Spider iv 150 Combo turns itself off and on

[Ibanez074 0]

Hi all!

Hoping someone can shed light on my problem...

For the last 6 months or so my amp turns itself off then straight back on. It started off doing it roughly once in every 3 or 4 gigs but the final straw was last week when it happened 8 times within ten minutes of turning it on. Needless to say the amp is unusable. I need this to gig with in two weeks time!

I've read on forums that it could be a problem with the processor overheating, so I followed the advice and placed a heat sink on the chip along with a fan blowing cool air on it only for the problem to remain.

I gave it to my local guitar shop tech repair guy to look at, he phoned today to tell me hen couldn't locate the problem. He tried blowing heat onto the amp but concluded it didn't effect the amp as it was turning off when cold anyway.

The worrying thing is he won't touch the circuit boards, reason being they are double sided ie they have components both sides. So if he tries to fix something on the top of a board then there is a high likelihood something on the opposite side will be damaged or affected. It is this reason the shop won't stock Line 6 along with the Marshall (MG?) series as it uses the same technology!

The amp is only 2 years old so out of warranty so apart from spending upwards of £600 including FBV I am now in possession of an unusable piece of gear unless I send it to their workshop which will cost £50 postage before they even look at it.

I read somewhere the Spider 75 suffered the same problem and L.ine 6 said it was a known fault and as a result were repairing them free of charge.

 

Any advice is very greatly appreciated!

[psarkissian 321]

Trying to re-boot on its own?

 

If the tech has a problem finding the fault, have him get in touch with

me through the service tech support channels.

[Ibanez074 0]

Ok thanks, given this is a common fault I take it you may know the problem?

From what he said I think it's because he doesn't want to touch double sided boards?

[psarkissian 321]

There are four things that can cause that.

[Ibanez074 0]

Ok thanks and those are?

[Ibanez074 0]

How does he contact you through those channels? What info do I need to give him to contact you directly?

 

Many thanks

[psarkissian 321]

He would need to use the support resources used by Line 6 authorized techs

to contact me to pick my brain.

 

E&M Electronics near Bletchley is pretty good, centrally located between London

and the midlands. Nice area.

[Ibanez074 0]

Ok thanks for your replies. I will contact E & M tomorrow, I take it this is who you work for and hence get in contact with you?

[psarkissian 321]

I work at Line 6 in California. E & M is an authorized service center. I sort of

know the geography, 'cause the UK is a place I like to hang about. We used to

have a Line 6 location in Daventry, and then in Rugby. Been there once or twice,

nice area. Usually hang about in London when I'm over there.

 

One of our former techs, Mark Wright, has hung out his own shingle in the midlands there,

in Northamptonshire, and still does Line 6 products. I stay in contact with him.

Really good at the Line 6 guitar products.

 

We have set-up for other authorized techs to contact and consult us when needed.

[Ibanez074 0]

Ah I see sounds like this Mark Wright bloke knows a thing or two maybe I need to contact him does he have a website or similar?

I imagine California is far nicer than anything we have in the midlands lol!!

Thanks again I have a gig in ten days seems like I'm gonna have to seek alternative gear out...

[psarkissian 321]

Mark Wright Music, http://www.markwrightmusic.com/

 

Since he's not on the official list in the "Find a Service Center" part of the

support site, you may want to consider him a second choice,... unless your

amp is out of warranty, then it's dealer's choice. Mark was my opposite

number for the guitar products when we had a UK location.

[Ibanez074 0]

Brilliant thanks again!