Lethe
Hi, once again my amp is making funny noises. I thought it was the tubes, but it's not. It makes a crackle crackle sound when I play at high volumes. Only at high volumes. Especially in distortion. More so when I play on the low e or a string... I thought it may be a connection issue, but prob not, since it would then also happen at low volumes. ☹ This makes me a sad panda. Broken speaker? ☹
Lethe
it's a peavey classic 30 btw.
matta
Define crackle? What are you hearing exactly?
Cheers
Matt
Lethe
hmmmm, strange... i plugged it in now at high volume and it was fine. played for 10 min and all was good. i decided since my ears were bleeding to turn it down a bit and as soon as i did, it started crackling. Kinda like a crackle that you hear when you use a tazer on them dodge folk. electro tazer things. pretty much identical. It's not the cable cause i tested all the ones i have. Currently the crackle only happens now and then. THe other day it wouldn't go away. ☹
Lethe
not as quick as a tazer though. only a couple of crackles when i hate a chord or so... ☹
TomCat
Hmmmmmmm....... Sounds like a dry solder joint somewhere or a component starting to fail as the amp warms up.
Does it only start to crackle after a while or has it ever done it from switch-on..
Matta...??
[deleted]
Lethe wrote
not as quick as a tazer though. only a couple of crackles when i hate a chord or so... ☹
Don't hate the chords, man... Hate the crackle, if you must.
Heath
could also be the pots that are dirty .... specially if the crackling comes then you turned down the volume . a few squirts of electrical spray will sort that out .
Lethe
yeah, it hasn't happened when i start the amp. only after a while... hmmm, grrrrrr!
TomCat
Lethe wrote
yeah, it hasn't happened when i start the amp. only after a while... hmmm, grrrrrr!
OK, I am not a Tube Amp Guru like Matta, but my electronic experience tells me that it seems to be something temperature related after the amp warms up.
matta
While I appreciate the Guru comment, I'm anything but ?
It does indeed seem like it could be dry joint or DC/dirt on the pots causing them to get a bit scratchy.
Dry joints are easy to find but since we are dealing with high voltages I DO NOT recommend you go probing around the amp, that is best left for a tech to go through.
You could try a squirt or 2 of a contact/electrical cleaner in the pots and work it in by twisting them side to side, but again this is best done from inside the amp and it contains LETHAL voltages... so anything you do will be at your own risk.
Alot of the time hiss and crackle are caused by bad/microphonic tubes and if you use a WOODEN chopstick (NON CONDUCTIVE!) to gentle tap the pre valves (remove the screens if they have them) and see if causes/stops the noise. Then you have a tap them a few times, do not connect your guitar, but make sure the amp is in on mode (i.e off standby) with the volume all the way up and then gently tap each valve, if it cause the crackle/hiss you can prob tap it a couple times and it will stop... this is SURE sign of a faulty preamp tube.... do this to your power tubes as well.
Give that this amp prob isn't that old, i.e less than 10-15 years I doubt it is cap related, though heat is the number one killer of electronics components.
I hope that helps!
Cheers
Matt
TomCat
While I appreciate the Guru comment, I'm anything but Tongue
@ Matta.
Regarding Tube amplifiers you are probably way more experienced than I am......so due respect is given.
Cheers
Manfred-Klose
Lethe
What year model is your classic 30?
A friend of mine bought a classic 30 2nd hand, and is now about 10 years old, the guy he bought it from installed a fan to cool it down, because as soon as the amp is getting to hot, it shorts out.
Some production mistake.
Dont know if it helps.
Lethe
sweet, thanks for the input guys! ? i guess i'll just have to take to an electrician or something. I'll try spraying that stuff.. how lethal can lethal be after all? lol ?
Sean
Lethe wrote
how lethal can lethal be after all? lol ?
If we don't hear from you again, we'll know the answer to that question ?
TomCat
Sean wrote
If we don't hear from you again, we'll know the answer to that question ?
Hmmmmmmmmm......... :-\
Lethe wrote
how lethal can lethal be after all? lol ?
Statistically................Terminal ? ?
Lethe
danger is my middle name...
TomCat
I once had a bad experience with 1000VDC (yes....1000VDC)
Might explain a few things....................... ??? ???
Lethe
TomCat wrote
I once had a bad experience with 1000VDC (yes....1000VDC)
Might explain a few things....................... ??? ???
is danger your middle name too?
Lethe
Tom Danger Cat?
