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So I was creating some drum machine cymbal-sounds with my ms20 mini at a low level: ms20 was at "5" and my Polytone solid-state amp was at "2" when the amp just stopped working. I was messing with the "peak" knob on the LP filter.

Is this a common problem...?

Doesn't seem normal. I'm really hoping that the previous owner of my ms20 didn't do any frankenstein mods to it...

I assume that you have switched everything off & tried the amp again with something else. What's the power handling of the amp ?

Just check everything starting with the synth (Is it working ?) Try the amp with a guitar or something. I know what i think it sounds like but without more info it's hard to be conclusive.

Without having been there it's hard to judge. On the one hand, a keyboard output is much stronger than a guitar output and the MS20's filter resonance can be particularly strong. On the other hand, your levels were seemingly pretty low, so it could be a fluke.

I would say that an MS20 COULD probably blow up many a guitar amp's input. Whether it did in this case seems unlikely, or if it did perhaps the preamp was already weak. Are we talking tubes here?

I haven't had that problem, but I'm pretty damn certain my ms20 mini is the main reason why I now need to replace the speakers in my bass cab.
I'm fully aware that this is entirely my fault-_-

Well - when I started messing around with synths I have been warned by experienced musicians that especially analogue synths have some potential to generate unexpected high peaks at higher resonance levels. Those peaks would be dangerous enough for my ears, amplifiers, and loudspeakers to cause serious damage.

Technically speaking this is called a "resonance catastrophe". So first rule was to turn down the volume of the synth, when experimenting with the VCFs. I think, this is still true doday.

Yah, I'm pretty sure this is what got me. That, high volume, and low frequencies.
That'll learn me...

Thank you all for the responses/tips.

Duly noted!

I've played my ms-20 mini for some hours with an iphone headphone and, in a morerate level, almost destroyed my ears. You should adjust volume very low or zero before performing to avoid peak. People use pre-amps for guitar probably because need an extra gain before connecting to other gear. Take care.