Tube Amp Archive

Another quick update. I played the amp for about an hour. When I went to take the chassis out 2 hours later I noticed the transformers were still warm to touch. Not hot definitely warm. Is that normal? Yes, as Roe notes. Dense, heavy things like transformers have a big thermal "capacitance", so the...

Any ideas what would cause crackle when removing guitar cable?

Roe wrote: ↑Sun Jul 06, 2025 7:55 pm

psychic fuzz wrote: ↑Sun Jul 06, 2025 7:36 pm I know literally nothing about matchless Amps. Still learning. Do you suggest I change that value?

NO!

I wont! Lol

I know literally nothing about matchless Amps. Still learning. Do you suggest I change that value?

Another quick update. I played the amp for about an hour. When I went to take the chassis out 2 hours later I noticed the transformers were still warm to touch. Not hot definitely warm. Is that normal? Here are some pics. Apologies for the bad lighting. IMG_0627.jpg IMG_0626.jpg IMG_0623.jpg IMG_062...

It’s not your input Jack. This new info that you posted up about hearing the guitar lightly even in the off position and along with the crackling issue points directly to a bad standby switch period! You should replace it with a double pole single throw switch ( DPST type) that you wire up each sid...

Stevem wrote: ↑Thu Jun 26, 2025 10:58 pm Jump out the switch with clip leads and then does the amp still crackle?

Hey sorry for the delay in response. How do I go about doing that? Never done before thanks!

My first amp I built was that amp kit and I still have it too. One thing I would also check is the input jacks and the fx. Loop jacks. There was a period where Nik was the victim of receiving some fake Cliff Jacks that resulted in reduced connectivity within the jack connectors over time. Interesti...

It could be any number of things . For starters. Does the issue take place right away, or does the amp have to warm up some ? If it uses carbon Comp resistors then one of the plate load resistors might be going south. If one is going bad then you might as well shot gun it and replace all the plate ...

Hey all, Just recently purchased a used Ceriatone DZ30 Matchless HC30 clone and a couple issues have popped up. 1) Starting to get a crackle from input 1 of the EF86 channel. Sometimes it happens while I'm playing and other times it happens if I unplug the cable from jack while "on". 2) Output level...

Stevem wrote: ↑Thu Apr 10, 2025 1:46 pm Does the bottom of the cabinet have a metal shield plate that the chassis captures when it’s screwed down,
Or at least foil glued to the the bottom?

Just left the house I can't remember sorry, but was having the same issue with the chassis in the combo cab

Hey yall Picked up this Hiwatt Lead 50r from GC that I bought online. It arrived with some issues unfortunately. There is a buzz. It does go away if I turn Master down, other pots dont effect it. I did notice if I poke the grey cable shield with all the clip-in wires, it does effect buzz. Doesn't st...

Did a quick bias probe and getting around 440v-ish plate voltage. Using master volume and cranking gain, it's a kind of an unpleasant tweedish/bassman distortion. (Not the nice expensive vintage kind). I think some tweaks to the EQ will help that. You can dial in some decent fuzzy tones, but bass ne...

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That ground lug is wild! You might try adding global negative feedback to tighten things up a bit? You might also want to change the master volume to post phase inverter if you add a negative feedback loop. I know it’s insane! Also Per someone else suggestion I’m going to rewire the ground switch a...