Weird Blues Junior problem--any suggestions?

[fuddy duddy]

I've had my Blues Junior almost a year--got it used from a friend. Within the last few weeks, it started making farty, crackly noises--just randomly--sometimes it was fine, other times, it would make the crackles.

So I decided to change the power tubes (EL84s). I decided just the EL84s because when I would touch them, they would fart, but the 12AX7s would not. So I replaced the power tubes with JJs. I still get the crackles, and what is weird is that the tube on the left side glows really hot--a lot hotter than the right side, and just within a couple minutes. It's not just the wires that glow--it's the whole silvery sheet thing inside. I don't get it.

Any suggestions?

 

[fuddy duddy]

bump

 

[SLBlues]

Try this: put the old tubes back in, being very careful to be sure the pin alignment is correct. See if that takes care of the glowing prob. If not, better take to an amp tech. If so, unplug the speaker jack, clean the jack plug, reconnect to see if that will take care of the crackle problems. Other than that, I really can't help much.

 

[myles111]

Make sure the new output duet is a fresh matched pair and stay with the same color code as the originals as these are one of the few fixed bias EL84 amps on the planet.

 

[GearHeadFred]

Sounds like one tube is 'red plating', which means it is dissipating too much power. If you're not comfortable working on amps, I suggest you take it to a tech.

 

[killer blues]

page Billm on the FDP in the amp mods section