My dad gave me his old Peavy session 400 amp about a year ago and I haven't touched it much. I got it out recently and it either plays fine for a while, then makes a loud cracking sound and the volume goes out. Sometimes it turns on but just doesn't make any sound. I must admit that I know practically nothing about electronics in general so I have no clue what is wrong. I did the basics, made sure it was plugged in, checked all of the connections on the inside and tried different cords or plugging my instrument into the other jack. I do not have a spare amp or speaker to try to isolate the problem.

Another thing I forgot to mention is that my father put in a Peavy Black Widow speaker, either the 15" or the 18". It used to work fine for him like this, and I had gotten a chance to use it a little before I started to have these problems.

Any suggestions or help any of you have would be much appreciated. Thank you!