clean channel breaking up at low volume

[EKfkn4]

I've been playing with a Blackstar HT Club 40 for the last 6 months and I love it. The lead channel is just right for what I play and the clean channel sounds smooth and buttery. But recently, I started cranking the amp up a bit and realized that, through the clean channel, my signal starts to break up and an unusually low volume. I haven't touched any internals and I've been using the same gear since I bought the amp so I'm not sure where, when or why this problem arose.

As far as my setup goes, it's an un-altered club 40. Clean volume at 9 o'clock, voice button out, tone at 3 o'clock, bass at 3 o'clock, mid at 1 o'clock, treble all the way up, ISF at 11 o'clock, reverb at noon, master vol at 10 o'clock. 15' Hosa cable straight to a Washburn wg228 with a DiMarzio Activator-X humbucker in the bridge, stock neck humbucker and stock middle single coil.

Hopefully someone here can help point me in the right directions as to how to resolve this issue. I really like this amp and can't imagine getting rid of it but I don't think my clean channel should be breaking up at that volume. Any help or insight would be greatly appreciated and I apologize for the minor wall of text.

[newey]

I'm not familiar with the specifics of the Club 40. But the first thing to check is the speaker.

If the speaker is blown, you would notice the breakup more readily on clean settings than with distortion, most of which is designed to mimic . . .a blown speaker! And, don't count on being able to spot the defect, it doesn't necessarily mean there's a big visible rip in the cone. Visually inspect it anyway, but don't rely on that alone.

I assume the amp has an "ext. speaker out" jack so that you can easily hook up another cab- yours or a buddy's. Make sure it's a "known good" cab (and that the impedance matches).

If the speaker checks out, then it's an internal problem that someone more savvy than me will need to suss out for you!

[EKfkn4]

Thank you for the response and the insight! I checked the speaker and it seems to be fine. I even ran the speaker through a friends combo and the problem disappeared. I hope this doesn't sound like a noob question but, could it have something to do with using a high output humbucker? or am I just being ridiculous? lol.

[newey]

Well, did you change to the high-output HB just when you noticed the problem?

Playing another guitar through the amp should help rule that in/out.

[EKfkn4]

Yea I tried a handful of different guitars and all with the same results.

[newey]

OK, well then I'm out of ideas. Sumgai is the amp guru around here, but he's been pretty busy offline lately, don't know when he'll poke his head out next.

[sumgai]

Since someone took my name in vain.......




j/k




I'm unhappy to report that the Blackstar amps all have a known flaw built into them - they make extensive use of digital processing in the pre-amp section, and by now, it's common knowledge all over the web that the "firmware" chips are at fault for the majority of reported problems.

I can say that I'm somewhat mollified that if the amp is under warranty, then most owners report satisfaction with the repairs provided (usually just swapping out that chip), but when out of warranty, then it's every user for him/herself - no help at all. The stated reason: "For security legistation reasons, we provide schematics only to approved repair centers." Hogwash if I've ever seen it.

It is my estimation, admittedly without ever having seen a Blackstar amp on my own bench, that these things are the first generation of what's to come in the amplifier realm, over the next 20 to 30 years. Unfortunately, what Blackstar is doing is reprising Fender's massive Gefooey^® of 1966: trading on current Marketing Memes. Back then it Transistorized, now it's Digital. In each case, substitute the standard MarketingSpeak slogan: "New and Improved!!" If only Marketing Departments were legally required to have actual working knowledge of what they're supposed to flog. Sigh.

Fender recovered from that blunder, but only due to their well-established market dominance. Blackstar doesn't have that big-name familiarity to fall back on, so they're gonna have to "take their medicine" and either steal away into the night, or invest a large portion of cash into R&D before they come back out swinging. I predict that before they are though for the day, others (Behringer, anyone?) will clone their efforts, and thereby expand the market from baby steps towards robustness.

The moral of the story is, no matter how many "Golden Ears" idiots tell you that vinyl sounds better that any CD ever made, there's a reason that CD's are with us today, and it's not because of 'confirmation bias'. To put that in context here, I'll say only that when the majority of listeners can tell the difference in a non-blindfold test, then it's relevant. If it comes down to 0.001 percent of population claiming to hear a difference, then I want to know only one thing: how come none of those thousandth-percenters ever submit to a double-blind test?

All of which means, digital is coming folks. You may be able to buy a tube amp for the next two decades, but if you really want to use it for gigging and/or recording beyond that time frame, then you better hold on to it, and stash away some spare parts, or even a spare amp, because in twenty years or so, the vast majority of the instrument-playing public will realize that Digital isn't so bad after all. Tube amps will be sold only by Dumble-greed-level boutique makers, and when found on eBay, they'll be going for more than a new car. (A small car, to be sure, but you get the point, I'm sure.)

And all the foregoing wasn't even a rant, it was a commiseration with EKkie.... Sorry man, but until someone "pirates" a copy of your model's schematic onto the web somewhere, I can't help you.







sumgai