Katana Head Internal Speaker Replacement

[Idgolfguy]

Thought I'd get your opinions...

The internal speaker on my KAt HD is not working. I have not checked to see if the speaker is damaged as yet. I did a gig a cuple of weeks ago and the external speaker cable had popped out, there was an electrical burning smell when I lost sound - I wasn't sure if it was coming from my Behringer speakers or the Katana, .When I plugged the cable back in the cab worked.

I don't know what kind of overload protection there is on the amp. I'd be surprised if the speaker has failed. I don't use the internal speaker at all so I don't know when it stopped working. I only found out earlier this week when I was going to demo the amp at the store I bought my new speaker cab.

I connected the GAFC with expression pedals to see if that may have been the cause - the external cab works fine. I'm considering sending the amp for warranty work.

If the speaker is blown, I was thinking about replacing it with a different 5 inch driver that has a better bass response.

Any ideas?

[Elantric]

Katana Inside View
https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?topic=19475.0


The Katana internal 5" Speaker is a 8 ohm 40 watt Special Design type, and not cheap to replace

The Katana Head Speaker output is a switching type jack, designed to disconnect the internal 5" speaker.
IMPORTANT: when connecting an external  speaker cab, you must fully insert the Speaker Cable completely into the Katana Head 1/4" speaker out jack ,and NEVER ALLOW ANY METAL PORTION OF THE SPEAKER CABLE ( the 1/"4 plug TIP or Sleeve connection) to make contact with the Katana METAL CHASSIS- else damage and smoke occurs. 

The 30 watt Power amp for the internal 5" speaker shares a large portion of the power supply with the 100 watt main power amp.

My advice -
* Only use high quality speaker cable.

* (Never use a coax guitar cable for a speaker cable)   

Check if you qualify for warranty and get the amp serviced asap.

[Idgolfguy]

Thanks Elantric, reading this - thought it may be the case. Was going to do some trouble shooting first before I called support.

[admin]

CAUTION - If ANY Speaker (+) wire or (-) wire touch each other - or Chassis ground while powered ON -  - you fry the Katana Power amp

( BTW - this is true for ANY Solid State Power Amp, and many Tube Power Amps too.

[HAMERMAN409]

This is also true of the compact bass amps that use a B&O Icepower Class-D amp in the output section (Gallien-Krueger, Genz-Benz, Eden, Fender)

BTW: Using cables with Speakon connectors on both ends (where possible) essentially eliminates any risk of this happening.

[admin]

This is also true of the compact bass amps that use a B&O Icepower Class-D amp in the output section (Gallien-Krueger, Genz-Benz, Eden, Fender)

BTW: Using cables with Speakon connectors on both ends (where possible) essentially eliminates any risk of this happening.

Agreed -

I once played a gig in 1973 and we had to scramble to locate a spare speaker cable - could only locate one that had on one end a 1/4" phone plug with a broken missing plastic cover.

just before the 1st song - the drummer opened a can of Coca-Cola, with the old removable pull tabs,


and he flung the pull tab up the air, and as bad luck would have it, the aluminum pull tab landed on the open 1/4" plug conductors,and arc welded the solid state power amp in my 1973 EHX Mike Mathews Freedom amp that went up in smoke.

[Idgolfguy]

I had the issue of the internal speaker failing again.
Took it apart and the speaker tested fine.

The speaker jack was the issue - the switch or leaf that changed the connection path f Om internal to external didn't work.

Bent it he leaf a little and it seems to have been fixed. I ordered a replacement pug and will replace it if the workaround fails again.

Been thinking about adding a second internal speaker... will check the speaker resistance and look at my options at some point.

Just have to decide on a suitable pair of speakers.

[SteveO]

The speaker jack was the issue - the switch or leaf that changed the connection path f Om internal to external didn't work.

Bent the leaf a little and it seems to have been fixed. I ordered a replacement pug and will replace it if the workaround fails again.

I know this thread isn't new but wanted to add that I just had the same problem with an MKII head. I took it apart and found the "leaf" switch wasn't making contact when there was no speaker connected. I also wound up bending it back into a working shape because I didn't have a PCB mount jack in my spare jacks bin. Would have rather replaced it while I had it apart, oh well. It's working again for now.

Edit: I wound up needing to replace the speaker jack.