Orange Amps Forum

Hi

I just unpacked by new Terror Bass 500 and SP212

Got a nice new VDC Speakon cable to connect it.

Played for around 10 mins n very low volume (In the house) then BANG, Main fuse blows, and when I say blows, completely destroyed the fuse.

Ok, so I did not check the speaker Ohm switch on the 500 as I only just found it, It was set to 4 where the SP212 is 8.
I have some spare T6.3 fuses, so replaced it and BANG as I apply power to it, it blows again.

Would having the Ohm switch set to 4 have caused it to blow ?

Called my retailer and they have said they will replace it, but Id like to know if anyone thinks this was a faulty unit or just "user error"

Thanks

andyh wrote:Hi

I just unpacked by new Terror Bass 500 and SP212

Got a nice new VDC Speakon cable to connect it.

Played for around 10 mins n very low volume (In the house) then BANG, Main fuse blows, and when I say blows, completely destroyed the fuse.

Ok, so I did not check the speaker Ohm switch on the 500 as I only just found it, It was set to 4 where the SP212 is 8.
I have some spare T6.3 fuses, so replaced it and BANG as I apply power to it, it blows again.

Would having the Ohm switch set to 4 have caused it to blow ?

Called my retailer and they have said they will replace it, but Id like to know if anyone thinks this was a faulty unit or just "user error"

Thanks

Hi andyh, and welcome to the forum!
Hmmm though, I have to say that the user name you have chosen could get confusing...


About your BT though.

Don't really think that running it at very low power at the wrong impedance setting would have caused that, no. Sounds very likely to have been a faulty amp!

Hope this BT model isn't going to become the 'Buggy Terror' though. Seem to recall a couple more recent blowups here. Though to be fair it is a new model and occasional problems can happen with early producion examples of many types of new models - eg cars.
I know if there was an issue Orange would get it sorted pronto. Annoying if you are one of the ones who actually has a problem though!


Andy.

Yeah, better just point out that Mr. 3 posts 'andyh' really isn't the same guy as Mr. 10K3 posts 'Andy H.'!

Might just be a case of someone reconsidering their handle???

(Would probably be appreciated by a few folks here as things could get well confusing!)


Andy.

Andy H. wrote:Might just be a case of someone reconsidering their handle???

(Would probably be appreciated by a few folks here as things could get well confusing!)


Andy.

+1. Too right!


Andy.

See, it pays to pick a dumb name to avoid confusion .

Randy Bass wrote:See, it pays to pick a dumb name to avoid confusion .

Well done that man! Fine upstanding member that you are!


Andy.

Ok, thanks for the replies. I didnt know so many "Andy H's" existed, so Ill happily pick a new one.

And here we are now, so "Andys" you are back in the mainstream.
Hopefully nobody else has this handle (its my CB handle from an age well gone

AndyH (4 posts) now retired.

peculiarchimp wrote:And here we are now, so "Andys" you are back in the mainstream.
Hopefully nobody else has this handle (its my CB handle from an age well gone

AndyH (4 posts) now retired.

Well I'd better welcome you 'again' then peculiarchimp, so welcome to the forum. And a mighty fine handle that is too!

Appreciate you're changing names. Myself and Andy H. (also me BTW just in case you were wondering - long story...) are very grateful!

I'm a bass player too BTW. Like all the best people really.

I'll just fill you in on recent BT happenings. There do seem to have been a couple of (so far) unexplained failures in recent weeks. Without jumping to any conclusions I'm just starting to wonder if there might not actually be problems with a few of these amps out there.

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One thing I do know is that Orange do take this sort of stuff very seriously. They actually like to have any amps with apparently unusual problems sent back to them so that they can see exactly what has been going on. As a quality amp manufacturer it is in their own interests to do that so that they don't lose their good reputation. They are also pretty good in seeing their customers properly sorted quickly. If you have any problems with their retailer feel free to contact Orange themselves.

A few years back for example we heard about quite a lot of new / nearly new valve amps here either DOA or dying quickly. Almost always turned out to be due to the crappy Chinese valves they were then fitting which often broke either in transit or with early use. Realising this Orange started fitting much better quality valves as standard to their amps (as in the best quality modern production ones like SED, JJ, EH) which cut out probably 95%+ of these problems. And the Chinese valves they now use in Chinese made amps like the Terror series seem much better now too. So they do actually react to any real issues with their amps.

Just saying all that so that you won't get the wrong idea about things with Orange. Sure it is really annoying if you do have an amp failure, but I'm pretty sure that Orange will get you properly sorted as quickly as possible. And you (hopefully) know yourself that these amps sound great when actually working right. I think there are probably quite a few of these things getting good use out there now with relatively few real problems. What you have to bear in mind is that the picture here may look different simply because this is the Orange amps forum and we are much more likely to hear about problem amps here than all the ones which are doing fine.

Still if you find out anything from Orange or the retailer about what was wrong with the amp it'd be good to hear about it.


On a different note, you just got the SP212 cab too? I take it you've not really been able to try that out properly either then? Be good to hear how you find it when you do. It is another newish model and we've not had that many real user reports back on the forum yet. Though the ones we have had do seem VERY postive!

Good luck!


Andy.

Thanks,

Absolute Music in Poole Dorset are shipping me a new one. The blown one will be going back to Orange for investigation.

Ill write up my findings on the pair once i get a chance to put them to the test.

PC

Interesting email from Orange UK Service Dept:

Hi,

Please accept my apologies for the inconvenience.
We have seen comparatively few Terror Bass returns in the context of our range, however, a good 90% have a failed FET which causes the mains fuse to blow. Once the FET has been replaced the unit works perfectly. With all components there is a small percentage which fail as a result of a manufacturing fault, and whilst this accounts for some of the returns we have seen, the aforementioned FET will also fail in the event of an impedance miss-match.

So the moral may well be, ensure the impedance switch is correctly set for your ca.

PC

Thats interesting info. Thanks very much for posting that here!


Andy.

HI! I'm new, just wanted to chuck my 2p in here...

I got a terror bass 500 last monday, plugged it in, played for 20 mins and blew the fuse out like a nail bomb. It was set to 8ohms, matched to cab. It was on tiny volumes, flat eq and not exactly playing thumping doom music! I almost cried. Checked it all out, valves changed, different plug sockets, new fuses, new kettle leads, every fuse i put in blew when it got to standby, sometimes VERY violently. Heartbroken, I took it back to GAK, where I bought it, who were super nice and offered me some MarkBass gear (which just sounds... so clinical in comparison!) which I politely declined, because I fell in love with that little terror and want it back. It should be with Orange right now, and I'd like to think it will come back fine and dandy. But looking at all the problems people report... I'm dubious now about going on with it. I play with established bands, fudge ups are not an option. Worry, worry, worry...

Anyone had theirs fixed, only to find it come back with more probs?

Hi Mogboo. Welcome!

90% chance it was a FET failure problem. See above...


Andy

Late to the party, but I'm an Andy H too!