Strange behavior in my AD200 mk1

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macahan
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Strange behavior in my AD200 mk1

Post by macahan » Thu Jul 14, 2016 7:35 pm

I have a ad200 mk1 which has worked perfectly through all the years I've owned it.
It's seems tired. Sometimes after startup it lacks oomph and it's something in the lower midrange that's weird.
I started noticing a while back that at the end of our set it started to loose bass and especially that "core" I love in this amp.
It sounds just like if the bass is all cut despite if the bass is turned all the way up to not cutting any bass.
I could make the amp sound even louder but I just couldn't get it to deliver that great fat sound with lots of midrangey core.

I feed my amp with a quite strong signal, played through a lakland decade skyline with rounds and played quite intensely with a pick.
I use a hiwatt 410115C with two tele connections from each 4ohm to the cabs separate inputs since it's wired 16 ohms at the full range input.
The signal is loud because I use a fulltone bass drive for overdrive and a fulltone fat boost (which is pretty much always on) ,for even more midrange punch, infront of the amp.

i've changed both leads from the amp to the cab just incase that was an issue.
I've played without the pedalboard and straight into the amp if the pedalboard was causing in and i've played through all the leads I own and even bought a new one just in case.

so anyway i sent it to a tech who found a microphonic cap which was feeding one pair of the 6550's. He said the tubes weren't that bad that they needed changing really so it took it out for a test and it's better alright, atleast it seems more consistent now. I haven't really retubed it for about 6-7 years since it still sounded great until now.

two days ago i played it and it sounded mega great!!
Today it sounded just as great at startup but it started to fade again, the volume got a touch lower, the core went somewhat away and now I don't know what to think about it.

It's been working flawlessly in the last 13 years i've had it so I know what it should sound like and now it's... well it just sounds dull. That there is something wrong was far more obvious when I used my Fender japan P51. It sounded like crap to my ears to be honest.

Have any of you guys experienced anything like this?
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bclaire
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Re: Strange behavior in my AD200 mk1

Post by bclaire » Thu Jul 14, 2016 9:17 pm

I would try a new tech and a retube.

Les Paul Lover
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Re: Strange behavior in my AD200 mk1

Post by Les Paul Lover » Thu Jul 14, 2016 9:33 pm

I would change the valves too.

Probably get a full set, swap to power valves 1st,and if the problem isn't sorted, the preamp valves. It's good to have spares anyway.

If that doesn't solve it, I would bring it to another tech - thought thw power valve may need biasing anyway, in which case you need a new tech in any case.

Sorry to hear that - it's unlikely to be terminal, it's just a matter of tracing the origin of the fault.
Ant

Orange Gear: RV50 MKI, R30, AD15, PPC212
And.... Genz Benz Black Pearl 30
Past Orange: AD30TC Combo, TT, AD5


Guitars: Gibson Les Paul Standard Faded, Vigier Expert Retro 54, Gibson SG 70s Tribute, Aria Pro II RS X80, G&L ASAT Special Tribute

macahan
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Re: Strange behavior in my AD200 mk1

Post by macahan » Tue Jan 30, 2018 2:42 pm

Late answer... but it was a resistor/cap that made it all sound dull.
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Jondog
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Re: Strange behavior in my AD200 mk1

Post by Jondog » Tue Jan 30, 2018 6:09 pm

macahan wrote:
Tue Jan 30, 2018 2:42 pm
Late answer... but it was a resistor/cap that made it all sound dull.
:lol: Glad you got it sorted
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bclaire
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Re: Strange behavior in my AD200 mk1

Post by bclaire » Tue Jan 30, 2018 7:10 pm

Well, that took awhile!

Glad it's working fine again!

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