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November 17, 2010 - 11:03am
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Speaker Crackling...
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I'm not a musician, but I would first clean all the connections and if it's still crackling and your amp has tubes, I would suspect a bad one.
First off what's an 'extension cab'?
Secondly does this crackling happen over earphones?
Thirdly does this noise appear more often at higher volumes, with loud bass transients or is it happening independent of whatever the music's doing at the time?
it does have tubes. the power amp on the combo has 2 4 ohm outputs. each output runs a 1/4" cable either to the speaker on the combo or the speaker in the extension cab. Since output is coming from the same tubes and not crackling in the extension cab, i can conclude the problem is not with the tubes.
I tried both the 4ohm and alternate 8ohm out on the back of my amp into my combo speaker, and the crackling persisted.
picture of amp:
good question, if my amp has a headphone out, i will report back on this.
crackling is irrelevant of volume. happens at both low and high volumes. the one thing that i have noticed is that after a good 20 minutes of playing, it tends to go away (making brief appearances again every once in a while).
As some one else has suggested...it is most likely a bad/dying tube. It could also be bad capacitor, most likely in the power supply. Keep us posted as to the outcome.
but there's no crackling coming from the extension cab, which is just another speaker taking the same output signal from a different output....
wouldn't this indicate that it is not the tubes?
Good point, Ariel.
My guess is a cold solder connection in the cabinet. The input connector is particularly suspect.
I'll see if I can get more suggestions from my rock and R&B friends.
I had the same problem with a Wharfedale subwoofer. Sounded like lightning firing off at odd intervals, regardless of level. They sent me a new amp and I wired it in. Big help, I'm sure.
Not enough information to decide, need to know where the signal path in the setup splits apart.
using a test suggested by JA, i knocked on the top of the combo (where the power tubes are close to), while my output was only plugged into the extension cab.
JA's theory was that the extension cab didn't crackle when i played b/c the vibrations weren't enough to cause potential tube noise. So i knocked on the top of the combo with sound only coming out of the extension cab, and what do ya know, the crackle came from there too.
So a bought a pair of fresh tubes -- changed them -- put on some new strings on my guitar, and now it sounds like i have a brand new amp with a guitar that shimmers.
Thanks for your help everyone.
JA was just another pretty face. I hear he also takes out the trash around the house.
Cool.
Well done.