Bootlehead crack speedball [resolved]

[Applemacman]

Im having issues with the bootlehead woth speedball, after having this working over a month im experiencing hissing, cracks pops and sometimes the loss of one channel. I did the chop stick test and found some joints would make noise when banged. So resoldered them but im still suffering from these really irritaing pops hisses and buzzes. Any help would be greatly appreciated?

[Paul Birkeland]

I would suspect you still have some solder joints that need to be touched up.  Are your DC voltages correct?

[Applemacman]

Yes after building the unit they were ok, should these be checked again?

[Paul Birkeland]

Yes.

[Applemacman]

In respects of rhe dry joints are you able to point me in a direction bearing in mind my issues mesing would they be in a specific area, eg which has cayse the loss if the right channel?

[Paul Birkeland]

The best answer is to do all of them.  I can reflow all the joints in a stock Crack in under 20 minutes, and a Speedball with a Crack in about 30 minutes.  The only ones I wouldn't reflow are the ones on the power switch and the pins on the 9 pin socket with the LEDs.

Otherwise knowing the voltages would be very helpful in narrowing down where this issue might be.

[Applemacman]

Sorry was a bit busy with work, well when I built the amp with the speedball the voltages were ok. After using a month im now getting the below reading and some are higher than they should be.

1.  70.3 Volts
2.  159 Volts
3.   0 volts
4.   159 Volts
5.   155 volts
6.    0 Volts
7.    95.7 volts
8.    0 Volts
9.    158 Volts
10.   0 vilts

5 and 9 concern me alot they are way above the figure shown.

[Paul Birkeland]

Those voltages indicate a likely issue with the small Speedball board.  Most frequently I would expect to see that kind of issue when the center leg of the MJE-350 on the offending side isn't soldered well enough.

[Applemacman]

Thanks mate for the advice now voltages are in correct range. This weekend I will reflow the solder joints throughout to see if i can fix the crackling and poping noises, will let you know.

[Applemacman]

Ok want to thank paul Birkeland for all the help.

I have seem to resolved the issues of the cracking and poping sounds. I was reading elsewhere and must admit didnt think about it. The pins on the vacuum tube that came with the amp kit were absolutely dirty I gave them a good cleaning and the cracking and popping sounds have gone.

So if you expeience this issue try cleaning the pins of the valve.