Members thecakeguru Posted March 4, 2014 Members Share Posted March 4, 2014 Just wanted to make a post so if anyone ever has the same or similiar issue, this may be a solution. I have an Egnater Renegade head, and switched it on for practice one night with the band when much to my surprise, this very loud crackling/buzz/popping noise came out.. Even with the master and channel volume on zero, the noise was horribly loud..Fearing there was a short somewhere on the board, or possible a tube socket, I started to lightly rock the tubes, and unpluged/plugged in the input jack and effects loop jacks.. Sound now became intermittent, yet no solution to the problem. Had a tech listen to it via phone, and he said in his 40+ years of working on amps (mainly vintage) he hasnt quite heard a sound like that, but thought it was a loose connection on the board. He suggested I clean the jacks and tubes with contact cleaner. So, out comes my can of contact cleaner.. Sprayed all the pins (90 total), the tube sockets, and the input jack and effect loop jacks.. Long behold the problem disappeared and hasnt returned yet..If your having some sort of problem with your amp in terms of noise, looks like a little dirt or crud can cause it.. Idk what exactly was dirty, but apparently the cleaner took care of it! Anyone else have a similiar expirence? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members thecakeguru Posted March 5, 2014 Author Members Share Posted March 5, 2014 Ok, Edit... Turned the amp on yesterday, and it made the noise again : (.. This time at 50% volume on the master and channel, the amp wasnt very loud... Took the back off again, looked again at the tubes, and turns out my 6l6 (5881's) are shot... makes noise when tapped and flickers blue... time to order up some new power tubes it seems Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WRGKMC Posted March 14, 2014 Members Share Posted March 14, 2014 You need to be sure you check the grid resistors and all the connections to the power tube sockets. Your symptoms suggest there could bea bad solder connection or bad grid resistors which is common on many tube amps. The sockets get hot and the solder can break downdue to heat and vibration. I'd check and see if the power caps are good too. The big electrolytic caps have a pressure valve on the rubber endthat normally looks like a small round indent in the rubber. As caps get old that indent bulges out and eventually bursts like a pimple and oozes electrolyte.That's a sign the caps are going bad and are supplying the wrong DC voltage that can screw up your power tubes. Of course it may just be the power tubes went bad too. Tubes will blow if you are running too if you're running an impedance that's too high or they canjust rattle loose from vibration. I would do all the other checks to be sure you don't blow the new tubes and create additional problems down the road.Tube amps require regular maintenance which is the price you pay for vintage tone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members guitarcapo Posted April 17, 2014 Members Share Posted April 17, 2014 Since 50% of all amp problems are due to bad tubes, replacing them is the first thing you want to do before bothering with anything else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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