8-String Guitar damaged Amp

[Chuggahnaut]

Greetings,

i recently bought an Schecter Omen 8 guitar with EMG 808x Pickups. As i received it, i installed the PUs and started playing it on my 1 and a half years-old VOX VT15 Amp.
Everything seemed to be okay and working as intended but after a couple hours my bass tones got real muddy which stayed the same after i plugged my Epiphone Les Paul Standard in.

I was just wondering if anyone had a similar problem once or knows if it's the low frequencies of the 8-String, maybe a wiring fault or just the simple usage of the amp that caused this problem.

It was my first time installing active pickups but as everything, even the toggle switch which i had to solder, worked as intended i doubt it could be a fault with the wiring.

I would be grateful for every hint.



Best regards

 

[Konfyouzd]

If you play different guitars through the amp do you still notice the problem?

 

[Chuggahnaut]

As I stated, the problem was still noticable when i played my Epiphone 6-String. Especially the deeper notes and Powerchords are muddy and sound like shit.

 

[ibanezcollector]

the low notes of the 8 has nothing to do with it, something went wrong somewhere I can plug a bass into a amp and not have issues besides it sounding like shit.

 

[Konfyouzd]

Maybe your amp is just a lemon. I've never heard of anyone else ruining an amp with an 8 string before... Also... Is your intonation off? Are you falling out of tune at all?

 

[XEN]

Did you use the 25k Ohm pots with those EMGs? And did you remove the bridge ground wire?

 

[toecutter]

If your speakers are old and shitty you can damage the cones. If that's the case they needed to be changed out along time ago. Probably just a coincidence though.

 

[Chuggahnaut]

Did you use the 25k Ohm pots with those EMGs? And did you remove the bridge ground wire?

I used the complete set that EMG sent with the Pickups. I just grounded the grounding-wire of the toggle switch by wiring it into that buss thing that is used for the switches.

And my Amp is 1 and a half years old

 

[Konfyouzd]

Can you look at the speaker cones and identify a tear?

 

[Diggy]

? I'm no tech.. but, in theory at the very least, it does seem possible to "flub" your speakers enough to mess them up if you dont treat the amp like you are introducing new frequencies to it. An 8 string is a different instrument than a 6 or 7. If its not possible, I'd like to hear from an experienced amp tech as to why this isnt. ?

 

[Konfyouzd]

If the speakers are damaged it's usually visible in some kind of way. Any time I've ever damaged a speaker I've been able to look at the cone and visually identify the problem. Further, any time this has been the case it's been a result of my trying to put too much power through the speakers as opposed to me simply giving it the wrong frequencies. Seems to me if the frequencies were beyond the amp's capabilities it'd simply not be able to produce them accurately not just destroy the speaker. It's not like he was sending 808 bass hits through it.

 

[Chuggahnaut]

The amp is currently at the house of my girlfried but i'll go there later and check the speaker as well as the tubes and the wiring of my EMGs.

Thanks for the help so far, it's much appreciated.

 

[Diggy]

^I can agree to some extent.. but maybe the problem is

any time this has been the case it's been a result of my trying to put too much power through the speakers as opposed to me simply giving it the wrong frequencies.

pushing too much power while introducing lower frequencies.. guitar speakers are guitar speakers

It's possible Chuggernaut tried to treat the amp as if he were playing his other guitars thru it and the speaker was trying to say "hey bud, you need to chill on the output"..?

Woops, sorry for the bad spelling Chuggahnaut

 

[ibanezcollector]

guitar speakers can handle bass freq albeit they dont have the excursion properties of a bass speaker they can handle it.

I can guarantee its not because of the lower notes. Something else is wrong in the equation.

 

[Chuggahnaut]

I was really chill on the output and keeping the fact in mind that it's an eightstring, i turned the bass down to 9 o' clock. The Gain was set at approx 13 o' clock and mids were turned on full.

 

[toecutter]

One other thing, you could just try re-seating your tubes. Lower frequencies vibrate the hell out of my amp when I hit low notes. Good to check the simple things before you take it to an amp tech.

 

[Thrashman]

EMG pickups should not be grounded. Remove the ground wire.

 

[Baelzebeard]

I hope I don't need my flame suit, but here goes.

I don't think some of you guys give enough credit to the low F# for low frequency energy, and too much credit to cheap little chinese speakers like the VOX is packing,(an 8" no less). Especially with distortion running, all the harmonics mask the lows, but they are still there, heating up the voicecoil, and trying to move the speaker cone back and forth.

Speakers can fail in two different ways:
Mechanically, ie. when something tears, etc.
Or electrically, when the voice coil overheats. This causes either a short or open in the coil, or deforms the coil or former, which will usually cause some audible distortion(scratchy).

When a speaker heats up, the impedance will change, and if an amplifier is sensitive to this, it could damage an amp.

Either way, a "blown" speaker would probably make a godawful flapping, farting scratchy sound, or not work entirely. It sounds like something could have went sideways with the amp.

Sorry you're having troubles, but sometimes things just break. If you want to try to troubleshoot it, and If you can get to the speaker cone, you could check for visible damage, and push gently on the cone,(not the dust cap in the middle) and listen and feel for a rough sensation, or audible scratching. The easiest solution may be to replace the speaker. If it still sounds poopy, it's the amp. If you don't want so throw any money at it then it sounds like the perfect time to upgrade. I wouldn't expect an 8" guitar speaker to do an 8 string justice anyway.