So I just picked up a Princeton Reverb this evening that had basically been sitting in a closet for 30 years (it's true, it really does happen).
I turned it on and once you get the volume above about 2-3, horrible static/farting bursts start blowing through the speaker. I was thinking (hoping) it was just a tube problem. You could tap on the pre tubes and occasionally that would start light static noise (or stop light static noise) and some it was like hitting a tuning fork and a shrill tone just shot out of the speaker (with the volume all the way off).
I swapped out the preamp tubes en masse with some that I know are working, and the problem was still there (not as much with the microphonic tapping, but loud bursts of static that were only there during playing over 2-3, especially with bassier notes). I plugged the speaker into another amp and the speaker seems ok.
I took some 6V6 tubes out of an old Deluxe that I have (these tubes are likely even older though...) and didn't help. And didn't have another rectifier tube like this amp had.
Does this sound like a power (likely not) but maybe rectifier tube problem?
Anything else I can do to try and diagnose? I don't have a good amp tech too near me and would like to eliminate some easy possibilities before paying a bunch to go get it fixed somewhere. Thanks.
I turned it on and once you get the volume above about 2-3, horrible static/farting bursts start blowing through the speaker. I was thinking (hoping) it was just a tube problem. You could tap on the pre tubes and occasionally that would start light static noise (or stop light static noise) and some it was like hitting a tuning fork and a shrill tone just shot out of the speaker (with the volume all the way off).
I swapped out the preamp tubes en masse with some that I know are working, and the problem was still there (not as much with the microphonic tapping, but loud bursts of static that were only there during playing over 2-3, especially with bassier notes). I plugged the speaker into another amp and the speaker seems ok.
I took some 6V6 tubes out of an old Deluxe that I have (these tubes are likely even older though...) and didn't help. And didn't have another rectifier tube like this amp had.
Does this sound like a power (likely not) but maybe rectifier tube problem?
Anything else I can do to try and diagnose? I don't have a good amp tech too near me and would like to eliminate some easy possibilities before paying a bunch to go get it fixed somewhere. Thanks.
