Is This Problem With My Amp?

[tfancil]

I just bought a brand new Peavey Classic 30 and a 112 16ohm extension cabinet. I'm plugging my guitar directly with the channel volumes around 3 and the EQ's at center,and a POD XT Live in the the FX loop. While I'm playing the guitar on the differnt channels and with different programs, I will get a big boost in midrange tone for a while and it will then dissapear. It's not like an effect and it doesn't have any pattern to it. It just comes in and out at different times.
Could this be a problem with my amp, or could it be the tubes, or something entirely different? It's freaking me out and driving me crazy!
Help,
tfancil:eek:

[John Phillips]

What effects are you using on the XT? If you're using anything with a lot of gain, it could be making the amp on the edge of being unstable (feeding back on itself) which can do things like that. Don't use any fuzz/overdrive/distortion effects in a loop.

If it's not that, it could be either a tube, or possibly a fault (like a bad solder joint) in the amp - something like a cathode bypass cap, possibly, which will change the midrange gain quite a bit if it's going bad, or badly connected.

[tfancil]

Originally posted by John Phillips
What effects are you using on the XT? If you're using anything with a lot of gain, it could be making the amp on the edge of being unstable (feeding back on itself) which can do things like that. Don't use any fuzz/overdrive/distortion effects in a loop.

If it's not that, it could be either a tube, or possibly a fault (like a bad solder joint) in the amp - something like a cathode bypass cap, possibly, which will change the midrange gain quite a bit if it's going bad, or badly connected.

Thanks for the info, but I think I foudn the problem. a couple of days ago I thought I could smell that funny electronic burning smell and last night I confirmed it! As the amp was sitting there with nothing plugged into it, I could see a small stream of smoke coming from the top of the amp, right around the EQ section! It goes back today!
Thanks again,
Troy

[tfancil]

The amp is on the way back to the store and my new amp is on the truck on the way to my house! Peavey and Bizarre Guitar fixed
my problem with a replacement sent 2nd day UPS. Thumbs up on both or their customer service practices!
tfancil