Bought a new Valveking Head -- crackling static. What's wrong?

[Riggins]

I agree with everyone else here. Sounds like you have bad grounding in your home's electrical.

 

Is it an old house? older houses around here tend to have the worst wiring in them. you may want to consider a power conditioner.

 

As for how loud I play, at home I never go much above 2-3 with the occasional cranking to get my rocks off

As I stated in a previous post, I replaced the 12ax7 in position one with a 12at7 and it improved the gain considerably. Before when I would try to bring the gain up for certain tunes it really sounded buzzy but now I can bring it up all the way and it sounds great. I keep it at about 3 0'clock mostly though.

[leadfootdriver]

I seen one of these amps today. They look really nice, and go for a good price too.

 

Who's got the sound clips?

[Polaris20]

 

Originally posted by leadfootdriver I seen one of these amps today. They look really nice, and go for a good price too. Who's got the sound clips?

 

 

there's an outside chance I might record some tonight, with my 7 string.

[etienne]

So, did you try a different outlet ?

[wanky]

 

Originally posted by Jody Butt Just bought my first tube head -- a Peavey Valveking. It was unused -- still sealed in its box. When I turn up the gain, and the volume, I get crackling static. I thought it was a bad cable. Nope. Is it a tube problem?

 

 

take it back and get another one, if the other one does the same then its probably not the amp

 

speaking fo VKs i played one the other day and i was pleasnatly surprized, it wasn't 5150 gain, but it was still good and offer a decent amount of gain, i had doubts cuz it only had 3 preamp tubes, but it cleared my doubts

[BAZGUITARMAN]

I`m going to repost with my origional thought that it is a bad pre-amp tube. I ran into this same exact issue with the new (used) 5150 II that I got yesterday. With the volume all the way down there was a crackling sound coming from the amp. Also when playing the volume and high end would fade in and out. Those are sure signs of a bad pre-amp tube.

 

Today I went in and pulled all the tubes and put six good tubes in. Just some that I had laying around that I knew were good. Long story short. The problem was instantly fixed. No extraneous noise at all. Just the regular high gain hiss that the 5150 series is known for.

 

I could have gone through one tube at a time and found the bad one, but since they were all were origional and a few years old I decided to change all at once.

 

Get a new 12AX7 and go through one tube at a time. It will be easy to spot the bad one.

 

Eric

[Jody Butt]

 

Originally posted by etienne So, did you try a different outlet ?

 

 

Yup. It didn't seem to make a difference.

 

I think it's okay. I tried two Valveking heads (mine, which was new and sealed, and the display model which was only a couple of weeks old). They were both the same.

 

I guess I'm just not used to the extra volume of tube amps, and how the tubes react to lots of gain.

[Polaris20]

 

Originally posted by Jody Butt Yup. It didn't seem to make a difference. I think it's okay. I tried two Valveking heads (mine, which was new and sealed, and the display model which was only a couple of weeks old). They were both the same. I guess I'm just not used to the extra volume of tube amps, and how the tubes react to lots of gain.

 

 

Mine's noisier than the modeling amp it replaced, but that's to be expected. You gain back in dynamics what you lose in absolute silence. It's still a pretty quiet amp, in comparison to other tube amps, like the 5150.

[Jody Butt]

 

Originally posted by Polaris20 Mine's noisier than the modeling amp it replaced, but that's to be expected. You gain back in dynamics what you lose in absolute silence. It's still a pretty quiet amp, in comparison to other tube amps, like the 5150.

 

 

Yeah, I'm still puzzled by the crackling coming from the increased gain at my house. It didn't seem to do that in the store when I took it back to play it there. Oh, well. Must just be something weird here in my house.

 

I was messing around on the clean channel with a single coil, and the tube definitely does have the dynamics.

[Polaris20]

 

Originally posted by Jody Butt Yeah, I'm still puzzled by the crackling coming from the increased gain at my house. It didn't seem to do that in the store when I took it back to play it there. Oh, well. Must just be something weird here in my house. I was messing around on the clean channel with a single coil, and the tube definitely does have the dynamics.

 

 

Oh yeah dude. Even a cheap tube amp such as this is really a difference. Some songs I play, I often don't even switch channels. I roll down the volume on the guitar, roll back up, and then sometimes kick in a boost.

 

I can't wait to get JJ's in here. It's really quite a great value. I really want to try the Windsor, which is also a cheap head.