Warwick 5.1 Profet problem

NZ Bassman

NZ Bassman

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My on-going problems with my Warwick Profet 5.1 have been well documented on this forum and today was nearly the last straw!

We did a charity gig this morning (Sunday) - only had to play for 1 hour and there was a full PA and sound men, so we just had to bring our amps / drums.
I set my bass and amp up and it's all ok, but literally 30 seconds before were about to play my Warwick 4x10 speaker cab starts crackling very loudly like fireworks exploding! I look at my amp and the red light on the gain was flashing wildly (gain was only on 4.5) and the speakers were almost jumping out of the cab!!!
Turned power off immediately, waited about 20 seconds then turned it on again and amp was normal, but there was no sound coming out of the speakers - tried wiggling / adjusting speaker lead, main lead to my DI and DI lead to amp, but nothing.....
So in the end I had to plug straight into their DI and go through front of house - bypassing my amp completely.

Gig went well - I was standing next to speakers so could hear my bass pretty clearly through FOH.
After gig when we start packing up I said to our drummer / singer that I have either blown my amp or speakers
Sound guy asks what happened and I told him and he said - plug it in and see.... so we did and what do you know? the bloody thing starts working fine!!! AAAARRRRGGGGHHH.
Drummer then adjusted my gain and the noise came back when he did that, but didn't make a noise when he stopped.
I've always had a bit of a scratchy gain pot and just leave the gain volume where it is and use the master if I need to be louder / quieter.

I don't know if it is just a scratchy gain pot playing up or something more serious.... Drummer is taking the amp to the guy they use to fix all their gear (he tells me the guy is really good), so hopefully if will be fixed by Saturday as we have a wedding to do!

I know this sounds mean but I am hoping my amp is f***ed so I can buy a new one!!

Sorry - rant over!
 
My advice, get rid of the damn thing. It's caused you enough headache and grief to last a lifetime of gigs. Plus, even if it comes back from the shop working fine, I wouldn't trust it for a long while after gigging with it with no hangups, consistently. And NEVER take chances at someone's wedding, that's a day they will never get back if something goes wrong with the music, not to mention it will all be video for them and their friends and relatives to relive over and over. And will say who is that guy with the bass, and why is he messing up on all the songs. Whether it's the amp or not, it will always be blamed on YOU. Don't do it, rent an amp or borrow someone else's, just my advice.
 
I would love to just get rid of the amp and buy something new or newer, but I don't have a job and our finances are a bit tight, so until I get a job or win the lotto I am afraid I am stuck with it.... I'll see what the repair man says and what it is going to cost to get it fixed... our drummer and singer (they are a married couple) are very friendly with the music shop owner down their way, so I might see if I can beg, steal or borrow an amp for the weekend if mine is not fixed!
 
Then what I'd do is ask a bass player friend if you can borrow their bass amp, you won't really need anything super powerful. Honestly, you can get away with a 150w-200w and still be heard at most any wedding event in a four piece band if you have decent cabs. If borrowing from a friend is out of the question, and you have to go to somebody that knows somebody, that knows somebody, then negotiate a part of your cut from the gig, I'd start at 10%, see what he says, then work up if you have to. Hell, a combo rig would get you by, it doesn't have to be an amp head.
 
Sorry about your luck man.

I'd suggest buying a spare amp, something small, light, and cheap (MarkBass Little Mark II 500w amps weigh 6 lbs and are $250 used in the US anyway) to take to gigs with you. I always have two with me.
 
I'm starting to think more about getting a 'combo' amp actually.... something that is around 300w that can hook up another cab to it.
As soon as I get some $$ I'll seriously look into it - save carrying my 34kg+ warwick 4x10 around too!
 
seems that my amp needs the 2 gain / volume pots replaced... not sure how much that will cost....
I wonder if it is worth fixing, or should I put the money towards a newer amp? hmmmm decisions, decisions.....
Repair guy needs to order the parts in anyway, so drummer is going to borrow an amp from his local music shop for the gig in the weekend.
 
A good amp tech should be able to replace pots and do a quick service reasonably cheaply...
 
Stroud said:
A good amp tech should be able to replace pots and do a quick service reasonably cheaply...
Click to expand...

hopefully that will be the case... and I can still use the amp while saving up some $$ for a new one in the future!
 
Stroud said:
A good amp tech should be able to replace pots and do a quick service reasonably cheaply...
Click to expand...

yep - apparently it will be about $70 (NZ) to fix and the tech guy said it is worth doing, so I will get it fixed while I save up for something else....
the good news is our drummer and singer have managed to get me an Ashdown ABM 900 evo III to use this weekend - Whoohoo!!!
I hope it won't be too powerful for my Warwick 600w 4x10? (8ohm)
 
Hi Nick,

I would keep this amp, and use, and I would raise some money for an upper grade amp, if you like Warwick, an used tubepath or Xtreme is the next step, you can buy them pretty cheaply on the second hand market :-)
 
yeah - I'll keep the amp for now and use it while I save up for a better, more powerful amp
 
NZ Bassman said:
yeah - I'll keep the amp for now and use it while I save up for a better, more powerful amp
Click to expand...

You might not even need more power, just better quality. I've played massive festival stages with my X-treme 5.1s and never had to turn up past 3 o'clock (and even that's only a handful of times)
 
My experience too. Tubepath 10.1 was way too loud, and 12 o clock it was covering everything elese on the stage, and it was impossible to come close to my rig :-) On stadium I mean!
 
Well the Ashdown sounded 100% better than my 5.1 - much fuller sound
I ended up having the pre-gain? on about 2 (or 8-9 o'clock) before the meter started going into the red and the master volume straight at 12 o'clock. my speakers were barely moving, but the sound coming out of it was bliss!! - usually with my 5.1 the speakers are moving and shaking.
I used the built in DI and there was no noise / hiss coming through the PA like the one on my 5.1 has

my 5.1 will be fixed this week and I will use it at the next gig and see how it goes!
 
Whatever the cause is, I don't know; however, I wonder if it didn't overheat the thermostat for that gig. That would explain nothing coming out and it working later. However, that may mean that it won't happen if you find what overheated it.

Did you notice if the amp was especially hot?
 
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