take the top screws out and slide out the chasis, look at the fuse and determine if its toast. if the fuse is good, get a new amp. if the fuse is bad replace it and you should be good. the circuit board will have the correct fuse to be used printed on the board.
yostamplifier.com
1/21/2010 4:55:46 AM • Crate FlexWave... • Answered on Jan 21, 2010
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Crate bv120.no power or sound..no lights..f6 fuse has 160 ohms...

did you change out the fuse? could be a tranny going south. if you change the fuse and you still get no power, then you have a fried power transformer. they are relatively easy to replace. look on ebay . get the numbers off of the existing one and start web searching. something will come up. if not email me on my contacts tab in my website yostamplifier.com we can troubleshoot. you should see the custom blue voodoo i built and gave to my little brother.
1/21/2010 4:34:05 AM • Crate Blackheart... • Answered on Jan 21, 2010
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I have a Crate GT 15, not getting anything to the

Do you have electronics experience? Inspect the amp for broken or cold solder joints and any burned components. Check to see if the fuse blew and that the output IC's or transistors (not sure what Crate used in these) are not bad. Check your speaker wire as well.
1/16/2010 5:26:58 PM • Crate FlexWave... • Answered on Jan 16, 2010
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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.
12/14/2009 6:44:46 AM • Crate Music • Answered on Dec 14, 2009
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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.
11/24/2009 10:21:06 PM • Crate Music • Answered on Nov 24, 2009
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Cmx53fx manual

Be the first to answer 11/15/2009 2:43:41 PM • Crate Audio... • Posted on Nov 15, 2009Be the first to answer
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Zero output, no noise, no

then you may need to measure plate voltages

there is a possibility of open resistors or changed- value
11/9/2009 3:14:27 AM • Crate Blackheart... • Answered on Nov 09, 2009
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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.
11/8/2009 3:03:41 PM • Crate FlexWave... • Answered on Nov 08, 2009
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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.
10/28/2009 2:17:54 AM • Crate FlexWave... • Answered on Oct 28, 2009
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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 !!!
10/10/2009 10:07:20 PM • Crate Music • Answered on Oct 10, 2009
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I have a Crate GTX212W Guitar Amplifier. There is

grounding it,and encasing the box in foil and grounding the foil
9/1/2009 8:21:23 AM • Crate Music • Answered on Sep 01, 2009
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