Brand New Axe Fx Volume issue :(

A

Austin772

New Member
Hey everyone! So I got my Axe Fx Ultra and ART SLA-2 power amp today to go through my old Marshall 1960AX cab with 25 watt greenbacks. Everything sounds great! One problem... Its super quiet no matter what I do! Quiet to the point where I can hear the actual guitar strings over the amplified sound :(. I'm just not sure whats wrong here! I am running an XLR cable from the ART's balanced channel 1 input into the Axe's left balanced output. With a speaker cable running from the ART's 1/4" jack next to the Channel 1 balanced input into my cab. Moving the poweramps knobs does nothing to the volume...

I am very confused and just want to enjoy my brand spankin new Axe Fx. I've tried almost everything I can think of. One thing I will say is the ART SLA 2 poweramp arrived with the "bridged" and "stereo" push pot seeming to be damaged. When it is pushed in its supposed to be bridged and when pushed out it is supposed to be stereo... yet when I push it it doesnt pop out :/ it just stays like it was pushed down. Please if anyone can offer any insight at all I would be SO grateful! Thank you!

-Austin
 
I would say try to separate the components and find where the problem is. If you can run the Axe through something else (monitors?), maybe run something else into the poweramp + cab (an ol' POD or whatever?), and if you've got a head/combo then try running that with the cab. Try different cables and whatnot too of course.

If the poweramp arrived somewhat damaged, I'd be inclined to look there first really.

Whatever it is, isolating where the problem is will let you focus on figuring out if that part of the chain is faulty or if you're just doing something wrong there.
 
>> With a speaker cable running from the ART's 1/4" jack next to the Channel 1 balanced input into my cab. Moving the poweramps knobs does nothing to the volume...

Sounds like you have your speakers connected to one of the ART's line level inputs.

You need to attach the speaker output binding posts.

See page 10 of the manual:
http://www.artproaudio.com/downloads/manuals/omsla2.pdf

BTW, most amps for guitar use 1/4 speaker outputs. The ART was design for studio use and requires either bare speaker wire or Banana plugs.
 
The SLA amps do not have 1/4" speaker output jacks.
They have binding posts.
You'll need either a bare wire to 1/4" adaptor or a banana plug to 1/4" adaptor.
The 1/4" connections on the SLA are channel inputs.

The bridge switch requires that you use something like a pencil tip to push it all the way in. I.e. It can't be done with just your finger tip.

The SLA should have come with a manual. If not you can dl it from their web site.
You should read it before you break your power amp or some other component of your system.
 
Agreed.

What you are doing is plugging your cab into the Arts 2nd input. Effectivley routing the Axe's output to the cab un-amplified (its acting like a pass through).

Unplug it.

You need to connect your cab to the binding posts as stated.

There are several ways of doing this - but the easiest to start with is to cut off one end of your speaker cable. Spread the 2 cores appart a little at the amp end. Bare the wires back, and screw the ends into the left (for left channel) Red and Black binding post.

I wouldnt worry about bridged for now - the SLA-2 will be fine in mono mode. If you need the extra headroom later, connect the cab to the 2 centre binding posts, and press the mini push button on the back of the art lablelled "bridge" to activate the mode. Dont turn the amp on without selecting bridge mode when connected in this way - you may damage the amp.
 
I wouldn't worry about the stereo switch either... I also thought that my SLA-2's stereo/bridge switch was broken, since I was pressing it but it didn't seem to do anything, (I thought that by pressing it, it should either pop out or in)... that is until I realized that I had to push it in with a pen or something and THEN it popped in and out... I guess they have designed it this way so that you can't accidentally press it with your fingers while in transport or in use... You can only press it with something like a pen that fits in...
Try it out, I think you'll see that nothing's broken...
 
Wow! Ok well don't I feel like an idiot right now haha. Jeeze. I think I'll go down to the store today and get a bannana plug to 1/4" today and see how that fairs! Thanks sooooo much guys. Once again I'm just so impressed with the community here! Even a total noob like me gets good honest responses to his questions and might I mention fast responses too! Thanks so much! I'll letchu guys know how it goes.

Also, good to know there is nothing wrong with the stereo switch on the art. Thanks again!
 
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