Is my amp totally shot?

[BluesGuyJ]

Hey guys!

About 2 years ago, the external casing of the jack on my Roland VGA3 broke off. Sense then I have been looping the cable through the handle, and then into the jack. The jack has progressively gotten more and more lloose. I now get no connection from the jack to the circuitry of the amp. The jack moes around very freely now and I hear clicking and physical things rubbing together when I try and move it around.

The store I bought it from has gone out of business and it is out of warranty. Is this fixable? No one around here is even a Roland dealer. Is this too much of a hastle to fix?

I really can't affor to buy a new practice amp so I would have to sell my Mesa and buy something else hat can handle practice and gigging volumes (perhaps a Vox AD of some sort?).

Thanks fr any and all help guys!

 

[fingerace]

Re: Is my amp totally shot?

I don't think it's at all difficult. I don't think it's broken, maybe just unscrewed or a wire came off loose. Nothing major. It's an easy fix I believe, and you can do it by yourself. I may be wrong but I think it's easy.

I would suggest opening the amp very slowly and check out the situation. Take your time to spot the problem (ie. loose wire of broken off bit of metal). When you do that you can post a picture here and get some more help.

If you feel confident, just fix it at the time.

Just take your time, no rush...

 

[greco]

Re: Is my amp totally shot?

+1 for fingerace's suggestion.

I'm not sure if your amp will have any decent sized capcitors in it (which is somewhat doubtful), but keep your fingers and metal tools away from them..they can hold a charge and discharge if the terminals are touched.

Please let us know how the repair goes.

Dave

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Is my amp totally shot?

If you have decent soldering skills....

First take the chassis out of the amp to see what you're dealing with as far as circuit boards in the way. Most likely, the plastic barrel jack cracked and the solder connections to the PC board cracked as well.

Call Roland Custom Service or Email them to get the EXACT part number for the amp jack. They may require you to take that part number to a dealer and have them order it for you, since Roland doesn't deal directly with customers. It'll probably be $7. Then, very carefully solder it in, and you should be good to go.

 

[rog951]

Re: Is my amp totally shot?

If it's a panel-mount jack it's probably an easy/cheap fix. Either a broken wire/solder joint or a broken jack. Both scenarios really easy to repair.

If it's a pcb-mount jack (more likely I'm afraid) it's not quite as easy. No wires to break so it'd have to be a broken jack and you'd probably need to remove the circuit board to get to everything. So, you'd have to obtain the correct replacement jack to fit in the circuit board's holes, de-solder the existing jack and remove it, then put in the new jack and solder away. You have to be really careful not to damage the pcb pads and traces during the de-soldering operation. Still, not too hard but might be a bit daunting for someone with no electronics experience.