The Chetboard

I have a great old Fender Princeton Reverb amp that I bought new in the early 70s. Recently, it has developed a "frying" or crackling noise, not loud, but noticeable. Anyone have any experience at solving this type problem?
The amp sounds really good with my NC and I'd like to keep it in use. By the way, today when I noticed the "frying" noise, it also seemed that my reverb faded out. Thanks in advance for your input.

FILTER CAPS . . .

Don't worry about it. Turn it up.









I kid. Could be a lot of things on amp that age. Take it in for a check up.

Thanks for your input. The fellow I've used for tube amp service in years gone by has now closed up his shop and is out of business. Anyone acquainted with a good tube amp man in the area on the eastern side of Atlanta?

Greg Butler wrote:Thanks for your input. The fellow I've used for tube amp service in years gone by has now closed up his shop and is out of business. Anyone acquainted with a good tube amp man in the area on the eastern side of Atlanta?

Psssssssssssssttt . . . I'm gonna letya in ona secret, so, put yer ear up REAL CLOSE to your monitor . . .

If you know the guy's name, git out yer PHONE BOOK and LOOK HIM UP ! ! !

CUZ the reason he's outta business is that:
A. He retired
B. He closed up due to electronics BEING DISPOSABLE these days
C. He sold out

Alotta old-timers who'd retired GET BORED, and are ALWAYS looking for SWEET JOBS to occupy their time, bringing in some cash on the side . . .

Happy hunting . . .

FYI Greg..........My buddy has a "Grand old Fender Vibrolux" early '70's that has fried and fizzled for years and the reverb faded on him a couple of times but came back.

Roger Pratt wrote:FYI Greg..........My buddy has a "Grand old Fender Vibrolux" early '70's that has fried and fizzled for years and the reverb faded on him a couple of times but came back and he swears that he saw smoke coming out of it once but it carries on day in day out and sounds wonderful. I would do nothing until I was forced to. I have heard of people having amps re-capped and tubed and they never sounded the same again. Just my $0.02 worth FWIW.

"and he swears that he saw smoke coming out"

ME talking now . . . If you see SMOKE -STOP using it RIGHT THEN & NOW ! ! !

"I would do nothing until I was forced to."

YAH, Tell that to the Fire Marshal ! ! !

I'd try replacing the tubes before anything else. They get noisy when they don't feel well. And on a tube amp that is frequently the cause of "noises."

And even if that does not fix it....you have eliminated tubes as a cause...and have some fresh ones for many hours to come.

You may just want to try cleaning the tube pins, they can get dirty and make intermitent
conection to the socket, Just try removing tubes re inserting a few times, if you have some contact
cleaner spray some in the sockets.. Dirty pots- volume ,tone can also cause frying noise..

Good Luck, Chuck

Greg,
Call Bill at Musicmenders. His number is 770-313-3698. He is a good tube amp repairman. He has worked on all three of my tube amps and has always done a good job. After you call Bill, drop your amp off at Gwinnet Music in Lawrenceville and it will be repaired in a matter of days.
Good Luck.
Jim Prater