Crate FlexWave FW15 Guitar Amp Combo, 15 Watt Single 8 Speaker - Answered Questions & Fixed issues
Turned on switch to crate V33-212 and it shorted out
Your amplifier is a solid-state rectified tube amplifier. This means that a tube is NOT used for the power supply. Why is this significant? Because most of the time you have the problem you are describing, it is because of the tube rectifier.
Since this amp does not have a tube rectifier, the problem is likely one or more of the tubes. I have seen in 95% of the amps I repaired that the tubes were the cause, and since the amp is so new, I would suspect tubes first.
Now the hard part: which tube? Without a tube tester, you will have to use the 'firewall' technique. You will need to get a bunch of replacement fuses, as you might go through a few untill you find the problem. Radio Shack is a great place for fuses (make sure they are SLOW BLOW type).
The problem is almost guarenteed to be the power tubes: they are a big failure mode in tube amps (the preamp tubes are not as likely the problem).
This is what I do at a customer site without a tube tester:
(1) Have either a KNOWN TO BE GOOD REPLACEMENT SET OF TUBES or a NEW SET OF TUBES.
(2) Have plenty of fuses.
(3) Start with power tubes: they cause most of these problems. Replace burned out fuse.
(4) Replace all 2 (or 4 in your case) with the good tubes.
(5) Turn on amp and play on it (30 minutes at various volumes and settings). Turn it on and off many times using the on/off procedure your amp requires (like using the standby switch on some models).
* if the amp plays and works, likely you had a bad power tube. If you are blowing fuses, the problem is either the power amp circuitry or the preamp tubes.
* Leave the good power tubes in before going on to the next step. Also: the minor difference in bias wont matter for what we are doing now: the bias being WAY out is almost never the cause.
(6) Check preamp tubes (easy to do, as this does not require us to poke around on the insides).
(7) Replace burned out fuse (atleast number two by this point).
(8) Replace all preamp tubes.
(9) Turn on and repeat step 5.
* Blowing fuses at this point means atleast two types of repairs needed: retention tube sockets or someone to look inside the amp. Either way, this is a serviceman repair (things I do). Since the amp is so new, take the warentee buyout and throw it back to where you got it. Crate is real good about dealing with these issues (if you are the only owner and it is within warantee).
If you need to contact warantee support, you can tell them you have had the amp re-tubed and the problem still persists (meaning they can brush you off with 'just get it retubed and then call us if there is problems'. This is like 'take two asprins and call me in the morning: 95% of all tube amp problems can be fixed by this (retube, not asprins).
If you have to do the warantee route, KEEP YOUR NEW TUBES. The preamp tubes are fine, but the power tubes may be damaged. Wait for what Crate tells you before you use them. This is if you are cheap. I would pitch all of the tubes and consider the 70 bucks as my cheap attempt to bet I am in the 95% solution number (tubes are the cause). Otherwise, the repair will cost shipping at a minumum. Dont you love it: tube amps are expensive and require someone with deep pockets to enjoy the tone. But what can we do: tubes DO sound better and when everything is working, they perform reasonably well.
Good luck on this!
-mike
Is there a fuse in
Hi, blowing a fuse in an amplifier is a problem that most guitarists face at one time or another. If an amp won't turn on, or it turns on for a second, then makes a popping sound and turns off, the problem is usually a blown fuse. Though a blown fuse can be a hassle, especially during a performance, it does not have to put a stop to your musical enjoyment. With a spare fuse you can be back jamming to your favorite tunes in no time flat.
Things You'll Need
Fuse.
Instructions
Turn off the amplifier and unplug it from the wall.
Locate the fuse, which is usually found at the back of the amp. The fuse will look like a small black wheel sticking out of the amp with a number and the letter V next to it. For example, 9V.
Gently turn the fuse counter-clockwise to remove it from the amp.
Discard the old fuse.
Insert the new fuse into the empty fuse slot and turn it clockwise until it is firmly in place.
Plug in the amplifier; make sure the power switch is in the off position.
Turn the amplifier on to make sure the new fuse is working properly.
Hope it helped..
Crate pa6fx powered mixer, powers on but when I
It is likely that there is a failure of one of the amps in the unit. It could be a cracked circuit board, bad solder, bad volume control, or a bad compnent in the power amp section for one side. HOWEVER something does NOT compute here as you can't connect more than one speaker to a 15 Watt Crate amp... Maybe you have two of these amps.
CRATE GX- 212 HUMS WHEN TURNED ON AND CHIRPS WHEN
Witth an oscilloscope analyze the ripple voltage across C67, C70, C14, and C12. Pay close attention to the last two of these which are on +/- 15 volt lines.
The "chirp" when shutting down is LIKELY normal and would probably be from teh DSP effects unit as it goes down. The voltages go out of the operating range and the device essentially goes nuts for a second or so.
Volume fading in and out
If you play this loud the amplifier MAY be going into a thermal pprotection area. It would be about as loud as a typical boombox when at safe levels.
If you need louder than that, you need a bigger unit.
If the volume always is strong after letting it rest and cool and then fades as you drive it hard, this is the probable cause.
I have a crate GFX 50 and the effects come in only
This is a warm up issue and can probably best be found by using circuit cooler on suspected components.
Other possible problems may be a bad solder joint or cracked circuit board.
Candle the board with a bright light to look for cracks.
Bad solder joints take experience to spot, but pay particular attention where panel mounted volume controls solder to the circuit board. Looking for the little ring around the solder menicus takes a sharp eye and good lighting. Resolder any suspected bad joints.
I have a Crate PA-8 4 ohm 150 watt PA head that I
150 watts should be easily handled by four Peavey speakers in the connection you described.. If the Peavey's are 8 ohms, then your total load was 8 ohms for the series/parallel arrangement which is well within the 2 ohm drive capability of the Crate according to specs.
I question if you really mean the speakers were in series? This requires a special cable to do this. Now if you mean they were "daisy chained" like the amp went to one speaker and another cable connected that speaker to another, then you REALLY had ALL speakers in parallel electrically which would be at the 2 ohm low limit of the amp... In either case, with only 1/4 of the 150 Watts to each, the speakers should NOT have been damaged. The amp MAY have been damaged. Try each speaker individually at a REASONABLE level to test.
If you plug into the effects loop out jack,OFTEN the connection to the internal power amp is broken so you might have to arrange a special cable as a wye to go back into the power amp as well as your external amp. In any case pwere ALL interconnected amps, etc from the same power source/receptacle for system safety.
I bought a Crate CR212 new in 84 It came with celestians they are
I can't be sure for the result at your area, but I have to tell you that whenever I rebuild speakers at technicians in Greece (that's my country), the results were not very good. They always worked but after some working period started to make strange noices. Especially if you are a mucisian and the amplifier is yourself, replace them.
In case of a problem or clarification, don't hesitate to post me a reply.
If you are satisfied, rate my solution with the "thumbs".
Thanks and regards
Please kindly rate this solution
Stelios
direct FixYa link: http://www.fixya.com/users/technical114
Crate PA6FX
if they are square cement power resistors they are probably 3-5 watt 300-500 ohm .... are there colored stripes on the resistors? those are probably grounding resistors, they usually are installed too close to the board, get real hot a bunch of times and then crack the solder welds. when you replace them bring up the height and make space under the resistor to keep it off of the board and put a little drop of silcone underneath to hold them in place.
Crate TX50 DB has noisy DSP circuit when rotating the DSP pot!
When you are changing the DSP effect on the fly, static or noise is NORMAL !!! The DSP is changing the data and having to recalculate on the fly and doesn't mute itself while doing so which results in "garbage sounds out".
The bypass setting should NOT get any tone UNLESS you have feedback going on. If your guitar can "hear" the speakers in the amp, the strings can vibrate and get feedback going.
Unplug the guitar and see if high freq tone is still there on bypass. If the tone is in the musical range, then there is a problem if nothing is plugged in. If it is a VERY weak, very high frequency tone, this may be the digitizing noise from the DSP. On bypass, the audio is likely to still go through the DSP, just not be modified by it.
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!
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
Not finding what you are looking for?