H
Hamilton
New member
Hey guys....
Haven't posted in a few months; I've been quite busy ever since getting my Herbert in August!
I recorded an album with it in August/September and it sounded GREAT. However, I've recently had some real problems with it. For anyone willing to read a few paragraphs of rambling, I'd love some help/advice!
In December, I took the Herbert out on tour for the first time. And unfortunately, the amp gave me problems every single night. It's strange...about 20 minutes into our set each evening, the amp would sporadically start cutting in and out of volume. There would be massive volume dips -- the amp was still audible, but there were very sudden cuts in volume which would last for just a few seconds at a time. It almost sounded like the batteries were dying in my pick-ups (which they were NOT I assure you).
This happened 3 nights in a row -- very embarrassing -- before I decided to change EVERY element of my signal path. I spent $250 on new Mogami cables, I bought a brand new noise suppressor, I removed my tuner and volume pedal from my main signal path and put them in my effects loop (so that I could isolate the signal and make sure it wasn't involving a pedal). I tried 3 different guitars, new speaker cables, and even borrowed another band's cabs...but the problem continued to happen each night, despite the variables. I changed every element of my rig EXCEPT the amp, so I'm sure that's the problem.
However, what's even more frustrating is that when I'd warm up before our shows, there were no problems. I plugged the amp in once and played it for 40 minutes straight without any noticeable difficulties. Several night, I tried turning it on an hour before our set time in hopes that would help, but it didn't. I tried the opposite, waiting until 3 minutes before we played before powering it up, but that didn't change things either. I thought maybe there was an issue with the amp getting "hot", as the problems only seem to start 5 or 6 songs into our set (how bizarre?).
Woerst of all, I took it to an amp tech who I know and trust, and he claims that all the tubes were working perfectly...he tested them all. He claims he ran the amp for a few hours with no issues.
I'm terrified that my only option is to send it out to Salwender (quite pricey, as I'm on the East coast), and that they won't be able to find anything wrong with the amp! But really, this problem is driving me crazy...I've spent a lot of money and time revamping my setup to make sure that nothing else could be wrong...I know it's the amp!
As further proof, as soon as I switched amps halfway through tour (I begrudgingly started using my Peavey 5150II instead, an amp I've grown to HATE after buying the beautiful Herbert), I didn't have any problems at all. The 10 nights I used the Herbert, I had some form of volume/signal issue every night to varying degrees...sometimes it would last only for 10 or so seconds in a few songs...other nights the problem was so audible that we had to cut our set short due to equipment instability.
However, as soon as I switched to the Peavey, I had 8 straight nights with no problems of any sort. Sigh.
I hate to say this on this forum, but why is it that the first amp I've owned to ever give me problems on tour was the one that cost 4x times more than the others I own? I am still a Diezel fanatic (just encouraged a friend to buy one last week), but as a poor-ass musician who spent half a year's savings on this, I have to say it's quite frustrating to have this happen after all of that work + penny-pinching. This was the biggest tour my band has ever been on, too...and for all the work we've done to come off as "professional" as possible, and all of the money we've spent to have the best live sound we can manage, it's embarassing to have consistent equipment issues with 600-900 people watching!
I'm sure this will get resolved...but in the meantime, does anyone have any advice? Have any of you experienced a similar issue with their Herbie?
Haven't posted in a few months; I've been quite busy ever since getting my Herbert in August!
I recorded an album with it in August/September and it sounded GREAT. However, I've recently had some real problems with it. For anyone willing to read a few paragraphs of rambling, I'd love some help/advice!
In December, I took the Herbert out on tour for the first time. And unfortunately, the amp gave me problems every single night. It's strange...about 20 minutes into our set each evening, the amp would sporadically start cutting in and out of volume. There would be massive volume dips -- the amp was still audible, but there were very sudden cuts in volume which would last for just a few seconds at a time. It almost sounded like the batteries were dying in my pick-ups (which they were NOT I assure you).
This happened 3 nights in a row -- very embarrassing -- before I decided to change EVERY element of my signal path. I spent $250 on new Mogami cables, I bought a brand new noise suppressor, I removed my tuner and volume pedal from my main signal path and put them in my effects loop (so that I could isolate the signal and make sure it wasn't involving a pedal). I tried 3 different guitars, new speaker cables, and even borrowed another band's cabs...but the problem continued to happen each night, despite the variables. I changed every element of my rig EXCEPT the amp, so I'm sure that's the problem.
However, what's even more frustrating is that when I'd warm up before our shows, there were no problems. I plugged the amp in once and played it for 40 minutes straight without any noticeable difficulties. Several night, I tried turning it on an hour before our set time in hopes that would help, but it didn't. I tried the opposite, waiting until 3 minutes before we played before powering it up, but that didn't change things either. I thought maybe there was an issue with the amp getting "hot", as the problems only seem to start 5 or 6 songs into our set (how bizarre?).
Woerst of all, I took it to an amp tech who I know and trust, and he claims that all the tubes were working perfectly...he tested them all. He claims he ran the amp for a few hours with no issues.
I'm terrified that my only option is to send it out to Salwender (quite pricey, as I'm on the East coast), and that they won't be able to find anything wrong with the amp! But really, this problem is driving me crazy...I've spent a lot of money and time revamping my setup to make sure that nothing else could be wrong...I know it's the amp!
As further proof, as soon as I switched amps halfway through tour (I begrudgingly started using my Peavey 5150II instead, an amp I've grown to HATE after buying the beautiful Herbert), I didn't have any problems at all. The 10 nights I used the Herbert, I had some form of volume/signal issue every night to varying degrees...sometimes it would last only for 10 or so seconds in a few songs...other nights the problem was so audible that we had to cut our set short due to equipment instability.
However, as soon as I switched to the Peavey, I had 8 straight nights with no problems of any sort. Sigh.
I hate to say this on this forum, but why is it that the first amp I've owned to ever give me problems on tour was the one that cost 4x times more than the others I own? I am still a Diezel fanatic (just encouraged a friend to buy one last week), but as a poor-ass musician who spent half a year's savings on this, I have to say it's quite frustrating to have this happen after all of that work + penny-pinching. This was the biggest tour my band has ever been on, too...and for all the work we've done to come off as "professional" as possible, and all of the money we've spent to have the best live sound we can manage, it's embarassing to have consistent equipment issues with 600-900 people watching!
I'm sure this will get resolved...but in the meantime, does anyone have any advice? Have any of you experienced a similar issue with their Herbie?
