The Amp Quits Agin -- Am I Missing Something?

I own a Bryston 4B-ST, and have a couple of suggestions for you:
1. Check the switch on the rear panel for the "Bridged/Individual" mode to be sure that you have not accidentally set it to "bridged" (which would cause the amp to operate in only one channel).
2. Check the fuses (under the panel next to the power cord connection).
3. If neither of the two steps above result in a "fix", then send an E-mail to James Tanner at Bryston. Go to Bryston's home page (www.bryston.ca), and at the bottom of the home page there is a link for technical questions. Tanner is terrific about providing fast answers to E-mails he receives.

If your amp does have an actual electrical problem, you can remove the non-functioning amplifier module for the dead channel and send only that module to Bryston for replacement or repair. Bryston will sometimes send you the replacement immediately while the module from your amp is in transit to Bryston's U.S. repair facility (in Vermont, as I recall).

Sounds like a plan. Many thanks. The thing's not set to bridged (yes, it was the first thing I checked, all the while asking myself how, sitting in a room by itself, it could have switched itself to bridged but checking it none the less). I'll have to have a gander at those fuses when I get home. I've corresponded with James Tanner before and there's no doubt about it, he's one of the good ones.

If a check of the fuses yields nothing, then I would try swapping the input leads from the preamp between channels, to make sure it's not an upstream problem. I would also swap your speaker leads to make sure the speaker on the dead channel didn't suffer damage, or that the speaker itself is not the problem. Good luck!

Ok, color me frustrated, but how do you get the stinkin' lid off of the thing to check the fuses in the first place? I've got star wrenches, allen wrenches, screw drivers of every stripe, not to mention a whole array of other assorted implements, and Bryston has to come up with yet another means of performing the simple task of screwing a lid on. Anyone know the name and size of this the latest single-use piece of equipment I need to find?

I think that piece of equipment is called a "crowbar"...
:-)