Opening a Spider Jam

  1. Switch off the amp. Remove the power lead. Switch it on again. This helps to dissipate any current left in the capacitors. Leave it 'on' for fifteen minutes or so and then switch off again.
  2. Look inside the back of the amp and make a note or drawing of the speaker connections. You are going to have to disconnect these by gently wiggling the connectors from side to side. Do NOT wiggle from front to back or you will break the tags off. The tweeter has two different sizes of connectors so you can't make a mistake there when you put it back together but the 12” speaker could go back together wrongly and out of phase so it is essential to note which colour of wire goes to which terminal. Remove all four speaker wires.
 
On my amp, the 12" speaker wires are white and brown with the brown wire nearest to the RCA sockets. The tweeter wires are red and black.
speakers
  1. The chassis is held in place with six large cross-headed screws. Four on the top and one on each side. Make sure you identify which screw came from which position.
  2. Before you can disassemble the amp, you have to pull of the large silver knob on top. It is quite hard to get off. Try wrapping some sticky tape around it to give something to pull on. Pull straight upwards with two hands and a slight wiggle. Don't break your fingernails!
  3. With the wrong tools, the painted crosshead screws can easily become chipped and let the silver metal underneath show through. To avoid this, you have to start with exactly the correct cross-head screwdrivers for the logo plate screws and chassis screws. If you use the wrong sizes, i.e. not a tight fit, you will visibly damage the screw heads.
  4. A small piece of polythene sheeting put over the screwdriver head softens the contact and avoid scratching.
  5. Remove the LINE6 logo on the front of the amp. This clips over the chassis front edge so you have to remove it carefully.
  6. It is not necessary to remove the baffle retaining screws (side front) or any other screws on the amp other than the six mentioned.
  7. Under each screw head is a large metal washer. It is best to keep each washer with its original screw. There is a slight indent in the Tolex covering caused by these washers and you need to make sure that the washer fits back into its indents correctly when reassembling the amp.
  8. Remove the chassis retaining screws in the following order...
 
opening
  1. Remove screws 4 to 8 marked in red in that order with the amp standing upright on its feet.
  2. Turn the amp on its left side with the screw 9 (marked in blue) uppermost and remove this. Having the amp on its side at this stage avoids the heavy chassis dropping down and causing damage.
 
The chassis fits quite tightly into the cabinet and hooks over the front slightly. Tilting it down like this avoids snagging controls and internal wiring on the case. Be careful not to tear the screening foil that lines the top part of the case case with the sharp edges of the chassis.
chassis removal
  1. To remove the chassis, tilt it downwards at the back and pull it outwards gently. It is quite a tight fit and you have to avoid damaging any knobs.

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