sunn betalead cab plays, but not nearly loud enough

[jakehorton]

hey guys new to the for and was wondering if anyone could help me out.   I have a sun betalead amp that doesn't play as loud as it should.  it plays quietly.  i got it in trade this way,  id say that the 10 sounds like a 1.  i know almost nothing about electronics, but do work on cars and motorcycles and feel i can learn if pointed in the right direction.  So i opened up the head and looked around to see if anything noticeable was going on such as something burned out.  i found nothing though.  has this happened to anyone and know if maybe its a bad transformer or something?  thanks for any leads.

[stanner]

>Get thee to a tech<

[jakehorton]

yes, but if its an easy fix i can do it. isnt that what forums are for?  i imagine there has to be a tech on here.  i notice that most replies on electric problems the response is see a tech.  thats a given...  i dont have all the cash in the world and am busy with school as well.  on my motorcycle forum people are willing to help and share.  its a community of great people.  this is a slow forum though so maybe ill check else where.  thanks.

[EdBass]

There are a lot of things that could cause the issue and diagnosing your specific issue via an internet forum is difficult at best, completely impossible at worst. Good forum advice is generally the advice that best helps you solve your problem, and finding a good tech and paying for a professional estimate is usually the best idea.
You admit you have almost no knowledge about electronics; I doubt you will find a forum that will first train you how to troubleshoot an amp and then lead you through the diagnostic procedure.

Best of luck though, and I hope you get that freebie help you are looking for. Be careful of those big capacitors though, they can hold dangerous voltages even with the amp unplugged!

 

[Isaac]

Jake, Ed's comments are spot on, but I'll try to help you narrow things down a bit.

Take known good amp amp that has a preamp out and power amp in and run the preamp out from the good amp to the power amp in of the Beta, then power the speaker(s) from the Beta. Is the volume good? If so, the problem is in the Beta preamp, which I think is most likely anyway. More things to go wrong there. Next, reverse it, so that the Beta preamp feeds the power amp of the good amp, which then feeds the speaker. Is the volume good? If so, then the Beta preamp is working properly.

Keep in mind that there are several possible locations for the fault. The input could be bad, the preamp, the wiring connecting the preamp to the power amp (external or internal), the power amp, the wiring connecting the power amp to the speaker, and the speaker. It's important to change only one thing at a time, so far as possible, so that you know what causes a change when something does change.

[jakehorton]

all i was saying that im not going to admit im a electric guru, i rewire cars and motorcycles often.  and i am on a forum where people will do a step by step for you.  they love to share their knowledge.   thanks for the input.  ill mess with the amp and see where it leads.  i played with it a little last night i forgot to mention that it cuts in and out too.  ive clean and check all pods and input connects.  ill go over them once more though.   thanks!