Author Topic: Problems with the 300T?  (Read 2354 times)

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Offline PEABODIUS

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Problems with the 300T?
« on: February 01, 2003, 08:46:12 am »
I purchased a 300T about a year ago, and have been extremely happy with the sound.  Problem is, I had to take it in for repair about 4 months after I bought it because the sound started cutting out after short periods of use.  I thought maybe it was a tube problem and brought it in, and after several days at the store, they told me that it was an unrepairable problem and gave me a new one.  All well and good, but after seven months I am having the same problem with the new one and dropped it off yesterday for them to look at it again.  
I would love to be pissed off at somebody, but I wanted to make sure that it wasn't something that I had done wrong.  I always give it time to warm up before playing and cool down after.  It gets moved a lot, but always with the utmost care.  (This is not an made for playing in a living room, nor storing in a garage, so it's enevitably going to get moved)  I'm trying to take care of the amp as much as possible, am I missing something?
I'm also curious if anyone has heard of similar problems with the 300T.  These two units were within 4 serial numbers of each other.  Bad batch perhaps?  I'm just SO frustrated, and my confidence in Sunn (not to mention my local music shop) is pretty much shot right now.  Even if they replace it, how can I not worry about it breaking again 6 months down the road.  Any help would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks!

Offline Rocketboy

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Problems with the 300T?
« Reply #1 on: February 02, 2003, 05:57:19 am »
Peabo -

Man that sucks.  No problem should be "unrepairable".  After all, it's really just a sophisticated toaster.  I have had my 300T for just a little over two years now, and it has worked great.  My 300T also gets moved a lot.

When the sound cuts out, do the tube-status LED's mounted on the rear portion of the chassis change color?  Sorry to ask, but are you using real speaker cable (AWG16 or heavier) between the head and the cab(s)?  Also, if using one cabinet, are you using the MAIN speaker jack all the time?  If you use the effects loop, are all your cables airtight?  Is your speaker cabinet functioning properly?  You may want to check any auxiliary contacts associated with the speaker output jacks.  Looking at the schematic (page 3 of 4) it appears J12 (the main speaker jack) has a shorting contact to ground (I suppose to protect the amp from no-load operation).  If that contact doesn't consistently open with the insertion of the plug, the exact problem you describe could happen.  It's worth a look.

Intermittant problems as you describe drive me crazy.  Maybe try another shop/tech.  Please don't be insulted by some of my questions.  I am the king of "oops".  After glossing through the 300T manual (which I really have read thoroughly) there are no other suggestions I can think of.  The bottom line is every amp is repairable (especially those which haven't been flattened by an earth mover).  Just for fun you could request assistance from Fender...Nah.  Good luck!
Heads up, everybody!