tube amp help asap whistling noise

upnorthbacon

Junior Member
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Just got a new peavy windsor in the mail and when I turned it on it whistles non-stop?  It's slightly cold from sitting on the ups truck but I warmed it up on standby for a while?  Is this something easy to fix, like a tube not seated fully or something?  If not I'm sending it back asap AGAIN!  The last one's power sponge didn't work right!
 
when i put new tubes in my amp it whistled for about the first 2 mins, then it stopped, never to be heard again. great story i know
 
My Blackheart just started broadcasting conservative talk radio while I had it turned on and the cord just touching the inside of the jack. When I touched the strings, it was a really clear signal, so I guess the strings and I worked as a big antenna. Very very odd to hear your amp say "Next up we'll talk abut the global warming hysteria and why it's just a fantasy concocted by the liberal media"...... :help: :help:
 
upnorthbacon said:
Just got a new peavy windsor in the mail and when I turned it on it whistles non-stop?  It's slightly cold from sitting on the ups truck but I warmed it up on standby for a while?  Is this something easy to fix, like a tube not seated fully or something?  If not I'm sending it back asap AGAIN!  The last one's power sponge didn't work right!

Microphonic valves.......

tfarny said:
My Blackheart just started broadcasting conservative talk radio while I had it turned on and the cord just touching the inside of the jack. When I touched the strings, it was a really clear signal, so I guess the strings and I worked as a big antenna. Very very odd to hear your amp say "Next up we'll talk abut the global warming hysteria and why it's just a fantasy concocted by the liberal media"...... :help: :help:

Dodgy earth somewhere....
 
I give up, Peavey Windsor studio's are complete crap!  So the whistling went away but it kept crackling and the volume would drop off.  I thought maybe the tubes were loose or something and checked the power tube, seems fine, the preamps are screwed down into the amp with aluminum cages and covers and seem secure?  I give up, this is the second studio I've bought and they both had issues.  It's going back and I'm going back to a digital line 6 spider III.
 
tfarny said:
My Blackheart just started broadcasting conservative talk radio while I had it turned on and the cord just touching the inside of the jack. When I touched the strings, it was a really clear signal, so I guess the strings and I worked as a big antenna. Very very odd to hear your amp say "Next up we'll talk abut the global warming hysteria and why it's just a fantasy concocted by the liberal media"...... :help: :help:

For a while I was picking up conservative talk radio at practice, and we couldn't figure out why.  Between songs we got to hear all about how Barack Hussein Obama is a communist.  Turns out I was using a speaker cable between my tuner and the amp...  :doh:
 
I actually have an FM transmitter in the same room as my Blackheart. I was expecting it to pick up the signal but it doesn't. Maybe it needs to be AM. Also my radio signal is very liberal. ;)
 
line 6? just get a diff tube amp, digital can never be tube. i've always wanted a good tube amp and now i have one ill never go back
 
Well, I have had the radio issue.  I built the amp I had the problem with and what ended up happening was I put a 10K resistor between the first preamp tube and the input wire from the jack.  It added a speed bump that the radio signal could not over come.  Remember that at the very start of the chain any little noise gets amplified quite a bit, so seemingly insignificant noises become, uh, interesting.

The whistling that I had with my amp was an incorrect wiring.  It created a ground loop, and the noise that is filtered off by the electrolytics was seeping back into the signal chain.  It whistled, howled, sort of delayed, and sounded a lot like feedback.  Imagine that, a signal that was feeding back into the signal chain sounded like feedback...  If it is a new amp, this obviously should not be happening.  But, you might take some time, and a shop vac, and vacuum up any dust/debris that might have gotten into the amp from shipping before giving up.  There might be an oddball chance something is causing a circuit bending short that makes the noise.  Tube amps are finicky but when they get comfy they really do sound incredible.
Patrick

 
To the OP: Your only choices are a Peavey or a Line6?  :icon_scratch: :icon_scratch:
 
Actually I decided to go with a Vox Valvetronix after playing one instead.  I had a line 6 a few years ago and really liked it.  I know it solid state, bla bla they all suck, whatever.  I don't play out and it sounds good enough for my ears.  The Valvetronix has one tube preamp and sounded good enough for me, I really wanted to get back to a tube amp again but I decided I"m fine with the vox and it's even cheaper than what I was originally looking for.  Thanks for the replies and I would suggest staying away from the peavey windsor studio's, two bad ones in a row sounds like there are probably a lot more out there.
 
I have a vox valvetronix and it's great for what it is. Good choice. I think if you swapped out the speaker it would probably sound even better.
 
tfarny said:
My Blackheart just started broadcasting conservative talk radio while I had it turned on and the cord just touching the inside of the jack. When I touched the strings, it was a really clear signal, so I guess the strings and I worked as a big antenna. Very very odd to hear your amp say "Next up we'll talk abut the global warming hysteria and why it's just a fantasy concocted by the liberal media"...... :help: :help:

The Loose Goose pizzeria had an old tyme jukebox - back in the 70's, that used to pick up the police radios~  Tell me THAT wasn't a trip!  Then again, that whole place was a trip.  I miss it.
 
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