Post by chimpo on Jan 19, 2020 5:45:52 GMT -5
I bought a Fender ’57 Deluxe RI way back in 2004. It was a dream amp, expensive and rarely played because of a host of problems. It started of reasonably OK except for speaker fart that eventually went away once the speaker broke in. Over time it developed the following random problems:
- Fluctuating volumes associated with the following noises sometimes, some times not.
- A weird static like distortion that trailed of after certain notes were played. Varied a little bit but generally the same positions on the neck did this, but not always. Could have sounded like microphonic tubes but I was unsure.
- Random static, hissy, farty distortion that increased randomly in volume. Happened at all volumes, and when it did the amp became unplayable.
- A muddy low-level hiss that randomly appeared, sometimes in conjunction with the other symptoms, sometimes not.
So, for 16 years the amp got little play, which frustrated the hell out of me. Over time I spoke to a number of “amp techs” at various guitar stores. I did not allow any of them to touch my amp because all of them were arrogant, talked down to me like I was dumb, and I sensed I would get ripped of with no result. No way was I going hand over money to any of them. In the meantime I researched and did the following troubleshooting:
- Changed all valves and rectifier tube with known good ones.
- Applied power and poked components with a chopstick to check for bad solder joints.
- Closely inspected for dodgy solder joints.
- Inspected for leaky capacitors, loose connections, transformers for condition and security, Valve sockets for security, burnt components, dressing of cables and everything else I could think of.
- Loosened the speaker and re-tightened without over doing it.
- Inspected and cleaned the four input jack sockets.
- Cleaned the pots as best I could.
- Cleaned the valve sockets.
- Inspected the cabinet for a loose baffle, badly fitted cloth and any other physical condition that could cause unwanted vibration.
- Had my wife play a guitar while I physically touched components (safely, off course) to see if I could dampen potential causes of vibration.
So, about two weeks ago I stumbled across an amp tech (whose business focus is on fixing amps and pedals, not working in a guitar shop as a general dogs body) that I trusted, charged a very reasonable rate and doesn’t stuff around wasting sweet time trying to locate a problem. Voltages checked, physical checks, valves tested, all the standard stuff a good tech would do. So the fault that caused the problem was:
- A very slightly bent extension speaker output jack that opened and closed enough when the amp was in use causing the volume fluctuations and weird noises.
Even though my inspections were thorough I totally missed it because it was so not obvious.
I am now extremely happy and the amp sounds wonderful in all it’s glory. I'm catching up with lost time and putting miles on it.
This is posted for future reference as a record for those that may experience weird 5E3 problems and hopefully may help someone.
- Fluctuating volumes associated with the following noises sometimes, some times not.
- A weird static like distortion that trailed of after certain notes were played. Varied a little bit but generally the same positions on the neck did this, but not always. Could have sounded like microphonic tubes but I was unsure.
- Random static, hissy, farty distortion that increased randomly in volume. Happened at all volumes, and when it did the amp became unplayable.
- A muddy low-level hiss that randomly appeared, sometimes in conjunction with the other symptoms, sometimes not.
So, for 16 years the amp got little play, which frustrated the hell out of me. Over time I spoke to a number of “amp techs” at various guitar stores. I did not allow any of them to touch my amp because all of them were arrogant, talked down to me like I was dumb, and I sensed I would get ripped of with no result. No way was I going hand over money to any of them. In the meantime I researched and did the following troubleshooting:
- Changed all valves and rectifier tube with known good ones.
- Applied power and poked components with a chopstick to check for bad solder joints.
- Closely inspected for dodgy solder joints.
- Inspected for leaky capacitors, loose connections, transformers for condition and security, Valve sockets for security, burnt components, dressing of cables and everything else I could think of.
- Loosened the speaker and re-tightened without over doing it.
- Inspected and cleaned the four input jack sockets.
- Cleaned the pots as best I could.
- Cleaned the valve sockets.
- Inspected the cabinet for a loose baffle, badly fitted cloth and any other physical condition that could cause unwanted vibration.
- Had my wife play a guitar while I physically touched components (safely, off course) to see if I could dampen potential causes of vibration.
So, about two weeks ago I stumbled across an amp tech (whose business focus is on fixing amps and pedals, not working in a guitar shop as a general dogs body) that I trusted, charged a very reasonable rate and doesn’t stuff around wasting sweet time trying to locate a problem. Voltages checked, physical checks, valves tested, all the standard stuff a good tech would do. So the fault that caused the problem was:
- A very slightly bent extension speaker output jack that opened and closed enough when the amp was in use causing the volume fluctuations and weird noises.
Even though my inspections were thorough I totally missed it because it was so not obvious.
I am now extremely happy and the amp sounds wonderful in all it’s glory. I'm catching up with lost time and putting miles on it.
This is posted for future reference as a record for those that may experience weird 5E3 problems and hopefully may help someone.