| Author |
Topic: RE: Fender Steel King problem |
Chris Forbes
From:
Beltsville, MD, USA
|
Posted 31 Mar 2007 8:51 am |
|
| I've gotten a few e-mails the past few months pertaining to a previous post I put up. Here is the situation for all so I can avoid more e-mails that just depress me: No, the problem was never found. Yes, the problem still pops up every once in a while. Yes, I still use it occasionally on gigs, but have to be VERY careful about the volume/length of gig. Yes, I have given up trying to get the situation addressed. |
|
|
 |
Donny Hinson
From:
Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.
|
Posted 1 Apr 2007 6:01 am
|
|
| Overheated? |
|
|
|
Ken Fox
From:
Nashville GA USA
|
Posted 1 Apr 2007 7:55 am
|
|
Very interesting. read most of the reports last night. I have a customer coming today with a Bassman 200. A little schematic reading quickly revealed the Bassman 200 and Steel King have the same power amp board. The preamps amps look near identical as well, just effects on the Steel King.
My customer thought he had a bad speaker Says he gets low power and distortion. He will be here today. It will be interesting to see of his problems are a mirror to yours.
Donny makes a good point about overheating. Still, why would that be?? Seems that would be a result of improper speaker impedance or a guitar cable used as a speaker cord! Neither likely in your case, I would think.
I need to finish reading all the posts. It is a shame Fender has not jumped in there and took this amp back to the factory for some thorough testing. |
|
|
|
Ken Fox
From:
Nashville GA USA
|
Posted 1 Apr 2007 8:20 am
|
|
I just finished reading the Harmony Central User reviews for the Bassman 200 amp. Horrifying!! Knowing they are almost identical amps (the power amp is the same schematic for both) it concerns me that the Streel Kings amps will soon be showing the same issues.
Not a pretty story! |
|
|
|
Kevin Hatton
From:
Buffalo, N.Y.
|
Posted 1 Apr 2007 8:58 am
|
|
| Ken, where is your review? I'd like to read it. |
|
|
|
Ken Fox
From:
Nashville GA USA
|
|
|
|
Ken Fox
From:
Nashville GA USA
|
Posted 1 Apr 2007 10:34 am
|
|
Well I got he Bassman 200 in and I am just dumb enough to take it on! I am curious to see the quality of the fender work, etc. The amp is a pure fuzz-tone at present. Moore later on this one!
The more I look at the two schematics it looks like they just took the Bassman 200 and changed the preamp a bit (adding reverb, etc). They took of the compressor control know and put a reverb control there on the Steel King. Not a bad idea. Lots of folks have used amps in multiple configurations. But I feel sure this one was not a fresh design just for steel players! |
|
|
|
Craig A Davidson
From:
Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin USA
|
Posted 1 Apr 2007 11:27 am
|
|
| This is a strange thing. I have had problems with my Bassman 200 since day one. Is this the one with the little adjustable tweeter in it? I have to beat on mine sometimes to get it to work. I am going to get it out and try my Emmons through it. |
|
|
|
Ken Fox
From:
Nashville GA USA
|
Posted 1 Apr 2007 12:13 pm
|
|
| Yes, that is the amp. Has a small tweeter with an adjustment on the back of the cab! |
|
|
|
Ernie Pollock
From:
Mt Savage, Md USA
|
Posted 1 Apr 2007 12:23 pm Humm?
|
|
Chris: Please keep in mind that the Fender Steel King amps [although you did not buy it from my store] do have a 5 year warranty, I think you should get that to a Fender Service Center down there in you area & maybe they can take care of it for you, also, those warrantys are transferable.
Ernie Pollock
ERNIES MUSIC
http://www.hereintown.net/~shobud75
One that I did sell had a bad input jack on the front, fixed under warranty.
One had a reverb problem, fixed under warranty. other than those two small problems nothing else has came up with the Steel King Amps, at least not the ones I have sold. |
|
|
|
Earnest Bovine
From:
Los Angeles CA USA
|
Posted 1 Apr 2007 12:33 pm
|
|
| My Steel King works fine except for occasional intermittent connection at the input jack. I don't see an easy fix for that. |
|
|
|
Kevin Hatton
From:
Buffalo, N.Y.
|
Posted 1 Apr 2007 12:34 pm
|
|
Ernie, I think that this is much more than a service problem and more of a poor design and reliability problem from what Ken is telling us. I keep hearing about reliability problems with the Steel King. Ken, which review is yours? I don't see your name. In your opinion is this problem in the design or in the quality of components?
Last edited by Kevin Hatton on 1 Apr 2007 1:43 pm; edited 2 times in total |
|
|
|
Ken Fox
From:
Nashville GA USA
|
Posted 1 Apr 2007 12:37 pm
|
|
| I have seen a lot of bad input jacks on the earlier Hot Rod series amps. The newer jacks seem much better. I have replaced many of the PC board style jacks with the older style Switchcraft jacks metal jacks. |
|
|
|
Earnest Bovine
From:
Los Angeles CA USA
|
Posted 1 Apr 2007 8:34 pm
|
|
Ken
Here is my input jack. Is this a bad old one that I can easily replace with a better one? It works well 99.9% of the time so I'm not sure I want to mess with it. |
|
|
|
Ken Fox
From:
Nashville GA USA
|
Posted 2 Apr 2007 5:23 am
|
|
I am not sure that one could be replaced with older style metal jack. I will have the Bassman apart today and can tell better. I am sure they used the same jacks.
That jack is not very hard to replace and is quite common. The contacts often get fatigued on that style jack. Cold or more typically broken solder joints at the P.C. board are an issue. |
|
|
|
Ken Fox
From:
Nashville GA USA
|
Posted 2 Apr 2007 12:14 pm
|
|
Looks like someone at the last Fender service center tried to replace a transistor in the power amp. These new Fender amps have very small traces on the board, fragile is an understatement. They burned and messed up the traces. Still it was at least in circuit but dead again!
Now for the real fun. Over two hours spent trying to cross the part! No luck! The dead transistor is not manufactured anymore, the Fender parts distributor that Fender recommended to me says it is on back order at Fender!
I found the original Motorola distributor and they are sending me three samples free to replace it with. Again they verified it is an obsolete part.
What a mess! Never again will I mess with a Bassman 200 or a Steel King.
They could take lessons from Peavey on how to build good quality circuit boards!
After working on Nashville 400 and other Peavey amps mods in my I can tell you that those amps are some of the most solid circuits and circuit boards I have ever worked on, period!! The Nashville 400 was built like a tank. Truly roadworthy and designed for years of trouble free service.
Would I own a newer Fender amp? If given to me perhaps! I would not buy one after working on the reissue tube amps, Hot Rod series and now the Bassman 200.
I love my old hand-wired Fender amps. Nothing they have produced since then had impressed me for quality and ease of working with on the bench. |
|
|
|
Kevin Hatton
From:
Buffalo, N.Y.
|
Posted 2 Apr 2007 4:22 pm
|
|
| Coming from Ken, this is interesting. |
|
|
|
Ken Fox
From:
Nashville GA USA
|
Posted 2 Apr 2007 4:53 pm
|
|
I suppose that I am ranting a bit here! I just get tired of working on things that are margianially built, hard to get parts for and that extreme lack of quality customer support that seems to go along with said products.
I can remember it taking me 3 months one time to get a pot for a Marshall amp! Guess what, I will not work on another Marshall amp, period!
I have better things to do than spend hours chasing down parts, practically begging for some customer support, etc.
I am retired, getting older and a bit grumpy I guess! I do not have to work on everything that comes through the door. I pick and choose my battles most of the time.
This was a case of helping a friend out and that means going the extra mile sometimes. He had already had a bad repair done and I can't see him throwing the amp out, as he was ready to do.
Still a good learning experience for me, I guess. It's nice to have my Forum friends to cry to once in a while!!! Nobody else understands me.  |
|
|
|
Fred Rushing
From:
Odin, IL, USA
|
Posted 2 Apr 2007 5:10 pm FSK
|
|
| Folks you should read the reviews that Ken suggested. You will find several users giving the Bassman 200 very high marks. Amps are like cars or any other massed produce item. They have good runs and bad runs of styles. I spent 40 years in the telecommunications maint. field. We like what we like for our own reasons. I have Peavey and I have a FSK. They both sound great to me and others whow listen to them. I am A big Peavey Fan and always will be. There are NV400's that sound like crap and NV400's that sound wonderful. Great FSK's and bad ones. That is the way things work. JMHO. Thanks Fred |
|
|
|
Kevin Hatton
From:
Buffalo, N.Y.
|
Posted 2 Apr 2007 6:55 pm
|
|
| This is a design and component problem that Ken has pointed out. Its also a customer support issue. Ken Fox is a recognized electronics expert on the Forum and has been for some years. I take his professional opinion seriously. Thanks Ken for informing us as to your findings. Its very valuable to us as consumers. I fully agree with you about Peavey's ruggedness. I just can't stand their sound. |
|
|
|
Bob Knetzger
From:
Kirkland, WA USA
|
Posted 2 Apr 2007 10:01 pm
|
|
I had an problem with my FSK input jack-- went sloppy in the middle of a big concert gig and made a LOUD buzz/crackle as it "make-and-break"ed the connection with the plug.
My easy fix was to use one of those cords with the self-tensioning plugs. (small metal compression springs around the plugs's sleeve contacts--very positive connection.)
Problem solved!
Last edited by Bob Knetzger on 5 Apr 2007 1:07 pm; edited 1 time in total |
|
|
|
Chris LeDrew
From:
Canada
|
Posted 2 Apr 2007 10:57 pm
|
|
A little off-topic, but I just bought a '65 Deluxe Reverb Reissue two weeks ago, and already it has a faulty reverb and now an intermittent/flickering jewel light. I'm wondering should I simply return it?
_________________
Jackson Steel Guitars
Web: www.chrisledrew.com |
|
|
|
Ken Fox
From:
Nashville GA USA
|
Posted 3 Apr 2007 3:43 am
|
|
I worked on a Twin Reverb reissue a while back with an intermittent reverb. I finally gave up. It would come and go and I never could trace it down with a scope. Too much bench time and aggravation. Gave it back to my customer no charge. I would take the Deluxe back and take advantage of the warranty for sure.
Broken jacks! Seen so many on the older Blues Deluxe, Blues Deville, Hot Rod Deville and Hot Rod Deluxe. They are now finally using a better jack and hopefully that problem is getting better for them.
I had a Blues Deluxe years myself with a flickering light. It was just the bulb. Pretty cheap fix, Chris. Still, if its under warranty, take advantage of that.
Like Fred said there are amps that sound and work well and some that just are never quite right! I hope most folks never see the problems that Chris Forbes has endured with his amp. |
|
|
|
Bill Miller
From:
Gaspe, Quebec, Canada
|
Posted 3 Apr 2007 4:05 am
|
|
| Regarding the Harmony Central site, I've found it to be a great place to get a feel for what to buy and what to stay away from. It does have its limitations of course. What sounds good is subjective and on any given product there will a variety of opinions as you would expect. But if you focus on the Reliability and Customer Support portions of the reviews you can get an idea what to expect from a product. I know someone who recently bought one of the much touted Marshall 18 watt, handwired '1974X' model amps. ($3 grand+) It sounds amazing but when I checked Harmony Central the reliability reviews were dismal. And sure enough, he's having problems with it already. I'm not surprised at Ken's findings, Fender doesn't seem to be doing too well in the reliability department these days. |
|
|
|
Lee Baucum
From:
McAllen, Texas (Extreme South) The Final Frontier
|
Posted 3 Apr 2007 4:40 am
|
|
| Ken - Have you had the opportunity to open up a Fender Steel King and look at the board yet? |
|
|
|
