My tube amp is being noisey

[Christobevii3]

My clean channel on my amp has started every now and then getting kinda noisy, like staticy. The overdrive channel however seems to be fine.

Is this a sign of the tubes needing replacing?

 

[kmcguitars]

Re: My tube amp is being noisey

My clean channel on my amp has started every now and then getting kinda noisy, like staticy. The overdrive channel however seems to be fine.

Is this a sign of the tubes needing replacing?

Just a shot in the dark? Is this amp a Fender Hot Rod series?

 

[Christobevii3]

Re: My tube amp is being noisey

No, it is a crate v3112T

 

[kmcguitars]

Re: My tube amp is being noisey

No, it is a crate v3112T

Alright then. I'm not to familiar with that amp. Check your preamp tubes for microphonics. (HRD's are notorious for bad PCB solder joints) Crate's could have a similar problem? But I'm unfamiliar with it's circuit. Good luck.

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: My tube amp is being noisey

See what happens when you randomly switch all the pre tubes for each other.
I don't know your amp, but if there's a failing pre tube, it'll show up as static on one or both of the channels. It's always a good idea to have a handful of 12AX7's sitting around, for occasions like this.

Also, twist the knobs a lot, to get rid of any oxidation that might have built up in a pot.

 

[Christobevii3]

Re: My tube amp is being noisey

Ok so i guess i'll order some tubes just in case?

The electro harmonix 12x7 are on sale for $6 each at the tube depot so i'll get 3 of those since they are suppose to be a little higher gain.

On the El84's what would you recommend then? Should i keep electro harmonix (they say higher gain too), but would that make it a lot louder?

Or should i just go jj or sovtek?

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: My tube amp is being noisey

JJ EL-84's are pretty hard to beat. They're better than the Sovteks.
Just rearange the order of the pre tubes, and see if anything changes. That'll tell you right away if it's related to the pre tubes. Then you'll know you're on the right track by ordering all new tubes.

 

[Christobevii3]

Re: My tube amp is being noisey

I actually just went ahead and ordered all EH tubes since the preamps were on sale for $6 each. I don't want to mess with it since it has a 5 year warranty if i don't open it myself i think