Possibly fixing my buzz..

[Peace]

Hey guys.

I have an RK II...

For a while now I've had this eensy-weensy, just enough to drive you insane, underlying buzz in my amp.. It can only be heard when you hit a note but it's there and I'm sure guitarists and boogie owners would agree with me if they had the opportunity to check it out for themselves..... It IS there, I'm not crazy....
I've tried new strings.
I've tried a variety of different guitars and it's there on each.
It's in every channel,
in every mode,
and in every tube combination.
It's there whether I have effects running
or I'm just running straight into the amp with nothing else.
Every cord I use is a Monster.
It is not a bad speaker. At least to the best of my knowledge anyway. I don't have another cab to plug into to COMPLETELY rule that out but I have the RoadKing cab and the faint buzz can be heard in the A and B sides seperately and of course together.
I've talked to Boogie about it and they sent me a couple of preamp tubes and advised me to call them back after getting them. The only thing is I won't be able to do that for about a week due to my work schedule and East and West time zones.
I'm anxious to jump into checking out the preamp tubes but I'm not sure how I should do it and be sure that I do it properly and it will be effective.

Would someone please give me some step by step instructions on how I should go about doing this?

Is it as simple as powering the amp down, pulling one tube out and slapping another one in?

Any particulars? I don't want to screw something up and/or violate any warranty stuff..

I'd really appreciate some expirienced feedback on this topic. This little dinky buzz drives me absolutlely insane and really makes me angry considering the pricetag....... I'd really like to get it fixed...

Thank you VERY MUCH, in advance.
I do appreciate the help.

Peace

 

[NoGlassNoClass]

It's in every channel,
in every mode,
and in every tube combination.
It's there whether I have effects running
or I'm just running straight into the amp with nothing else.


Is it as simple as powering the amp down, pulling one tube out and slapping another one in?

Any particulars? I don't want to screw something up and/or violate any warranty stuff..

+1 on your diagnostics...you have eliminated just about everything so I'm gonna say the preamp tube in the V1 position (check your manual, but it should be the one closest to the input jack on the front of the amp)

Yep, just shut it down (wait a few minutes...the tubes are HOT). To remove the metal shields over the preamp tubes just twist them until they spring up. Careful installing new tube...they only fit one way, and the pins are easy to bend.

Start swapping the preamp tubes with the new ones, one at a time starting with V1 until you find the problem.

IMO Mesa preamp tubes are kinda buzzy to begin with (the Sovtek "Russian 2" they used to use anyway). I think the newer amps are shipping with the 9th gen Chinese 12AX7's which I have never tried. Trying other brands may help with the noise, and can help fine-tune your tone, but voids the warranty.

 

[khudsonjr]

Is the buzz coming from the sound (like amplified through the speaker)? Perhaps it is a bad tube somewhere in the line. That would be your easiest fix. Or if a combo amp, does it seem to be more of sympathetic buzz? Perhaps tubes rattling or chassis vibrating in the cabinet creating a buzz? Check out both...

 

[jbird]

I may be looking at the power source! Possibly a fix via power conditioning! :idea:

 

[ylo]

Your description sounds to me like a noisy V1 preamp tube. My new LSS did this right out of the box.

Change V1 first.

 

[Peace]

well........ what a pain in the *** that was.....

I've systematically changed each preamp tube one at a time and I still hear the buzz when I strike notes.....

I don't know what to do.... I may go through it all one more time...

I love this amp and at the same time think it's the biggest piece of **** I've ever fucking wasted money on....

I'm absolutely beside myself and at a fucking loss here.....

There was nothing overly apparent as far as potential red flags that any one tube might be a bad tube. I saw no cracks or anything like that. Not exactly sure what else I MIGHT look for that would cue me into a preamp tube being "bad" but nothing jumped out at me.. If you have any tips in this area let me know... I'll probably give it all one more run down with the tube swapping.

I'm completely disappointed.

 

[Platypus]

Not to say you didn't check the cables... but I've found Monster cables to be among the worst I've ever used, WAY noisier than most and a total loss of high and low end definition of tone (my experience).

Before you go nuts it might be worth trying some different cables if you haven't already. Sometimes cables just go bad.

 

[broknstuff]

to be honest, I found my dual recto buzzy too, and is a common complaint among the rectifier series. I can hear it when I play single notes, but when I play chords it sounds huge and seems to completley go away (or more likely, just blend in but in a very pleasing way). I hope you find a fix because sometimes for single note playing I'd like to get the buzz out (although when playing live and with a drummer that seems to disappear with the cymbols). Best of luck!

Also at what volumes are you playing this? These amps aren't really bedroom all stars, and have found that the buzzyness goes away substantially as you turn up the volume. But if your just using it to practice, I don't know if it's worth any possible heairng loss (i'm a bit paranoid about that kind of stuff)

 

[CudBucket]

to be honest, I found my dual recto buzzy too, and is a common complaint among the rectifier series. I can hear it when I play single notes, but when I play chords it sounds huge and seems to completley go away (or more likely, just blend in but in a very pleasing way). I hope you find a fix because sometimes for single note playing I'd like to get the buzz out (although when playing live and with a drummer that seems to disappear with the cymbols). Best of luck!

Also at what volumes are you playing this? These amps aren't really bedroom all stars, and have found that the buzzyness goes away substantially as you turn up the volume. But if your just using it to practice, I don't know if it's worth any possible heairng loss (i'm a bit paranoid about that kind of stuff)

All good points. Can you record a clip?

 

[broknstuff]

to be honest, I found my dual recto buzzy too, and is a common complaint among the rectifier series. I can hear it when I play single notes, but when I play chords it sounds huge and seems to completley go away (or more likely, just blend in but in a very pleasing way). I hope you find a fix because sometimes for single note playing I'd like to get the buzz out (although when playing live and with a drummer that seems to disappear with the cymbols). Best of luck!

Also at what volumes are you playing this? These amps aren't really bedroom all stars, and have found that the buzzyness goes away substantially as you turn up the volume. But if your just using it to practice, I don't know if it's worth any possible heairng loss (i'm a bit paranoid about that kind of stuff)

All good points. Can you record a clip?

Actually my band is working on a demo and I should hopefully be laying down some tracks this weekend, I'll see if I can get some clips. I've lately switched to a 2x12 because of size (although still have the 4x12 adn can't wait to use it again), and the 2x12 is a CAE and is a very tight cab, and almost feels like it 'fixes' the problem a bit. I'll see if I can get some clips up of that, but I can't promise anything. Mainly I think once your playing with a band, especially with another guitarist and drums, it's far less noticable. I guess it's something I just learned to live with and since I'm mainly a rhythem player anyway, it works out fine. (Although I am trying to do more leads, even then I still play rhythem most of the way through the songs).

One trick I found is to turn down the gain and make up for the volume loss by using more master volume, and that improved my sound overall and smoothened/tightened this up.

 

[Peace]

to be honest, I found my dual recto buzzy too, and is a common complaint among the rectifier series. I can hear it when I play single notes, but when I play chords it sounds huge and seems to completley go away (or more likely, just blend in but in a very pleasing way). I hope you find a fix because sometimes for single note playing I'd like to get the buzz out (although when playing live and with a drummer that seems to disappear with the cymbols). Best of luck!

Also at what volumes are you playing this? These amps aren't really bedroom all stars, and have found that the buzzyness goes away substantially as you turn up the volume. But if your just using it to practice, I don't know if it's worth any possible heairng loss (i'm a bit paranoid about that kind of stuff)

All good points. Can you record a clip?

I have a few clips here but you can't really hear what I'm talking about in these clips.. There are one or two areas, particularly in the first clip, that you MIGHT hear what I'm talking about but it's only glaringly apparent to me because I have to live with and listen to this piece of **** everytime I play it.

And it dosn't matter what volume I'm playing at. I've tried it all acrossed the board. It's there, regardless of volume and it doesn't seem like it will every go away.

I'll be surprised if you hear anything in those clips. I don't have any real equipment to record with.

 

[Peace]

What are some other, not so in your face obvious, signs of potentially bad preamp tubes?

 

[GuitarCarr]

Ok, this may sound silly but I had a buzz in my rectoverb and it was driving me nuts. I went through many of the things you tried only to find out it was the handle(I have a combo) on the top of the amp that was buzzing.
I pulled the handle up real hard a few times so that it was no touching the cabinet and then........no buzz.

 

[daveythomas]

I think I hear the buzz sound.

Have you tried moving it to another location like another room? My RKII buzzes the light bulbs in the room I usually play in.

How about leaning the amp slighlty forward or back.

I like the suggstion about the handle.

Would be good to rule out something physically vibrating like a loose screw.

 

[jackieTHEjokeman]

It's a "feature".

Why would you want to get rid of your buzz? I plan on having a four-day weekend buzz coming up.

 

[Finnster]

I thought my 2X12 Roadster was buzzing....but I realized it was the buttons on the foot-controller buzzing/vibrating. It sounds so simple but I was sure it was coming out of the amp....

 

[Peace]

I'll tell ya man.....

I still got my problem... so far anyway....

but you guys are freakin' great for genuinely offering up some suggestions..... I really do appreciate it.....

just thought I'd go a little "brokeback" on you all for a moment and let you know I appreciate the info......

I'll check out some of the other things you've mentioned and get back to you about it. Hopefully it will disappear.

Any other tips on signs of bad preamp tubes?

 

[broknstuff]

Maybe are the tubes themselves a bit loose? The other guitarist in my band got some buzzing from his tubes being loose and shaking while it was on the cab. And good point about the lightbulbs, when I fired it up in my room to open up the volume a bit it shook pretty much the whole room, but in our drummer's rehersal area it wasn't a problem at all.

 

[Peace]

This past weekend my band was scheduled to play a two nighter at a new place for us. It was our first weekend there and we really wanted to make a good impression because the place is cool and we wanted to be invited back and thrown into the "rotation" if you will......

Well, I was working through the weekend which meant that my bandmates, two guys (drummer & bassist) were going to have to lug and set up all my stuff so, to make it simple we were going to use my, DARE I SAY IT HERE, Line 6 Flextone III, gasp :shock: ..... A good amp but no tube amp and even though I do like the amp it pretty much drove me back to tubes... There's just a few somethings missing.. Anyway, it's very convienient and simple when people are setting up for you. So the Flex was set up. I thought, at the time, I wasn't quite ready to use the RK... I wanted to be completely available for setup and etc and not be rushed and **** when using the expensive and potentially complex RK II....

So, anyway, an extension cab was plugged into the Flex, and inadvertently set to the wrong ohms..... About 4 or 5 tunes into the first set my guitar cut out completely and I smelled something electrical burning... So, the Flex is basically a paperweight now......

My house was like 7 miutes away.. The bassist cleared all my gear and me and the drummer raced to my housed and grabbed the RK II and the RK 4x12. I also took a wah, a delay and of course all of the needed cables... We were back, set up and playing again in about a total of 35 to 40 minutes..

All of my concerns with the "buzz" in my RK II are gone... I didn't use every channel that night but man that amp sounded so good sometimes I went off into a trance in the middle of playing just thinking and listening to how great it sounded.... I was holding off on using it full go because I really wanted to be kind of educated with it before using it... I was basically forced into using it that night and man I am SO glad I did....

It sounded incredible.... I don't know if my amp has a "buzz" or not anymore but I can tell you using it gave me one.. I was extremely impressed that night... Both nights were great... The Mesa kicked major ***...
Not real happy that my other amp is dead cause now I gotta lug more crap to and from practice. Hopefully I can get it fixed at a low cost.

The Mesa sounded incredible. It's been a little love/hate here lately but me and my honey had a nice weekend getaway and really rekindled the romance...... lol

Just thought I'd let you know....

Peace

 

[MetalMatt]

When I got my RKII it had a buzz to it. Then slowly the buzz started going away, for what reason I have no clue. People suggested the speakers needed to be broken in, or problems with my guitar.
There are days where it sounds SO incredible! and days leaving me thinking what a piece of sh!t! So yes, a love hate relationship comes with the amp.

My rambling aside! I'm glad your enjoying your RK again and! that your problem is now fixed.

Happy 4th!