holy smokes, what's wrong with my amp??!!

[esandes]

so i'm sitting there, wailing away, through my fender pro reverb. the power was switched to 1/4th, as usual...the reverb was on, as usual...then out of the blue..a random and intermittent buzzing started to occur. it's the kind of buzzing you hear when you unplug the cable and touch it to the metal around the guitar plug in.

so.......i turned off the reverb and the noise went away. it came back after i turned the reverb back on. then i turned the reverb off again and looked at the power tubes as if i'd know wtf the problem was. so, then i switched it to full power and tried it again with reverb....no problem.

dudes, what is going on with this amp. it's brand new with maybe 100 hours of playing time on it, from me at least. maybe the tubes are old? maybe this amp was well used on the floor of the guitar shop? tell me what you figure is wrong please.

thanks in advance.

 

[drew_half_empty]

Re: holy smokes, what's wrong with my amp??!!

maybe the reverb driver tube is goin out?

 

[kmcguitars]

Re: holy smokes, what's wrong with my amp??!!

I have a few idea's, But I wouldn't take a shot in the dark with a amp that Warrantied. Get it to your local authorized fender repair shop and let them look at it. I know it sux to be without your amp for a few weeks, But it sounds like something more than just a simple problem. Normally when the verb malfunctions 1st place to look is the driver tube. But you say the problem went away when switched to full power?? So you have some kind of Intermittent problem? Tube's (in general) don't function intimately
unless the socket is loose or corroded. That would be unusually in a new amp.

 

[esandes]

Re: holy smokes, what's wrong with my amp??!!

maybe the reverb driver tube is goin out?

i figure it is.

Normally when the verb malfunctions 1st place to look is the driver tube. But you say the problem went away when switched to full power?? So you have some kind of Intermittent problem?

i really hope it's just old tubes. is the reverb tube prone to wear out quicker than the other tubes? this problem has never occured before. i just described the noise as random and intermittent. and it only seemed to occur when the reverb was on. i pretty much always played at 1/4 power. so i figured i'd try it at full power...no problems yet. this just happened today.

 

[greendy123]

Re: holy smokes, what's wrong with my amp??!!

Trying replacing the reverb tube first and try it on both power settings, if the problem is still there I would just take the amp to a tech to check out.

 

[esandes]

Re: holy smokes, what's wrong with my amp??!!

Trying replacing the reverb tube first and try it on both power settings, if the problem is still there I would just take the amp to a tech to check out.

which one is the reverb tube? the thing has 10 tubes.

 

[Robert S.]

Re: holy smokes, what's wrong with my amp??!!

This link should be helpful.


http://www.kcanostubes.com/content/newsletter_details.asp?ArticleID=5

 

[esandes]

Re: holy smokes, what's wrong with my amp??!!

This link should be helpful.


http://www.kcanostubes.com/content/newsletter_details.asp?ArticleID=5

thank you sir. sounds like the amp stresses that tube more than any other pre-amp tube.

 

[CapoFirstFret]

Re: holy smokes, what's wrong with my amp??!!

just a warning...if you do change the tube and then later take it to a shop, remember to put the old tube back in and don't mention changing the tubes. On tube guitar amps, changin the tubes yourself and putting a non-Fender (or whatever amp you have) labeled tube in there will void the Warranty. Just a warning.

 

[Scott_F]

Re: holy smokes, what's wrong with my amp??!!

The reason you buy new is to get the warranty. Use it. It sounds like a bad reverb cable I had one time, but in my case it was a really old amp. Tubes are easy to change. There is a reason for that in that they are a truly disposible item. They go out. It's the first place to start with most any tube amp trouble.