what makes an amp break?

[goodstuff 10+ year member]

Besides the obvious things like throwing it off a cliff, spilling water on it, hooking it up wrong...Just wondering cause I've had the same cheezy legacy bass amp for almost ten years now and I'm wondering when it will break...There's not really any moving parts to wear out like on speakers or H/U insert/eject mechanisims I'm guessing this has a lot to do with it...

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[n2audio 5,000+ posts]

Abuse -

Impedances too low.

Overheating regularly.

Things wear out - corrosion on components over time can cause voltage drops and stuff can snowball.

But once you get past that 1st year or so and know nothing's defective there's no reason an amp shouldn't last several years.

I had a Pyramid I bought when I was 15, sold it for $30 after 10 years of use, as far as I know it's still working.

 

[Twistid 5,000+ posts]

i remember reading somewhere that tiny microscopic flakes can start flaking off of metal parts/chips/connections with repeated abuse or just constant yearly use... and these tiny flakes can cause shorts inside the amp...

 

[JimJ 5,000+ posts]

Electrolytic caps eventually wear out, they have a finite number of times they'll charge/discharge...but you don't need to worry about that for 25 years or so //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[///M5 10+ year member]

Why wait for it to break, get rid of that crap.

 

[JimJ 5,000+ posts]

//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/laugh.gif.48439b2acf2cfca21620f01e7f77d1e4.gif

Sentimental value, perhaps?

 

[Prowler573 5,000+ posts]

Why wait for it to break, get rid of that crap.

The actual brand notwithstanding....it's only "crap" if it is failing to do what the owner wants/needs for it to do.

I'm of the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" camp more often than not, myself, and I can see keeping it if it still plays...

 

[luvinthebass 5,000+ posts]

i usually buy a new amp every year or so

 

[jmanpc 5,000+ posts]

Components in the amp overheat and blow.