ehh, what's going on here; weird amp noise.

Mages · Post by **Mages** » Tue Mar 16, 2010 3:15 am

dudes my silvertone 1482 is making all kinds of weird "chhhht chhhht" noise whenever I try to play something. I tried cleaning the tube contacts (I used alcohol and a q-tip) and I tried switching around the pairs of tubes. no luck with that. But I have recently discovered something weird.... it only makes the noise when I stand up. wtf???????????? if I crouch down or sit on the floor it plays fine.

the tubes are the OG silvertone tubes and are at least 40 years old. before I discovered the sitting/standing thing I went ahead and ordered some JJ replacements so we'll see how that goes.

chisa · Post by **chisa** » Tue Mar 16, 2010 3:27 am

input jack

Mages · Post by **Mages** » Tue Mar 16, 2010 3:30 am

oh yeah, I tried switching input jacks as well. that didn't do anything. but I will go mess around more to see if there's anything more to that idea.

Mages · Post by **Mages** » Tue Mar 16, 2010 3:35 am

I think there may be something with the input jack on the jazzmaster. the weird thing is it's like every time I strum it goes "CHHHHHT".

chisa · Post by **chisa** » Tue Mar 16, 2010 3:39 am

if it works when you are sat down it suggests something either to do with tension from a chord or wire, or something to do with proximity to the amp and related feedback/hum/interference which decreased when you are equal with or below it.

Mages · Post by **Mages** » Tue Mar 16, 2010 3:55 am

yeah, I was thinking something like interference as well. but now you've put me onto this jack idea. the weird thing is its not just when I move or something, it's only when I play the guitar.

ok, I just tried it out with all my guitars. ibanez no problem. mustang only sometime when playing low notes. musicmaster and jazzmaster are fucked. it may really be wonky jacks on those guitars. but what is happening with the jack for it to make the sound only when playing?

like when I strum instead being like "brunng!" it's like "br*CHHHT*ng".

cobascis · Post by **cobascis** » Tue Mar 16, 2010 4:02 am

huh.

with my bassman, right as a turn it on it 'whooshes and ccchthhttts noisely, but I can play over it. I'm pretty sure it's my tubes, though. oldies. similar issue?

Mages · Post by **Mages** » Tue Mar 16, 2010 4:33 am

nope. it's totally silent when it starts up.

chisa · Post by **chisa** » Tue Mar 16, 2010 5:50 am

prob a loose connection that needs resoldering

Mages · Post by **Mages** » Tue Mar 16, 2010 8:28 pm

ok, after fucking around a bunch more... it REALLY seems like this is the amp. I'm playing the mustang fine with the volume at like 10 o'clock. but then I turn it all the way up and it starts doing the CCHCHTH thing again.

ace · Post by **ace** » Tue Mar 16, 2010 9:23 pm

This sounds exactly like when my friends amp had a short circuited tube. The fact that you said that you changed the tubes seems to rule this out but my advice is to look for crazy lightning bolts inside the power tubes anyways.

Mages · Post by **Mages** » Tue Mar 16, 2010 9:27 pm

nah, I haven't changed the tubes yet. I just traded one for the other in their pairs. I've only just ordered new ones.

Mages · Post by **Mages** » Fri Mar 19, 2010 8:27 am

ok, the noise has pretty much gone away now, I'm not entirely sure why. I think it might have been a combination of things. when I turn the amp all the way up it still does it when I play quietly. but I usually only have it at like 9 o'clock so that's not really a big deal. I put some tape inside the JM around the jack in case the plug was accidentally hitting the shielding. not sure if this did anything but I really can't get the amp to make the sounds anymore. maybe it was interference from something that was running somewhere else in the building, and whoever has turned it off now. I really have no fucking clue.

...I did get the new tubes though. These JJ 6V6S's are fantastic. People say they sound more like 6L6's. I'm not that familiar with 6L6's but I can say it just sounds like a more Hi-Fi tube. Less distortion and much brighter. I love love love them. whole new amp.

Also, a weird thing about this amp that was never that useful before because of how dark it was, if you plug into the Hi channel and turn it all the way down and then turn the Lo channel all the way up, you get this super thin sounding tone that you can then shape dramatically with the tone knobs on each channel. You can get a huge range of cool lo-fi sounds like this, it's awesome.