Re: ugly noise from my tube amp

"John Ray" <johnarayYOUKNOWWHATTODO@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:cIidnUeWnbCJjSXZnZ2dnUVZ_oWdnZ2d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Kevin D." <creepiedecrapper@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:ExPtg.1715$Gv.374@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
a little while back i posted about my 1.5 year-old ampeg svt-2 pro head
starting to "give out" on me... at least i thought that's what it was

it was still running all the factory tubes and i was starting to get a
lot of noise in the signal... i bought all new tubes (power and pre) from
www.thetubestore.com for about $250 plus another $50 for installation
since i didn't feel like killing myself with high voltages i know nothing
about

now i've played it twice since it's been out of the "shop" and when i
first plug in and power up, it sounds fine... overall clean without any
harsh distortion noises... after a little while (15 minutes or so) a
little of that crappy sound starts creeping in and by after an hour it's
just sounding awful

it sounds to me like as the tubes heat up, something is going wrong...
the one caveat though, is that i plugged my guitarists les paul into my
amp (using the same cable i use with my bass) and that distortion noise
wasn't there... perhaps the output of my bass is screwed up but if it is,
why don't i get that crappy distortion noise at home on my 15" combo
practice amp?

i'm gonna take it back to the shop next week but thought i'd check with
you guys first to see if i can get any insight into this... thanks for
reading the long post!

- kevin
Have all the solder joints checked out. The high voltages / temperatures
in a tube heat can wreak havoc on old solder joints. My SVT classic was
starting to exhibit similar symptoms, and after going through and checking
/ resoldering everything, It even sounds better regardless of the noise.
Connections can become so tentative that the slightest pop can temporarily
arc the connection back together. SVTs are pretty notorious for this.

John

thanks for the input, john... unfortunately, i'm not sure i'm following
you... i should check the solder joints inside my amp? where would i look,
in the socket that the tube sits inside?

i'd probably have an amp tech do this for me so i don't conduct any voltages
through my body in the process :)

also, my svt is just over 1 year old (bought brand new in feb 2005) so i
hope the solder joints aren't melting away already!

- kevin


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