elgravos
Senior Member
- Messages
- 331
Trying to figure out what is wrong - if anything with my amp (Boogie Mark 5-35)
In the last few weeks, I've had two instances where when switching the amp from "standby" to "on", I've heard a large cracking sound coming from the amp. Amp wasn't cold either time and had been running a good five minutes at least on standby before I threw the switch. My first impression was that a tube had exploded or something along those lines. It's not an amplified noise being output by the amp, it's the mechanical sound of a glass or metal component "cracking".
First time round, there was a hot glass / metal smell that went with. Turned the amp off straight away and let everything cool down. Checked the tubes and eyeballed the components but nothing appears broken or burnt. Tried it again later and everything was back to normal. Happened again several days down the road, though no hot glass / metal smell that time.
It seems pretty worrisome, but strangely, the amp seems to work fine. There is no extra noise in the circuit and all channels / modes work as normal. Any thoughts on what this might be? Had the amp for about 18 months now and have not yet changed the tubes - haven't seen a need to as the sound is still fine. I do drive them pretty hard (attenuator is on full time with master around 4 and gain is usually on the high side) and it runs a couple of hours a day. Could it just be that the tubes are getting old and need replacing at this point? Appreciate any thoughts on this. Cheers.
In the last few weeks, I've had two instances where when switching the amp from "standby" to "on", I've heard a large cracking sound coming from the amp. Amp wasn't cold either time and had been running a good five minutes at least on standby before I threw the switch. My first impression was that a tube had exploded or something along those lines. It's not an amplified noise being output by the amp, it's the mechanical sound of a glass or metal component "cracking".
First time round, there was a hot glass / metal smell that went with. Turned the amp off straight away and let everything cool down. Checked the tubes and eyeballed the components but nothing appears broken or burnt. Tried it again later and everything was back to normal. Happened again several days down the road, though no hot glass / metal smell that time.
It seems pretty worrisome, but strangely, the amp seems to work fine. There is no extra noise in the circuit and all channels / modes work as normal. Any thoughts on what this might be? Had the amp for about 18 months now and have not yet changed the tubes - haven't seen a need to as the sound is still fine. I do drive them pretty hard (attenuator is on full time with master around 4 and gain is usually on the high side) and it runs a couple of hours a day. Could it just be that the tubes are getting old and need replacing at this point? Appreciate any thoughts on this. Cheers.