hi. for some reason, when i play my guitar on my amp, it will be fine, then all of a sudden, the sound dies and goes really quiet, although i can still hear it quietly,you could say it sounds like its being suffocated. i can egt it back to normal, but i have to turn the speaker right up, and them it gives a really loud pop and is back normal again.

does anyone know or have any ideas as to what could be wrong?

any help would be really apreciated.

Maybe the speaker gets stuck when it plays too loud. I know nothing about this, but it would be funny if true/possible. The black fabric kinda stuff is what I mean. Maybe it keeps shape after a too loud sound?

Please give me that amp so I can donate it to my nagging gf with guitar but without an amp (actually thank god, but the nagging is worse, I'm not a music fan)

Quote from sgt.flippy :

Maybe the speaker gets stuck when it plays too loud. I know nothing about this, but it would be funny if true/possible. The black fabric kinda stuff is what I mean. Maybe it keeps shape after a too loud sound?

Please give me that amp so I can donate it to my nagging gf with guitar but without an amp (actually thank god, but the nagging is worse, I'm not a music fan)

lol, i have an old 12" speaker that doesnt work if its any help.

is it a proper guitar amp? if not, are you using a pre-amp?

can't say without more info, but it's possible you are overheating the amp.

What amp are you using? Head or combo? Anywhoo...

Solid state amps:
1) Check instrument (and possible speaker) cables and plugs for bad connections. Twist 'em and bend 'em. If you hear crackling or popping, replace them.
2) Check fuses.

Tube amps:
1) Check cables...
2) Look and test if the preamp or power tubes show signs of going bad (not warming, blueish tint or microphonic to light tapping with non-conducting object).
3) Check fuses.

Maybe one of the amp's knobs has a bad connection. Turn the full lock-to-lock couple of times and possible spray a tiny bit of [insert correct product] to clear dirt from the pots.

EDIT: SLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW!

Quote from spankmeyer :

[insert correct product]

Contact cleaner.

I've heard from my father that the old stuff that worked REALLY well was banned from the market (at least here in the US) due to massive concentrations of ozone-destroying chemicals.

hmm. cheers for the help guys. i dont think its over heating, but (i know it sounds stupid) the fact that my house is the coldest house in england affect it, cos i got an electric piano that i have trouble with during the winter, so i jus realised it could be that its too cold. and yes its a proper guitar amp. and by proper i mean it isnt one of those crappy little things with a 8" speaker you buy from argos. i mite one day invest in a marshell.

So is it tube or solid-state? Each type can suffer from completely different kinds of problems. I don't know, if it were me I'd probably check the cables and pots first if that was happening to me. Sounds fishy that it starts working when you play with the knobs.

Here this book is a great source. Even if there's nothing wrong with your gear it makes interesting reading

One other thing, is the guitar active or passive? When I got my first bass, I didn't know it was active and thought my amp had died, when really it was just the battery in the bass running out. If the guitar is active, change the battery.

I've played guitar for 16 years and I work at a guitarstore and I've experience alot of that...
It sounds to me that the amp might need some "oiling"... not quite sure what the word is in english but sometimes the volume controller needs a bit of oiling...

or maybe it's just a minor bug... hehe...
Am not 110% sure since I don't see it/hear it myself....


EDIT: if it's a tube amp, maybe one of the fuses are weakend/broken...

Check the lead(s) that you're using, I've binned a few already that were decked because the sound kept fading - wiggle the lead and its back.

Could be whats wrong with yours

Edit: Read the whole of the first post, ignore me! woops

Humm....I'm guessing it's probably dirt or grime inside one of the knobs(variable resistors), most likley the main volume one so.

It might be a bit hairy to dis-assemble the knobs, I can't recall what sort are in a Marshal, but generaly cheaper components are easyer to work with so you might need to replace(If this is the problem of course).
If you manage to open the resistors a clean along the contact strips with nail varnish remover should do the trick.

Check the lead output it could be loose or something.
Check your cables and leads for loose connections that can happen if the leads loose.
Also the lead input on ur guitar it could be coming out a bit.

It could also be a problem with the guitar's pickups. I have a faulty neck pickup on my Les Paul replica. I think it has a loose connection, and a quick slap sometimes fixes it (sometimes not, of course). As a result, I tend to only use the bridge pickup and that's fine.

The other alternative is that you're trying to use a volume too low for the amp. I use a lovely Marshall combo (102R for anyone who cares) and the sound is great. It uses a valve to get the right sound, but it's not a full valve amp. It really doesn't like low volumes. I've used it for gigs and it's so powerful it's still never been above 5.5. But below 1 the sound often just disappears.

But my guess would be the pickups, since that's almost exactly the description of what happens with my guitar. Try a different pickup, or wiggle the selector switch, see if that cures it. If it does, there's your problem.

lol ok cheers lad but its ok now. i post this thread late last year and i cant actually remember what i did. i think i just took it apart and cleaned it al out and messed around a bit. cheers though. lol