Members Musicalfish Posted July 3, 2010 Members Share Posted July 3, 2010 Have any of you ever had a great amp whose tone is tarnished by mechanical rattle? I have tightened everything inside my Vibro Champ and nothing seems to help. There is one baffle screw that is tight but won't turn in either direction, another transformer screw the same way, one transformer screw I can't get to, and I have tried removing the preamp tube covers. Does anyone have some helpful tips to eliminate this tone terrorizer? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mutant_guitar Posted July 3, 2010 Members Share Posted July 3, 2010 try plugging into an external cab to see if it's really the cab causing the buzzing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Musicalfish Posted July 3, 2010 Author Members Share Posted July 3, 2010 I plugged it into another cab and the rattle was gone. Good tip though, I completely forgot to troubleshoot whether it was the cab or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Oldskool Texas Posted July 3, 2010 Members Share Posted July 3, 2010 Have any of you ever had a great amp whose tone is tarnished by mechanical rattle? Yes, and it's maddening. Lots of variables, and it's hard to isolate the sound. Do things one at a time. Tube covers and the like are often culprits. Sometimes the tubes themselves rattle, too, but usually not very loudly. Check the handle, the feet, jewel light, fuse cover, grill cloth logo, everything. EDIT: On a combo amp, trying a different cab might not tell you anything, since the vibration of your speaker is probably causing something else to rattle, rather than the speaker itself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Orange Jackson Posted July 3, 2010 Members Share Posted July 3, 2010 Have you checked to see if it's a tube? Place a pencil against the tube when the rattle normally happens, you can do each tube this way. I had to use a folded up piece of paper and wedge it between the front baffle and the amp chassis on my SCXD to kill a rattle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mutant_guitar Posted July 3, 2010 Members Share Posted July 3, 2010 I plugged it into another cab and the rattle was gone. Good tip though, I completely forgot to troubleshoot whether it was the cab or not. my next suggestion would be to take the speaker out of the cab to make sure it's not the speaker. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Musicalfish Posted July 3, 2010 Author Members Share Posted July 3, 2010 How can you tighten the speaker screws? On mine the ends without the heads are only accessible? I was able to tighten the grill cloth logo, handle, jewel light, and speaker nuts, but will not know until morning whether it was fixed. The family has gone to bed and I don't want to power up the amp and wake them up. Also, I can't seem to figure out how to tighten the feet. COuld it be possible that the speaker is blown? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Wyatt Posted July 3, 2010 Members Share Posted July 3, 2010 Rattle that is heard through the speaker or just ambient noise coming form the amp, cab, but not part of the amplified sound. Former could be a lot of things.-Could be speaker resonance.-Could be cabinet resonance.-Could be a tube that just can't handle being in a combo. Latter would definitely be a mechanical issue with two pieces that need to be isolated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Oldskool Texas Posted July 3, 2010 Members Share Posted July 3, 2010 COuld it be possible that the speaker is blown? Possible but not likely - blown speakers don't really rattle so much as they sort of fart. Orange Jackson's method of testing for tube rattle would be my next move. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Smilin' Bob Posted July 3, 2010 Members Share Posted July 3, 2010 Could be a tube, rattling on the inside. With the amp warmed up, tap each tube with a pencil. The bad one will reproduce the noise - the good ones won't. Replace the bad tube. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Wyatt Posted July 3, 2010 Members Share Posted July 3, 2010 Could be a tube, rattling on the inside. With the amp warmed up, tap each tube with a pencil. The bad one will reproduce the noise - the good ones won't. Replace the bad tube. That tests for microphonics. Microphonic tubes will squeal like hell when tapped because their oscillation gets amplified down the line. But rattles are rarely microphonic tubes, other-wise their rattle would blow into full-blown feedback when turned up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members guitarman Posted July 3, 2010 Members Share Posted July 3, 2010 Did you tighten the screws outside the amp? I had the same thing with my Vox AD50VT and it drove me nuts. I tightened everything inside and I even replaced the stock speaker to an Eminance thinking the speaker was blown. It turned out to be the loose screws holding the amplifier in the cabinet. The amplifier was rattling when the volume was turned up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Musicalfish Posted July 3, 2010 Author Members Share Posted July 3, 2010 I found the culprit! I put a sock inside the speaker and the rattle is now gone! I guess it's time for a new speaker. Any recommendations? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Oldskool Texas Posted July 3, 2010 Members Share Posted July 3, 2010 Weber makes a couple of nice Alnico 10" speakers in their Vintage and Signature series.http://www.tedweber.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Wyatt Posted July 3, 2010 Members Share Posted July 3, 2010 Weber makes a couple of nice Alnico 10" speakers in their Vintage and Signature series.http://www.tedweber.com Vibrochamp is 8" speaker stock. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Musicalfish Posted July 3, 2010 Author Members Share Posted July 3, 2010 I have heard a lot of good things about the Weber 8" speaker. Can anyone back these up or recommend another speaker? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Oldskool Texas Posted July 3, 2010 Members Share Posted July 3, 2010 Vibrochamp is 8" speaker stock. Weber makes those, too. I used a 6" Weber ceramic in my Champion 600 - big improvement over the stock Fender. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Musicalfish Posted July 3, 2010 Author Members Share Posted July 3, 2010 Would you recommend ceramic over alnico? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Wyatt Posted July 3, 2010 Members Share Posted July 3, 2010 Would you recommend ceramic over alnico? If giving the choice between both versions of the same speaker, for instance the Webers, then for a Champ I prefer using the ceramic, compared to the AliNiCo version, they tighten up the low end and keep it punchy and they generally are a little more efficient (louder), both of which help with a Champ. I think the favorites are the Weber alnico or ceramic Signature 8S Weber 8A125 (alnico) or 8F125 (ceramic)Jensen P8R Weber makes a relatively new 8" version of their Blue Pup for almost as cheap as their Signature series, but I haven't heard much about it, I would suspect it would be nice. My favorite Champ speaker is an Eminence that was for years and years and years one of very few options for a Champ, but it's been discontinued for a while now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Musicalfish Posted July 3, 2010 Author Members Share Posted July 3, 2010 Those Webers look pretty nice, I'll be picking one up soon. Thank you all once again for sharing your knowledge with me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members songsforbears Posted July 4, 2010 Members Share Posted July 4, 2010 My Twin Reverb amp rattled a ton. Sold it to get a boutique head/cab setup. Still rattles. Only solution is to put the head on the ground next to the cab. Dumb. In the head, sometimes the tubes rattle, but it sounds like it's coming from where a transformer is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members onelife Posted July 4, 2010 Members Share Posted July 4, 2010 I like Alnico speakers in small amps like the Champ or Princeton. They sound much warmer but they don't handle the bass as well as the Ceramic ones. One think about the Champ - it requires a 4ohm speaker. (3.2 to be precise) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.