Axe "crackle" repair cost

O

oldcrawler

Member
Hi all, Just got and axe 2 mark 1 off of ebay last week and I am blown away! The bad news is my unit has the Axe crackle. I have spent the week trying everything ( New cables, firmware updates, unit reset, different power amps, different guitars, cabs, headphones, everything unhooked, etc.) suggested to eliminate it and nothing works, not even restarting it anymore. So I assume this needs to be sent in for repair. Before I go through all of that I was wondering if anyone else has done this and about how much it costs? If it's hundreds and hundreds of dollars I guess I'm gonna have to open an ebay claim and try to get my 2 grand back? Thanks for your help.
 
I think you best include a recording here first.

Some crackles can be "dirty electricity" and other EMF around your house.
Did you try elsewhere?
 
if it's on the decay of some chords/notes with certain amps, it's part of the authenticity of the modeling...
 
'"dirty electricity" and other EMF' would these issues be corrected by a power conditioner? I assumed so. I will try this else where as well, but it was just looking for a repair estimate from someone that has had the unit repaired.
 
"if it's on the decay of some chords/notes with certain amps, it's part of the authenticity of the modeling... " Please say that's a joke? What amp models have this feature? Anyhow, it crackles all the time.
 
oldcrawler said:
'"dirty electricity" and other EMF' would these issues be corrected by a power conditioner?
Click to expand...
AFAIK, not so much by the common cheaper ones.
Stetzer filters could help (or at least for your health).

Stuff is also picked up by the guitar.
My PC radiates so much "stuff" that even my EMG pickups aren't noiseless anymore and I have to move far enough away from it (I also suspect my cable).
I used to think my Axe-Fx was faulty and crackling bad too. Then at a friend's studio it seemed perfect.
 
Well I opened a ticket with support, but I have also taken it out of the rack and I will be trying it at several other locations just to be sure. Thanks!
 
oldcrawler said:
Hi all, Just got and axe 2 mark 1 off of ebay last week and I am blown away! The bad news is my unit has the Axe crackle. I have spent the week trying everything ( New cables, firmware updates, unit reset, different power amps, different guitars, cabs, headphones, everything unhooked, etc.) suggested to eliminate it and nothing works, not even restarting it anymore. So I assume this needs to be sent in for repair. Before I go through all of that I was wondering if anyone else has done this and about how much it costs? If it's hundreds and hundreds of dollars I guess I'm gonna have to open an ebay claim and try to get my 2 grand back? Thanks for your help.
Click to expand...
first thing you need to do is try another power source.. in you location first. If it persists, take it somewhere else.. not on the same block. If it persists, try a third location.
 
I hope you don't have what I had! I had a snap-crackle-pop (you can search my posts) that *was not* my local environment nor was it related to the Mac issues (PC user). I was fortunate that Fractal covered mine under warranty, so I can't tell you how much the repair cost. What I can say is that there is a failure mechanism that can cause what you describe, but there's no way of knowing if you have what I had. The other problem is that, depending where you are, shipping back and forth with $2K insurance can be really expensive. Been there, done that.

Hope it works out to be a minor fix you can discover...
 
I just tried it in the kitchen with a passive pick-up guitar and it was still there. Gonna bring it to the practice space next. Seems to be a little more intermittent again, happening when I switch a patch now, where as before it was at the tail constantly. I will report back later. Thanks again for all your suggestions and help.
 
Hate to say it, but I imagine this is why it was on ebay...
mellow.gif
 
oldcrawler said:
"if it's on the decay of some chords/notes with certain amps, it's part of the authenticity of the modeling... " Please say that's a joke? What amp models have this feature? Anyhow, it crackles all the time.
Click to expand...

no it's not a joke. some amps have a fizz/faint crackle on the decay of some notes/chords because that's how the original amps behave. it's now obvious that it's not what you are describing with your unit, just wanted to rule it out.
 
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Make a recording, is a solid way to get help. Saying something crackles it could be many things, some of which is normal, some are not. No way for any of us to know if you don't know yourself unless you share with us the recording of it doing it:)
 
I had a Dual Recto, first model. Crackled on the decay. Couldn't let notes fade cause it would annoy the hell out of me. Spent hudreds to see if it could be modded out. Didn't work. It is one of the things I could live without having it modeled perfectly... At least in the Axe upping Power Bias keeps a handle on it. Can't do that on a real Recto.

But! I had crackle on output1 of my Ultra once, apparently there are diodes against MF that could be blown with phantom power from a mixer. Mine was also fixed for free by G66 even though it was out of warranty, because it was a known issue and an engineering oversight. Still, that specific issue shouldn't be possible anymore on the II.
 
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