Lonestar Classic Noise Problem

[gui7ars]

My Lonestar Classic 2X12 was my first tube amp. Love the cleans but bought a BB Preamp to get a little more versatility and drive out of the gain channel. I'm relatively happy with the tone but with the gain and level at about 10 o'clock on the BB Preamp and totally dimed on the gain and drive on channel 2, the noise (hum) is unbearable. No delay tails at all as they're consumed in the loud hum / noise. I tried swapping out the V1 and V2 preamp tubes with the V5 and V4 but that didn't help. I also tried the 50 / 100 Watt setting on Ch. 2 as well as the Tweed / Full power setting. Without the BB Preamp, it's still pretty noisy but obviously not quite as bad.

I'm guessing I should obtain some new preamp tubes but was curious as to what other's experiences are with the LSC & BB Preamp. Is this likely just tubes or do I perhaps have a larger and more serious issue?

Any thoughts / help appreciated.

Randy

 

[lefttygtr]

I am no expert but here are a couple of things to consider and try out. First any tube amp even good ones can be noisy when you dime out the gain channel. Two when you add a preamp that will contribute to any noise problem you may have. Three what kind of guitar are you using, is it a single coil or humbucker. If it is single coil they can and will be noisy when using a lot of gain as you are using. I would try to first eliminate each one of these things one at a time to determine where the noise is coming from. It may wind up being that when the gain channel is dimmed it creates some noise. Oh yeah and one last thing I am guessing the noise is more noticeable when you stop playing as opposed to when you are playing. Some tube amps are just that way and one way to get rid of the noise when you stop playing is to turn down the guitar volume. A lot of guitar players do this.

 

[gui7ars]

Lefty,

Thanks for the reply. I should have clarified. The amp is extremely noisy, even with humbuckers. Check out the mp3 below for an example of what I'm talking about. This was recorded with my EBMM JP-6 with stock Dimarzios.

http://www.lintzland.com/music/LSC_noise.mp3

In this example, I go from clean, clean with BB at about 10 'oclock gain and level, crunch, crunch with BB. Also, even with the guitar volume turned completely off, the noise persists...

I completely understand that more gain equals more noise. I'm just trying to determine if what I'm experiencing is within expectations or if swapping tubes would help... The noise is such that even a noise gate can't really help because of the level of the noise...

Again - all help, thoughts, feedback is really appreciated.

Randy

 

[ur86d]

Gui7ars,

Sorry for the interruption, I don't have any advice to help you. But could you answer this question for me ? In that clip, does the lonestar have 6l6's in the power section?

 

[lefttygtr]

Ok I hear what you are talking about. Does some of the noise go away when you turn off the BB. It almost sounds like maybe a ground issue. How does the gain channel sound when you lower the gain amount, is the noise still there but softer? It could be something in the amp or like I said a ground issue with the amp. Make sure it is plugged into a separate outlet or separate surge protector then what your effects or any thing else you may be running is plugged into. Sometimes these things are hard to trouble shoot. If none of these suggestions works then try one thing at a time like different guitar, different setting etc. Each time you change something take notice to the sound, sometimes that way you may find what is causing the problem. Believe it or not it may wind up being something real stupid that you never thought of. I had an amp that was real noisy or so I thought, I was only noticing it when the gain was up but it turned out that it was too close to my computer monitor and it was causing some interference. If nothing works then yeah maybe you should take the amp in to be looked at.

 

[gui7ars]

Gui7ars,

Sorry for the interruption, I don't have any advice to help you. But could you answer this question for me ? In that clip, does the lonestar have 6l6's in the power section?

Yup - stock Boogie tubes for now.

 

[ur86d]

Thanks Gui7ars. And for what it's worth, lefttygtr's thoughts about the ground sounds logical to me as well. Does the noise lessen, when you touch the strings?