Orange Bass Head help.

James J · Post by **James J** » Tue Aug 13, 2013 1:01 am

Our bass player has a Orange Bass Terror(I Think) and it blew a fuse the other night at practice. He went and bought new fuses, that are supposed to be the same value, tried 2 different ones, and they blow instantly at power up. Does anybody have a rough idea of what may be happening? I feel bad for him because he's had the head over the warranty mark, and just went and bought a new cab, sans amp, etc to gig with. Any help would be much appreciated.

Sloan · Post by **Sloan** » Tue Aug 13, 2013 2:37 am

Most likely a blown power tube or power transistor, depending on if the amp has a tube or transistor power section.

Fuses are for protection, they blow to keep things from catching on fire, exploding, etc... They are never the problem.

James J · Post by **James J** » Tue Aug 13, 2013 2:49 am

Right. With these amps they don't have power tubes, but there is 2 12ax7's in there. I haven't opened it up yet for inspection. I normally work on Mesa's and Fender's, never have touched an Orange before. I did read that there was a bad batch of them in the year his was manufactured. He doesn't have alot of playing time on it, but of course it's out of the warranty period.

johnnyseven · Post by **johnnyseven** » Tue Aug 13, 2013 9:52 am

I'd contact Orange. Even if it's outside the warranty period, if it's a known issue they should be able to advise on how to fix it.

James J · Post by **James J** » Tue Aug 13, 2013 11:07 am

I emailed Orange, just waiting on a response now.... hopefully they will take care of it. He just joined the band too. :-/

Brandon W · Post by **Brandon W** » Tue Aug 13, 2013 1:09 pm

James J wrote:I emailed Orange, just waiting on a response now.... hopefully they will take care of it. He just joined the band too. :-/

Let me know if they help. I like to know first hand info on things like this because it helps me decide if i'll buy their product..Thanks

NickS · Post by **NickS** » Tue Aug 13, 2013 9:42 pm

Class D power stage. Probably a blown (short) transistor.

James J · Post by **James J** » Wed Aug 14, 2013 4:57 pm

After doing some research, I have found out that there was a bad batch of these in the year his was produced where the FET was going bad and causing main fuses to blow. Orange replied with a repair form.... So we are still in a wait and see pattern..

mkt3000 · Post by **mkt3000** » Wed Aug 14, 2013 5:15 pm

James J wrote:wait

You'll be waiting a while based on my experiences with Orange's US Customer Service.

James J · Post by **James J** » Thu Aug 15, 2013 1:33 am

I'm hoping not. We practiced last night at low volume and ran him direct through the PA. Sucked because the feel was so much different.

James J · Post by **James J** » Thu Aug 15, 2013 9:32 pm

Surprisingly quick response on the next email. They are sending a box and want to take a look at the head. They said it could be part of the line that was faulty, they aren't sure since the serial number doesn't match any they have previously seen this happen to. They didn't give a time frame on how long it will take for them to fix it though. :-/

James J · Post by **James J** » Thu Aug 29, 2013 12:28 am

Update! Orange had us ship the head back to them in Atlanta, they paid for shipping, fixed whatever was wrong with it, FREE OF CHARGE! Out of warranty no less. Only took them about a week and a half.

ekwatts · Post by **ekwatts** » Thu Aug 29, 2013 7:17 am

If the problem arose from a bad production batch then it should be free of charge (doesn't mean it always is, of course) but that's good news.

Sloan · Post by **Sloan** » Fri Aug 30, 2013 1:47 am

great!

mkt3000 · Post by **mkt3000** » Fri Aug 30, 2013 2:51 am

James J wrote:Update! Orange had us ship the head back to them in Atlanta, they paid for shipping, fixed whatever was wrong with it, FREE OF CHARGE! Out of warranty no less. Only took them about a week and a half.

Wow, good experience! It took them close to two months to get back to me.

James J · Post by **James J** » Fri Aug 30, 2013 3:47 am

Now bad news..... UPS delivered it today, and the box was destroyed looking. Aaron opened it up, and the entire front are where the knobs are was caved in. We contacted Orange immediately and they issued a return label and we shipped it back. They are going to send a brand new one out to us pronto. WTF!?!?!