The first step to
take when you
think there’s
something wrong
with your amp is
to make sure it’s
actually the amp
that’s faulty.
mono adapter (which costs approximately
$2 street) and another speaker cable to
connect the internal speaker to your
backup power amp. (Note: Because most
cable adapters, whether male-to-female
or female-to-female, aren’t up to the same
specs as quality speaker cable, you should
only resort to using them for short periods
such as during an emergency onstage meltdown.) All of the aforementioned options
are light, portable solutions that can be kept
on hand with minimal inconvenience so
you can do a quick swap and troubleshoot
your main amp during a break or after your
gig—when you’re not under performance
pressure. That’s much more expedient than
troubleshooting onstage—and it will keep
your bandmates and audience happy.
If your tube combo dies on a gig, a pint-sized solid-state head like the Orange Micro
Terror or a small, mic-able solid-state amp such as the Roland CUBE-80XL—perhaps
paired with your favorite overdrive/distortion pedal—will get you through the gig and
avoid the embarrassment of cancelling mid-show.
Stompbox-sized amps like the
Electro-Harmonix Caliber 22
and Diago Little Smasher are an
easy-as-pie lifesaver when your
tube amp melts down on the go.
head ($149 street) or a Roland CUBE-
80XL combo ($379 street) and an overdrive
pedal will do—and if the volume isn’t rag-
ing, you can just mic the cab. Or, if most
of your tone shaping comes from pedals
and outboard gear, something like the
überportable Electro-Harmonix Magnum
44 ($150 street) or Diago Little Smasher
($190 street) can be a godsend—even if
you still need to mic your cab. With most
tube combos, you can use a 1/4" male-to-
female speaker cable or female-to-female
Troubleshooting After the Gig
Now let’s move on to actual first-aid measures. It goes without saying, that if you
think your amp may have issues, it’s probably either because it doesn’t sound right
or isn’t making sound at all. Although it’s a
bummer to deal with this at all, hopefully it
happens at home or during a rehearsal, so it
doesn’t interrupt a gig.
The first step to take when you think
there’s something wrong with your amp is to
make sure it’s actually the amp that’s faulty.
To do so, first, plug directly into your amp,
bypassing any pedals or effects gear. If the
amp functions properly, look elsewhere in
the signal chain to pinpoint the problem. If
it still won’t work, try a different 1/4" cable,
and if that doesn’t fix the problem, use a
