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Post subject: Blues Jr. III Weird noises when turned on
Posted: Sat Mar 30, 2013 6:57 pm
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Hey! First time poster here. I purchased a Hot Rod III Blues Jr. around January of this year, and I love it to death. However, after about a week of owning it, a weird series of sounds started to come out of the amp whenever I turn it on.

First, if i turn it on while i'm holding my guitar, i can hear the sound slowly start to be amplified like with any tube amp, only on a much quieter scale. Then the amp makes a loud-ish popping noise, the sound from my guitar stops, and it starts to make a series of popping, humming, and occasionally (rarely) squealing noises. They are never the same as any other time i turned it on, as far as I can tell.

These noises tend to get progressively louder until the amp finally makes a loud popping noise, and all the extraneous noises disappear and the amp functions perfectly normally. The whole process takes about 15 seconds, sometimes shorter, sometimes longer.

It's not *too* much of an issue for me, as the amp still has its tone once it's done with the goofy popping, and it has been like this and never changed for the past two months, and i use it for a couple hours every day.

I was wondering if any of you guys have had this happen to you with any of your amps in the past, and if you happen to know what is causing this and if i can fix it. Not the end of the world, but any insight would be greatly appreciated!

Sorry for the wall of text. Thanks for reading!


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Post subject: Re: Blues Jr. III Weird noises when turned on
Posted: Sat Mar 30, 2013 7:34 pm
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The only thing I can say is return it on warranty .


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Post subject: Re: Blues Jr. III Weird noises when turned on
Posted: Sat Mar 30, 2013 7:42 pm
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It doesn't really bother me so i don't have any intention of returning it (i don't think i could at this point anyway). I'm more just wondering *why* it's doing that.


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Post subject: Re: Blues Jr. III Weird noises when turned on
Posted: Sat Mar 30, 2013 7:55 pm
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One WAG... bad solder points. If you want to keep the amp, you may need to suck the original solder (with a wick or solder sucker --- not your mouth, of course :D :mrgreen: :D ).

Then, reapply good quality tin/lead. It's a ritual that nearly EVERY high-end hi-fi nut has to do, after buying a new item. RoHS solder and automated solder stations often = funky joints, at best.

I think this is why good flat-screens are still being hand soldered. By technicians with cameras over their heads to QA/QC them.


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Post subject: Re: Blues Jr. III Weird noises when turned on
Posted: Sat Mar 30, 2013 8:06 pm
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I'm afraid most of that went over my head. I know what joints are and i know what soldering is so if you send me a link to how to do that, i'll be able to get by. And it would be greatly appreciated.


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Post subject: Re: Blues Jr. III Weird noises when turned on
Posted: Sat Mar 30, 2013 8:25 pm
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Maybe these YT link may help.

Good luck & TAKE YOUR TIME. Practice on a junk board first. Solder heat kills components, so you want to be fast-&-efficient! (not Fast-&-Furious--- :lol: )



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htrcZuK_ZsY


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AY5M-lGxvzo


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Post subject: Re: Blues Jr. III Weird noises when turned on
Posted: Sat Mar 30, 2013 9:52 pm
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PhoneyMonkeyMan wrote:
I'm afraid most of that went over my head. I know what joints are and i know what soldering is so if you send me a link to how to do that, i'll be able to get by. And it would be greatly appreciated.


If you do not understand what BMW wrote, you have no business sticking your fingers into a guitar amp. In order to reflow the solder joints, the power supply electrolytic caps must be fully discharged (they can carry over 400 VDC and can kill you), and the circuit board removed from the amp. If you are not capable of doing any of that, take the amp back to where you bought it for repair/replacement.

You might be lucky and the problem is just a bad tube. Do you understand how to swap tubes? If so try a new 12AX7. Swap it into each of the three positions where that tube is used and see if it fixes the problem. If it doesn't, it might be the power tubes and you can try swapping both power tubes with a new matched pair. If none of that works, take the amp back to the place of purchase for replacement or repair.

If you bought the amp in a private sale and don't have the original receipt, take it to a good amp tech. Once noises like that start, they almost always end in a dead amp. THAT will certainly bother you.

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Post subject: Re: Blues Jr. III Weird noises when turned on
Posted: Sat Mar 30, 2013 10:08 pm
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Don't worry--i wouldn't go doing anything i'm not capable of. the removal of soldering is one of those things. The noises have been persisting for two months with the amp under relatively heavy use and no other problems have arisen. Should i still be concerned about the amp dying?


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Post subject: Re: Blues Jr. III Weird noises when turned on
Posted: Sat Mar 30, 2013 10:29 pm
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PhoneyMonkeyMan wrote:
Should i still be concerned about the amp dying?


That's like a stage 4 cancer patient asking his oncologist if it's too risky to hang-glide and bungee-jump.

:lol: :lol: :lol:

Arjay

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"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY


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Post subject: Re: Blues Jr. III Weird noises when turned on
Posted: Sat Mar 30, 2013 10:30 pm
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PhoneyMonkeyMan wrote:
Don't worry--i wouldn't go doing anything i'm not capable of. the removal of soldering is one of those things. The noises have been persisting for two months with the amp under relatively heavy use and no other problems have arisen. Should i still be concerned about the amp dying?


What do you think? :roll:

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Post subject: Re: Blues Jr. III Weird noises when turned on
Posted: Sat Mar 30, 2013 10:51 pm
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I guess I don't know enough about what the issue is exactly to tell if i should be concerned about the amp dying. But clearly you think that it's a likely possibility. have you heard of this sort of thing happening before?


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Post subject: Re: Blues Jr. III Weird noises when turned on
Posted: Sun Mar 31, 2013 12:13 am
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Noises like this are always indications of problems, and never "heal" themselves. If you don't act immediately, it is very possible that other amp components could be damaged, and then your first thought will probably be "why did I wait?", and you'll be kicking yourself for not heeding sound advice, because then the repairs will cost more than they would if you take care of it now. As pointed out, it might be solder joints, a tube issue, or perhaps a capacitor. Considering your level of experience, I would try the tube swapping as suggested above.

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Post subject: Re: Blues Jr. III Weird noises when turned on
Posted: Sun Mar 31, 2013 11:59 am
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I just tried turning the amp on with the switch while the amp was unplugged, and then plugging in the amp, and it started just fine. Could this information help point out what the problem is?


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Post subject: Re: Blues Jr. III Weird noises when turned on
Posted: Sun Mar 31, 2013 12:31 pm
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:roll:

No, but it confirms something else. :wink:

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---> "The amp should be SWITCHED OFF AND UNPLUGGED before you do this!" <---

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Post subject: Re: Blues Jr. III Weird noises when turned on
Posted: Sun Mar 31, 2013 12:40 pm
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Yeah? What's that?


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