Help!! My Bass Amp Hums!

Clone Funk

New member
Am I just a fool or is a bass amp supposed to hum when you plug it in and get louder as you turn up the volume. I bought a Peavey TNT 130 off ebay and I can't stand this hum noise. Even when I'm not plugged in it hums. I called Guitar Center and asked about it but they were closing so the guy just said it might be something with my electricity. I don't want to believe I bought a lemon cuz all my ebay experiences have been good so far. What's up with this amp?
 
Re: Help!! My Bass Amp Hums!

It does but no matter what switch I put it on it hums. The switch has a 0, a +, and a - and it hums on every one.
 
Re: Help!! My Bass Amp Hums!

Would it hurt to open up the chassis and spray a little electronics cleaner on the board and then let it dry?

*Edit*The stuff I used is called "contact cleaner" because it cleans on contact. Not the same stuff you use for your eyes.
 
Re: Help!! My Bass Amp Hums!

Ken said:
Would it hurt to open up the chassis and spray a little electronics cleaner on the board and then let it dry?

*Edit*The stuff I used is called "contact cleaner" because it cleans on contact. Not the same stuff you use for your eyes.
No it wouldn't...but it would if I did that and the amp still hummed.
 
Re: Help!! My Bass Amp Hums!

when everyone else is out the house, turn off every TV, flourescent light and computer monitor around. then try the amp

if it still hums, you got yourself a grounding problem :dance:

my dsl401 screams when the lights downstairs are on, increasing reverb makes it much worse
 
Re: Help!! My Bass Amp Hums!

An amp that hums with no bass plugged in, even with the volume all the way down might have a problem with the filtering in its power supply. If you cannot idenitify this problem as suggested above, then you will need to get someone to look at it. It might be an inexpensive part to replace, but it will probably cost just to get it examined.
 
Re: Help!! My Bass Amp Hums!

Imp said:
when everyone else is out the house, turn off every TV, flourescent light and computer monitor around. then try the amp

if it still hums, you got yourself a grounding problem :dance:

my dsl401 screams when the lights downstairs are on, increasing reverb makes it much worse

Also try taking it to a friends place and see if it does it there, try a different outlet, get a surge protector/power filter and power it off of that. If it's HUM it could be your cpas in your power supply, also if there is any leads in the amp that connect from one place to the other that can be moved around that might help, as having a wire laying next to the wrong thing can induce hum as well. Does it do it with different instruments (is it the bass itself), does it do it with nothing plugged into the input? Is your putlet wired promperly, Radio Shack sells a little diagnostic plug that tells you if eveything is wired correctly at the wall. These are all things to check.
 
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