New set tubes but something's wrong

Riff Blister · Oct 30, 2009

Hey guys,

This has never happened to me before.
About a month ago I bought a used Budda Superdrive II 45 amp.
I figured I should put a new set of power and preamp tubes in it and start fresh.
I ordered a set via Doug's like I have done before.
After about a hour of playing with the new set the amp started to make crackling /sputtering sounds. It seams to come and go.
Did I get a bad one? My guess would be preamp but I'm not sure.
Any ideas?

Riff

fishyfishfish · Nov 2, 2009

Start swapping out pre amp tubes one at a time with the old ones. I have had this happen several times when experimenting with a batch of pre's I got from a NOS dealer. (Way cheep) Try tapping on the tubes lightly witha pencil and listen for any weirdness. The power tubes should be dead quiet when tapped on.
The joys of a re-tube.

Riff Blister · Nov 4, 2009

I think I'm going to be OK.
I took a preamp tube that I know is in good condition and one by one started to swap them out. Still sputtering.
The I took out the new KT66s and put the old ones back in. Silence! Hmmmm. I tried a combination of new and old and still no static sounds.
I went back to all new and it sounds great. I'll keep and ear out and see if it happens again but so far so good.
Could it just have been a bad contact between one the power tube pins and socket?
The old tubes were Groove Tubes which are shipped from the Budda factory when the amp is new. I suspect they had been in the amp for a few years.

Oh, and by the way this amp is sounding really awesome. You may want to give one a test drive some day if you come across one.

Riff

MusicManJP6 · Nov 4, 2009

I've heard you are supposed to take the tube in and out several times when doing a re-tube (especially if it's been a while) to clean the tube sockets. By removing/inserting tubes several times you might have done that inadvertently.