sunn beta lead too quiet

[jues]

hey guys,
as you can read my beta lead is much too quiet.
i bought it on eBay half a year ago it's probably built out from a combo version. but i had no loud speaker to it.
so i ordered a hiwatt m412 and it arrived today. so, then i plugged everything in right. because the beta lead is set to 4 ohm. so i use the hiwatt at mono with 16 ohm thereby it equalises out to 4ohm. in order to not lose any power. hope I'm doing it right.

so the speaker box is plugged into the "master accessory master line out" . is that even right?

turning the equalizer to five and everything else except the master volume to zero.
now i turn it up careful not to blow out my windows but it just stays quiet. like room volume. it's just not getting loud.

if i plug it into there where it say "speakers" it's even quieter.

what could be the problem?
this is the hiwatt m412 and his properties:
http://www.guitarcentralshop.co.uk/HIWATT_m412_speaker_cab_p/m412.htm

hope you guys can help.
thanks in advance!

[EdBass]

Did you say the cabinet is set to 16 ohms? If it is, that could be the problem, or at least part of the problem. The cabinet should be set to 4 ohms.

[jues]

no .. uhm... look!
the hiwatt m412 is able to choose between stereo or mono. it's quite hard for me to tell because i'm german.
 
i can plug it in with mono at 4 or 16 ohm
or stereo at 8 and 8 ohm.

oh, and its getting hot pretty fast at the back top. after 2 minutes its like pretty hot.

here is a link to the hiwatt maxwatt m412:

http://www.gak.co.uk/en/hiwatt-maxwatt-m412/27064

[george]

You must plug/connect the speaker into the jack labled "Speaker - 4 ohms 100W Max"

Find someone who can help you measure the impedance (resistance) of your speaker cabinet with a digital multi meter (DMM).

You should see a reading near 4 ohms (3.2, etc).

Does the amp get hot when you have the speaker cabinet plugged into the "speaker" jack? Does the amp get hot when no speaker is connected?

[jues]

hey guys,
i've just tried to find out if its getting hot with or without a speaker. and it only gets hot when the speaker is connected. if not it stays cool.
so now what does that mean?

i can choose between 4 ohms and 16 ohm at the back of the speaker.
and have it placed at 4 ohm.

i will upload some pics later.
thank you all the same.

[jues]

okay now here is the current setting of the amp to the speaker.

the picture with my hand shows the power plug of the sunn beta lead. you should notice that the ground wire pin is broken off. i received the amp that way.
the other device is a voltage converter where i run the sunn beta lead through because of the difference of the power supply in each country. i have to get the german 230 Volt to the beta leads 120 volt.

okay the other pictures show the back of the hiwatt speaker box with the stereo/mono switch and impedance switch.

just for you guys to understand better.

is the sunn beta lead maybe a stereo amp? so that i have to plug in both speaker cables into the speaker and amp?

i have no effin clue.

thanks again in advance. please help. i'm going crazy here.

[shibbz]

That looks correct. You could try another speaker cable just in case, but it sounds like the amp is drawing too much current, and is likely leaking DC in the output. If so this can damage you speakers!
I bought a Beta amp recently that had very little output. I believe it had some shorted drivers and output transistors. It wasn't cheap to have fixed but it was worth it. Sweet amps!

[jues]

anyone else an idea? i tried another speaker cable but just the same. my local music store here could not help me either.
they said it would be much too expensive to send it to fender and have em check everything because they only move their A**es if they see enough money.

i don't know what the hell i can do.

[EdBass]

What you need to do is get it to a repair tech in your area. There has to be a repair facility somewhere close to you, the last place that amp needs to go is to Fender, they had nothing to do with the Beta series gear.
Search for member "Oli", I don't know how near to you he is, but he does live in Germany. Maybe he can point you towards some help.

[george]

where does the amp get hot? top, back panel, bottom of chassis??

[jues]

it's getting hot right at the back topside of the chassis around the middle. or may i say around the tail end of the top. you should know what i mean now.


so it's definitely not wrong connected to the speaker? or anything else?
i'll try to reach that Oli.

but i would still be thankfull for other suggestions.

@ shibbz: what do you mean with "drawing too much current"? you mean like it's getting too much
juice? is that maybe because of that voltage converter? i don't know. at the output is written "110V 300W". and it also says it's a "AC/AC convertor"
i defintely don't wanna damage the speaker.

thanks again.

[george]

Was the amp sold as a working unit? It sounds like the output transistors - or at least some of them - are getting hot. So when you connect the loudspeakers the amplifier starts to draw current and the output transistors get hot -  assume they are damaged. Probably not a major amount of work to repair - since you are not blowing a fuse at this point.

You should make sure the AC converter is also working correctly - 110-120V AC is what the amplifier needs from the converter

[jues]

yeah its been sold as used but working. i just hope this guy didn't prank me.
okay and because the transistors are damaged you mean that is why the amp is not getting loud and stays at speech volume, if anything... it is actually quieter than speech volume.  i mean if this is fixed you say that the amp will then work normal?

and yeah the volt converter gives 110V. thats whats written at the converters output.

anyone else an idea?

oh there was one thing that just came in my mind. what if the beta lead was in a 2 speaker combo? and what if the beta lead is just built for that? and not compatible with another 4x12 box?

[shibbz]

The Beta Series amps in the combo cabinets are exactly the same as the amps in the headcases.
It can definitely push some 4x12s. =)