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Post subject: Tube amp noise (help) UPDATE!
Posted: Wed Dec 11, 2013 11:05 pm
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Aspiring Musician
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Location: Las Vegas, Nevada. USA
I found a nice little Mesa Boogie Studio 22+ on craigslist. Decent enough price. I'd have to say, what a cool little amplifier!! It's not overly great at cleans, doesn't have much of a high gain sound to brag about. But Holy Good God, it does have a killer power tube distortion!! I mean like that AC/DC "TNT" crunch! You can find all kinds of good old British blues sounds on it as well.

But when I stop playing, there's a scratchy intermittent sound. Kinda like and old scratchy record on a record player. Sometimes you can hear it while playing, but it's faint. My first thought was a bad preamp tube. But after checking all slots one by one, still there. I cleaned the pots, still there. Swapped speakers, still there.

I did notice the power tubes fit rather loosely in the sockets. I have new ones on order along with some new power tubes. I'm going to try a colder set. Since Mesa uses a fixed bias, I'll take it a little easier for trouble shooting purposes.

Anyone else have any experience with this? If it turns out not to be the tubes or sockets, where do I go next?

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Last edited by Jah Soldier on Tue Dec 17, 2013 9:21 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Post subject: Re: Tube amp noise (help)
Posted: Wed Dec 11, 2013 11:46 pm
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hi mate , nice score , the sound like spiders running about in the amp could be the caps if the amps not been in regular use , but it can go away the more the amp gets used , hth , cheers
Alan

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Post subject: Re: Tube amp noise (help)
Posted: Wed Dec 11, 2013 11:58 pm
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That is what it sounds like. The guy said he hadn't played it in a long time. It was dirty like it had been in a garage for a while. And ironically to your suggestion, I did clean a spider web out of it.

I certainly hope you're right. It'll save me a lot if soldering time if that's the case. Thanks for the response. I do appreciate it.

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Post subject: Re: Tube amp noise (help)
Posted: Thu Dec 12, 2013 7:22 am
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Jah Soldier wrote:
I did notice the power tubes fit rather loosely in the sockets.


Retension and clean the tube sockets. Loose tubes will definitely cause scratchy noises.

http://swartamps.com/tech/socket_retention/

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Post subject: Re: Tube amp noise (help)
Posted: Thu Dec 12, 2013 9:42 am
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Definitely retension the power tube sockets, loose tubes there can lead to the bias supply cutting out which will blow your HT fuse.

You may be talking about "shot noise", more common in amps with high anode (plate) voltages like the Boogies.

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Post subject: Re: Tube amp noise (help)
Posted: Thu Dec 12, 2013 10:04 am
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hi mate , no probs at all as already said get the valves seated nice and tight and if the sound persists you might need a recap (hopefuly not) , my old peavey mace makes the spider noise now and then but i'm not recording with it or anything so it's not too much of a bother for me ymmv , cheers
Alan

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Post subject: Re: Tube amp noise (help)
Posted: Thu Dec 12, 2013 1:08 pm
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The two power tube sockets appear to still have good solder connections, but the ceramic part of them can move. I find that strange. That's why I ordered new sockets. I have other amps to play on for now. I think it's best to be patient and take my time to replace them. It weirds me out.

Thanks for everyone's input btw. It really does help. That's why I love this forum. Good professional advice can always be found here.

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Post subject: Re: Tube amp noise (help) UPDATE!
Posted: Tue Dec 17, 2013 9:28 pm
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UPDATE**

Thanks everyone for your advice! I took the head out again and re-tensioned the power tube sockets and the noise is gone.

So now I've cleaned everything, re-tubed it with NOS preamp tubes, popped in some new Mesa yellow power tubes (lower plate draw), swapped the speaker with a Celestion Vintage 30, and the amp sounds freaking killer!! I'm so glad I bought this thing.

Once again, thanks for everyone's input. Much appreciated.

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Post subject: Re: Tube amp noise (help) UPDATE!
Posted: Tue Dec 17, 2013 11:42 pm
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Awesome :D

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