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hot rod deluxe iii tube rattle -- questions


twotimingpete

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I picked up a hot rod deluxe iii in condition 1 ("mint").

 

first, missing footswitch. minor annoyance since I think I could get them to send me one if I call.

 

the real problem is tube rattle. there's a rattling sound coming out of the amp when playing certain sound frequencies. At its worst it's pretty dang noticeable.

 

I wanted to know if this is something that these amps simply do or if there is an easy fix or if I should return it.

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it just sounds like rattling/vibrating, and only certain frequencies trigger it... it seems as though lower mid frequencies in the clean channel really make that {censored} rattle the most.

 

I think the amp is fantastic though and I don't think the rattle would ever be noticeable to anyone else. I just wanted to check to make sure this wasn't a sign of a more serious problem to the health of the amp.

 

the tubes all glow the same which is usually the first thing I check, as a layperson and not a tech, this seems to be a quick way of checking to see if there's an obvious problem with any of the tubes.

 

the clean channel on this amp is magic. it's so rich you can almost taste the sound in your mouth. the overdrive I'm still figuring out, I had a deville 4x10 when I was a kid and I remember not using the gain channels much. basically the mid-overdriven tones seem useable but if you want to really crank some high gain rythms, things get a bit loose sounding and you encounter a wall of sound rather than a tight punch.

 

although it's hard to give the final say because I can't really turn the thing up without risking breaking my windows and causing a neighborhood incident. I think the gain channel will probably get quite a bit better if cranked.

 

the good thing though is that these wonderful, full, rich clean tones translate into a great platform for dirt pedals, so the sky is the limit.

 

oh, and speaking as someone who has been using digital reverb on a bugera v22 previously, the spring reverb on this thing is insane. sounds so lush you want to bake a cake.

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All tube combos rattle. Fact of life. Get some tube dampers from Eurotubes and you should be set.

 

 

This. Tube dampers. Make a search at ebay. I purchased some and put them on all my tubes, pre-amp and powertubes. No need to change tubes. Seriously: nothing

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Tubes are a likely culprit.


But speaker and cabinet resonance can also cause a sound that sounds a little like a metal wire banging around.

 

 

Good point; I should have also clarified that my bad tube was distinctly an amplified rattle, coming through the speaker.

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