Emergency!

[timorousme]

What the heck is causing my amp to make this sound?

It's a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe. I've had it for a couple of years, brand spankin' new and have had zero issues with this amp until today. Tubes look good to my knowledge, but I have a feeling it might be the issue.

As much of a gear head I am, I know nothing of how to deal with technical issues or what causes them.

Here is an mp3 of the sound in question.

http://www.geocities.com/tim0r0usme/ampsound.mp3

Help me.

 

[Hoss]

Re: Emergency!

do you have any spare tubes...to swap out and troubleshoot with?

 

[WoodyTone]

Re: Emergency!

+1, and we are summing you didn't leave it out in the rain, spill a beer into it, etc?

do you have any spare tubes...to swap out and troubleshoot with?

 

[timorousme]

Re: Emergency!

I don't have any tubes at the moment, unfortunately.

I take absurdly good care of it, so it's nothing like that.

The only thing that I can think of is that it did just take an hour-long car ride the other day, so maybe something got rattled up?

I really have no clue.

 

[Low_fidelity2100]

Re: Emergency!

I dunno what kinda retainer those amps have for the tubes, but...I kept hearing a weird noise like that coming outta my friend's twin awhile back. We were both totally confused as to what the hell could be making the noise...an then he mentioned he'd replaced the little fender style clip retainers on the power tubes, with those spring retainers that go over the top of the tube. After lifting the retainers off the tubes, the noise stopped. So it turned out to be the springs on the retainer.

I have the spring style retainers on the tubes in my Concert, an never had any weird noises like that. But that noise sounds EXACTLY like the noise he was getting through his twin.
All we did to get the noise to stop was wrap the springs with a little bit of Teflon plumbers tape (the kind thats not sticky), so he could still use the retainers, but get rid of the noise.

 

[tone4days]

Re: Emergency!

All we did to get the noise to stop was wrap the springs with a little bit of Teflon plumbers tape (the kind thats not sticky), so he could still use the retainers, but get rid of the noise.

hmmm, mightve stopped the noise, but i am not sure i'd want teflon tape next to a red hot tube

 

[glassman]

Re: Emergency!

Pull your reverb tank...four phillips head screws and no voltage to contend with. I think you may find a loose spring in there. If that's not the case, the recovery transducer may be the cause of this sound.

Turn your reverb all the way down...if the sound goes away, the reverb tank is the likely culprit.

The sound on the wave file doesn't sound like a tube issue.

 

[timorousme]

Re: Emergency!

Well, based on what has been said, the culprit sounds like a spring somewhere.

I turned the reverb down all the way, and the sound actually became even more noticeable.

It's still under warranty, I just need to find all of the papers and whatnot. Should I just have Fender look at it?

 

[glassman]

Re: Emergency!

definitely!

a warranty is a beautiful thing...