It's RAINY and my AMP is NOISY

[benji657]

i'm pretty sure that bad weather doesn't affect how noisy an amp gets...

but it rained a lot today...

i fired up my amp...and immediately there was lots of hissing and spitting noise coming out of my amp...

signal was perfectly fine and stable, no shorts of any kind

i thought it was the guitar, but all my other guitars do it...

i removed the effects, same thing..

the noise is kind of like an amp picking up a radio station...like annoying static buzzing..

though everything remained same in my room today as it was yesterday...

anyone have any clues?
new tubes maybe?

HELP!

 

[Low_fidelity2100]

Re: It's RAINY and my AMP is NOISY

Could be a dieing preamp tube.

 

[Rich_S]

Re: It's RAINY and my AMP is NOISY

It's possible thatr extremely humid weather could cause static noises. It might aggravate dirty pots or tube sockets. Keep it under observation until the weather dries out, then see if the noises go away.

 

[benji657]

Re: It's RAINY and my AMP is NOISY

after 12 hours the amp is still noisy...

Rich, could it be bad tubes? if so which ones?

but can old tube contribute to static noise? it's like it's near a computer, except that it's not really near one...

both my fender mim with humbuckers and gibson les paul with 2hb does this...

i remember it wasn't like this before...

i hope this isn't anything serious...

 

[kmcguitars]

Re: It's RAINY and my AMP is NOISY

Some amps seem to be more susceptible than others to moisture and humidity. I have no technical explanation for this, But feel it has something to do with the amps dielectric property of the amps PCB? My Fender Super 60 was almost unusable on a rainy or humid day?:crazy:

 

[Rich_S]

Re: It's RAINY and my AMP is NOISY

What kind of amp is it?

It's unlikely tubes would be affected by humidity. If they leaked enough for dampness to get inside, the vacumm would already be compromised, and the tube would be toast.


But, it sounds like maybe it's not the humidity and just coincidence that this started happening on a rainy day.

Check pots and jacks by wiggling them to see it they have any effect. Turn the amp off, pull each tube and re-seat it in its socket to make sure its plugged in securely.

If it still makes the noise, then try removing V1 to see if it still crackles. If so, then remove V2 as well. Keep pulling tubes until the noise goes away. That does not necessarily indicate the tube, but narrows it down to which amplifier stage the noise is coming from. (Don't bother pulling output tubes or the rectifier - they'll just make it stop working altogether.)

 

[benji657]

Re: It's RAINY and my AMP is NOISY

ok now the weather's cleared up a bit, and strangely things have quietened down..
very strange..

 

[Rich_S]

Re: It's RAINY and my AMP is NOISY

Not strange at all. Again, what type of amp are we talking about here?

Back in college, my band owned a '78 Chevy van. I was usually responsible for going to get it from my Dad's house and driving it to the gig. I always had to remember - if it was raining, leave 15 minutes early. That van would not start in the rain. The problem was the distributor. Even though it was up on the back of the engine (actually inside the van) and nowhere near where it could get rained on, the humidity prevented it from working.

To start the van on rainy days, I had to wrestle the engine cover off, pop off the distributor cap, wipe out its insides with a paper towel, give it a shot of CRC, and put it back together. Then it would start fine. Once it was warmed up and the engine heat dried things out, it was fine. It was always fine on sunny days.

Don't underestimate the effect humidity van have on electrical stuff.

 

[benji657]

Re: It's RAINY and my AMP is NOISY

it's a laney lc15R tube amp..it sounds fine now..
maybe it really was the humidity
thanks for the help

 

[Rich_S]

Re: It's RAINY and my AMP is NOISY

How old is it?

If it's old enough to be getting funky and dusty inside, humidity could exacerbate that. Might be time for a good cleaning.

 

[sosomething]

Re: It's RAINY and my AMP is NOISY

I'd wager it has a lot less to do with moisture or humidity than it does the increased electric charge in the air resultant from low cloud cover and rain.

 

[FAC]

Re: It's RAINY and my AMP is NOISY

I'd wager it has a lot less to do with moisture or humidity than it does the increased electric charge in the air resultant from low cloud cover and rain.

I wonder if the AC power is slightly jacked by the rain falling on transformers, swinging power lines with sketchy connections, etc.? I have no idea if this is possible, but it occurred to me so I offer it as an hypothesis...