cheapo gorilla amp not working

[einstein]

I have a little cheap gorilla amp, I think it has either a 6-8" speaker and the basic knobs no extras. The thing turns on and makes sound but not much. I turn it all the way up, get a little static and very very little sound. I tried new speaker and the same sound came out. Almost nothing, and even what comes out sounds unclear.

Just wondering if these little suckers have a known flaw or something that likely could be wrong with it. I have plenty of big amps and such Im just trying to get this little one working for a 8 year old boy I know who plays guitar well but has no amp.

Thanks

[sumgai]

steinie,

Most of these things use an all-in-one chip for the power amp, probably a TDA7201 or TDA7202. That device has on-board protection against overload such as a shorted speaker. However, there is no protection against a large and distorted incoming signal - such a signal causes the chip to draw more power than it was designed to handle, at which point an internal trace burns. Once that happens, it's all over but the shouting.

They're easy to replace, if you can find a source for them at a reasonable rate. Last time I looked, it was more than 10 bucks (Merkin), plus s&h, and that's just too much - the amp isn't worth more than 25 or 30 bucks as it is, any labor a tech puts in (for troubleshooting and then replacing the part) will have to be donated, or else the customer is getting the shaft.

But donations for a young Satriani-wannabe are a good thing - go to it! ;D

HTH


sumgai