ryanzepp

I was wondering if anyone would be so kind to tell me/give advice on how i can get the potential out of my head.

I bought what i was told to be a "1973" Marshall Super Bass Mk II head (i'm still to confirm the year but dont know how) about 4 years ago for £300 (about $600) and also bought a brand new Marshall VBC412 Cab to run it through aswell as a 4 Ohms THD Hotplate. For a few years it sounded great combined with my 1978 4001 Rickenbacker Bass and was easily recognised on the Liverpool Music Scene as a classic sounding rig by fellow Bass players and amp enthusiasts. Although as of the past year it tends to hum alot and sounds really muddy. This has caused major problems with Recording and in certain live situations i have had to lend other peoples gear which seems a shame when you have a lovely amp sitting there.

I passed it to someone in a shop to fix it and after going over it for an hour he said he couldn't find a problem at all with it.

The past few days the amp has started to change in volme whenever it feels like it and now i have decided to not plug it in until i can find the problem as i dont want to run it whilst it may be broken as it may effect other components.

Can anyone please help me. I am a gigging musician and feel like i have lost a Limb with it being out of action. I really dont want to go back to using venue's bass amps as they are usually cheap and sound like biscuit tins.

Thanks alot for reading and sorry if i sounded like i'm moaning.

Ryan

Brett Blackmore

Hi Ryan,

the standard answer here is 'tubes' - if it is not tubes then it is a breakdown in another component but where?

Did the guy in the shop test it with your hotplate and your cables? There may be even be an issue outide the amp. A bad speaker cable?

Of course the guy in the shop may have tested it too quickly - test it yourself without extras to see if it is really the amp - and then take to the repair shop again.

Cheers Brett