Static in left ear of new crack build, any help would be greatly appreciated!

[ajbar]

Hey All,

I just recently built a crack amplifier and am having trouble with noise in my left ear. After about 30 seconds of turning on my bottlehead crack I get a static and popping sound in my left ear. The static/crackling sound goes in and out. I replaced both tubes with a new set but am still having trouble with the sound. Does anyone have any suggestions? I appreciate all help! Thank you in advance.

-Andrew

[thdewitt]

From what I have seen you should. First check for connections that you may have forgot to solder. Second you should reflow (reheat) the solder connections to make sure they are good joints.  You do not need to add more solder.  Since you have already checked the tubes, that is most likely the problem.

[ajbar]

I checked my solder joints and they all seem to be solid. Would it make a difference that the white rca jack wobbles more than the right rca jack on the underside of the amp? The solder connection is good to the white rca jack. I also noticed that the white rca cable fit is looser than the red rca cable plug when I plug it in.

[Nathan]

Reflow your joints- don't just look at them. You can still have a cold joint that looks ok. I had a similar issue. I also missed one solder joint entirely on the 9 pin socket. 

Since finding the missed joint and reflowing all the other joints I could reasonably reach, my crack had been very very quiet

[Paul Birkeland]

Would it make a difference that the white rca jack wobbles more than the right rca jack on the underside of the amp? The solder connection is good to the white rca jack. I also noticed that the white rca cable fit is looser than the red rca cable plug when I plug it in.

If the noise persists with the level control all the way down, then you can ignore this inconsistency.

As has been mentioned, most of the time this is a solder joint that needs to be reheated to properly flow around the pertinent component leads.

-PB