Oh Crap! My Genz Benz Broke!

[barbarianbrute]

so i turn on the power and leave it on standby for about 10 minutes, come back and plug in, and flip the standby switch. then there was the humming noise that got louder and louder, then POP! so i quickly switched it off.

i tried it again, then the same thing. the humming noise got louder as the guitar signal went away and before it could pop again, i shut it off. i turned it on again and nothing. there was a burning smell from the back of the amp. i thought it might blow up if i continued to let hte humming noise get too loud.

so i waited about 20 minutes and came back to turn it on. this time it worked and i played it for about 2 hours. i don't know what the hell happened, but i guess i need to take this in for repair.

what would cause this? why would it do that and then work fine? any amp experts who can tell me what's wrong with my amp?

 

[Dr.Mavashi]

Re: Oh Crap! My Genz Benz Broke!

I would suggest take it to the tech first thing, ASAP. I am sorry to hear this, I went through the same thing reently, know how it feels. Dont play it till tech opens it up.

 

[brit84]

Re: Oh Crap! My Genz Benz Broke!

check your tubes and fuses, and the speaker to see if it burnt out

 

[ErikH]

Re: Oh Crap! My Genz Benz Broke!

The pop sounds like the fuse going. The loud hum, well, you may have a bad power transformer. My Marshall did that right before it went pop. Smelled the burning (mostly the smell of melting whatever is in the power transformer) and the chasis was really hot.

Did the power tubes glow really bright before shutting down? Did the chasis get overly hot?

 

[barbarianbrute]

Re: Oh Crap! My Genz Benz Broke!

no. the weird thing about it is that it ended up working fine for a couple of hours after several attempts. i haven't yet gone back to turn it on and check it out again, but i will during my lunch break. hopefully it was a glitch.

another thing is that i turned off everything else that was plugged into the power switch to make sure there wasn't a power problem. my laney amp worked fine, no problem there.

really strange and troubling because i need it to be extremely reliable for gigs. i don't want my amp blowing up in the middle of a gig. i'm thinking i'll just send it directly back to genz-benz and get it replaced just to make sure. i'm convinced this is a very very rare thing because these genz-benz amps are really built well. oh well, just my luck i guess.

 

[ErikH]

Re: Oh Crap! My Genz Benz Broke!

It happens. There is not one tube amp on the market that either hasn't already had problems or will have problems. That's just the nature of the beast. Thing is, the problems can be minor or they can be major. I suggest finding a local authorized Genz-Benz repair shop and taking it there to get checked out. Chances are, Genz-Benz will tell you to do the same thing.

 

[barbarianbrute]

Re: Oh Crap! My Genz Benz Broke!

hell NO! i say :firing: :grumble: :thumbsdow:

local repair shops around here are a nightmare. not only do they not care whether you have to wait 10 friggin weeks for your amp, you can't always rely on getting it fixed right.

i contacted genz-benz directly and will deal only with them directly. i don't want to take a chance with my brand spanking new amp with one of those friggin lazy crooks at the repair shops. their service is very good so far and they're going to take fix it themselves. the only thing that sucks is that i have ot ship it to them and that's going to cost me.

luckily the dealer i bought it from will cover that cost and get me something quick. i really like this amp a lot. it keeps me from wishing i had my mesa 5:50 back. in fact, check out the review i'm going to post later today if anyone is interested in knowing more about this amp.

 

[ErikH]

Re: Oh Crap! My Genz Benz Broke!

Good that GB is working with you on it. Sounds like you have a good dealer there. I've played through that amp. It's a monster and very easy to like.

Good luck. In my case, my Marshall is still sitting with a blown power tranny. Just can't afford to get it fixed right now.

 

[barbarianbrute]

Re: Oh Crap! My Genz Benz Broke!

that's the thing. local repair shops suck and take far too long. i wish these dealers could hold them to some kind of turn-around time so they would stop taking their sweet time to screw things up worse. these guys probably wouldn't have jobs if it weren't for warranty repair, so why are they so complacent?

 

[theodie]

Re: Oh Crap! My Genz Benz Broke!

The pop sounds like the fuse going. The loud hum, well, you may have a bad power transformer. My Marshall did that right before it went pop. Smelled the burning (mostly the smell of melting whatever is in the power transformer) and the chasis was really hot.

Did the power tubes glow really bright before shutting down? Did the chasis get overly hot?

Was this your MKIII?

 

[ErikH]

Re: Oh Crap! My Genz Benz Broke!

Was this your MKIII?

Yup. Happened last year, around June or July. Been using a Vox AD50VT ever since until I can get the thing fixed. Was going to cost as much to fix the thing as it would to get a new amp. I decided to take the new amp route.

 

[theodie]

Re: Oh Crap! My Genz Benz Broke!

Yup. Happened last year, around June or July. Been using a Vox AD50VT ever since until I can get the thing fixed. Was going to cost as much to fix the thing as it would to get a new amp. I decided to take the new amp route.

:smack:, I did not know that, that sucks! You going to unload it for parts by chance? I could use a head cabinet possibly?

 

[ErikH]

Re: Oh Crap! My Genz Benz Broke!

:smack:, I did not know that, that sucks! You going to unload it for parts by chance? I could use a head cabinet possibly?

Tell me about it. I was not a happy camper. I thought about unloading it for parts and the tech I took it to initially offered to buy it for me for parts but I can't part with it. I've had it too long. The plan is to get a power transformer myself and then have the tech install it or install it myself with the help of the forum amp gurus.

 

[theodie]

Re: Oh Crap! My Genz Benz Broke!

Tell me about it. I was not a happy camper. I thought about unloading it for parts and the tech I took it to initially offered to buy it for me for parts but I can't part with it. I've had it too long. The plan is to get a power transformer myself and then have the tech install it or install it myself with the help of the forum amp gurus.

Cool. I am sort of looking for a head cab. I want to re-tolex it in snake skin or something cool. :headbang:

I cant blame you for not wanting to part with it. Hopefully the new trannys dont alter the fine tone of these amps too much.

 

[ErikH]

Re: Oh Crap! My Genz Benz Broke!

Cool. I am sort of looking for a head cab. I want to re-tolex it in snake skin or something cool. :headbang:

I cant blame you for not wanting to part with it. Hopefully the new trannys dont alter the fine tone of these amps too much.

I'm hoping to get a Marshall replacement so the tone is changed very little, if at all. It'll be a while yet. The mrs isn't working right now and back in school. Maybe next year, dunno yet.

Snakeskin? As much as I love the 80's, I just couldn't do that. When I see snakeskin covering, I think Soldano.

 

[Hot _Grits]

Re: Oh Crap! My Genz Benz Broke!

I'm hoping to get a Marshall replacement so the tone is changed very little, if at all. It'll be a while yet. The mrs isn't working right now and back in school. Maybe next year, dunno yet.

Snakeskin? As much as I love the 80's, I just couldn't do that. When I see snakeskin covering, I think Soldano.

Marshall's standard transformers aren't too spectacular these days. If you want a marshall-style transformer that will last and sound great I'd go for a Mercury or Metro replacement. I can't imagine you being disappointed in any change in tone you experience in going to a higher end transformer (in the marshall style, of course...

BB: if the amp didn't coat the room in acrid smoke, then it's probably a burnt out resistor, possibly as a result of a tube giving out. Still that means you shouldn't play the amp, as you could end up doing more damage.

And ask around about repair guys. By that, I mean ask gigging players in your area, as they are the ones who need good service and fast turnaround to make a living. Usually every town has it's share of cowboys and hacks, but there's usually someone in every decent sized town with a good rep. Maybe some forum members can point you to a local/regional repairman if you ask...

Eventually you'll have an amp long enough for warranty to expire, and then you'll be extremely glad you did some digging and found a good repairguy.

 

[ErikH]

Re: Oh Crap! My Genz Benz Broke!

Marshall's standard transformers aren't too spectacular these days. If you want a marshall-style transformer that will last and sound great I'd go for a Mercury or Metro replacement. I can't imagine you being disappointed in any change in tone you experience in going to a higher end transformer (in the marshall style, of course...

I've been looking at others too. Mercury's are out of my budget range. The Metro's I'll take a look at. I really love the sound of the amp. I don't want it to change too much. Although, would the power transformer affect the sound that much? I understand the output transformer does but didn't think the power tranny would.

 

[theodie]

Re: Oh Crap! My Genz Benz Broke!

I'm hoping to get a Marshall replacement so the tone is changed very little, if at all. It'll be a while yet. The mrs isn't working right now and back in school. Maybe next year, dunno yet.

Snakeskin? As much as I love the 80's, I just couldn't do that. When I see snakeskin covering, I think Soldano.

Really any covering is possible, Purple, red, snakeskin, etc. Something different than black ya see.

 

[3'scompany]

Re: Oh Crap! My Genz Benz Broke!

Really any covering is possible, Purple, red, snakeskin, etc. Something different than black ya see.

Snow white or red, dood!

Though albino snake skin would be b!tchin'

As would ostrich skin. It'd look like a high class cowboy boot :laugh2:

 

[Hot _Grits]

Re: Oh Crap! My Genz Benz Broke!

I've been looking at others too. Mercury's are out of my budget range. The Metro's I'll take a look at. I really love the sound of the amp. I don't want it to change too much. Although, would the power transformer affect the sound that much? I understand the output transformer does but didn't think the power tranny would.

ah, good old skim reading, eh? -I thought you were after an OT. Power transformers aren't much of a concern tonewise. A stock Marshall one should be fine. Heyboer also do great stuff and are cheaper than Mercury.