Hi, I purchased a new Weber Signature speaker (4 ohms, 15 amps) and put it in the Tode. I checked all the connections to the speaker, to the external speaker jack (in the back) and to the right side front jack- re-soldered some of them. With the Tode cranked all the way up, (max Brake, max Crunchy, Flat) the Tode spits and crackles, and even cuts out completely. Interestingly enough, as everything warmed up (7-10 minutes later) the cut-out became almost non-existent and the spitting and crackling also was pretty nearly gone. When I plug into a separate speaker cabinet, none of this problem manifests. That would seem to tell me that the problem is somewhere from the external speaker plug to the speaker. But it's a brand-new speaker. I don't think the speaker is defective right out of the box. All the soldering joints are firm, and I re-soldered all the ones that seemed iffy, so I'm now at a quandry. Bad speaker? Any guesses?
Later... I found the problem. The E86 tube was shaking in its sockets and the loose connection(s) were causing the crackling, spitting and cut-out. I found the problem when I began to tap the Tode, and the problem would go away. I traced the source of the vibration to the EF86 tube. I pulled the tube out and very carefully bent out the prongs just a little bit on the bottom of the tube and re-inserted it- problem gone! I think the reason I didn't have the problem at low volume, or with the external speaker, was because the tube wouldn't vibrate that much at either the lower setting or with the internal speaker cut-out (plugged into the external speaker).
