[Resolved] Consistent two channel low humming regardless of volume [resolved]

donkeywalker · 1027

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Offline donkeywalker

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I've been suing a non-speedball 1.1 crack for a few months now. When I first put it together, there is no hum, after a while, it develops a low humming noise which sometimes would go away after I knock on the wood enclosure pretty hard (I would hear a blip buzz then hummin stops). But that method doesn't work anymore, no matter how I knock on the wood, the humming continues at the same low level. A few details about the hum:

- The humming starts right away after the unit is powered up, and stops when the unit powers down, regardless of the music playing or not
- The humming sounds in the 100-200hz region, it's moderately loud, and stays the same loudness from low to max volume.
- The humming doesn't interfere the music, even when playing very loud music, the hum stays there almost like a separate instrument, other the hum, there is no significant change in the sound signature for the rest of the music
- Other than the hum, there is no crack or popping sound whatsoever
- My two red leds on the power tube is lit as usual

I thought there might be something loose, but I can't visually see anything that's loose, or touching
« Last Edit: June 27, 2021, 03:57:12 PM by donkeywalker »



Offline Paul Birkeland

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Reply #1 on: June 27, 2021, 01:39:41 PM
There are two paths you can take if you have a noise that changes if you knock on the amp.

1.  Reflow all of your solder joints (other than the power switch and LEDs on the 9 pin socket).  This takes about 10 minutes, it's no big deal.

2.  Plug a cheap pair of headphones into your amp and poke around with a wooden chopstick to see if you can create the noise by poking something, then focus your reflowing efforts there.

Paul "PB" Birkeland

Bottlehead Grunt & The Repro Man


Offline donkeywalker

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Reply #2 on: June 27, 2021, 03:51:43 PM
Wow, it didn't take me 10 min, more like 45 mins, but I discovered a lose wire from the bigger tube and now there is no more hum and is dead quiet!! Thanks Paul