Overdrive pedals make my AC30 speaker crackle

[Auxjoel2]

I have a VOX ac30cc2 amp,

and I have a 808 Tubescreamer, and a Crowther Hot Cake,
when I turn either of these pedals on, they both add a crackle to the speaker.
To clarify, apart from the overdriving / gain / distrortion that tehy add, there is also another crackling sound that sits above this, almost like the speaker is faulty or failing.
But if I play one of my distortion pedals - MXR Distortion +, RAT, Big Muff Opamp, I don't get this extra crackle.
It just happens when using the Tubescreamer and the Hot Cake.

Does anyone else experience this?

i've turned presence, gain, etc. down on both pedals, and am only using them one at a time, but it still happens.
I also flipped the internal switch on Hot Cake to the Bluesberry option, to see if that helped , but it still happens.
I also tested it with the amp set to Hot and Warm (back of amp selector switch) but it happens in both modes.

[Malcolm Irving]

Can you try those two pedals on a different amp?

[MatronMother]

Check your cables is my first goto. maybe a contact cleaner solution.

[Auxjoel2]

Check your cables is my first goto. maybe a contact cleaner solution.

I will give that a go, although I did try a few different cables.
And both pedals do not make this occur to the speaker when I play through my hot Rod Deluxe III combo.

[Auxjoel2]

Can you try those two pedals on a different amp?

Oh sorry Malcolm I should have mentioned that I've played them through my hot Rod Deluxe III combo and the problem does not occur

[Auxjoel2]

I currently have this same problem, when I use overdrive pedals, or crank the amp's own gain, I get crackle noise on some notes, it's not a constant sound, but just when I strum some notes. It causes this 2nd layer of crackly/speaker fizzle type sound that sits on top of the expected overdriven sound. I replaced all the tubes with brand new ones. and it is still happening. I also ran via an external speaker, and it still happens then too (not using the built in speaker).
I am running a VOX ac30cc2 (which has the 'link' ability that lets you run Top Boost and Normal channel together via 1 input)
I tried Normal, Top Boost, Top Boost+Normal(using the link option)
I tried the Warm and Hot setting on the back of the amp. and I also tried the Classic and Modern setting on back of the amp. But in all cases the crackle is still there.
Any ideas?

[Malcolm Irving]

Usually this type of crackle noise comes from a poor connection somewhere - could be a bad solder joint or poor contact where there is a non-soldered connection (e.g. pot wiper to track, push-fit cable connections, plugs and sockets etc.) If there are 'send' and 'receive' effect loop jacks, try a jack-to-jack patch lead in them (bypasses the switching jack contacts in the signal path). Contact cleaner on the various (non-soldered) connections is worthwhile.

Bad tubes can also cause this, but one of you has tried replacing all the tubes.

Another possibility is a parasitic oscillation - but let's not go there for now.

[Auxjoel2]

Cheers Malcolm.
(Yes this is the same person with different user login, forum wouldn’t let me reset a forgotten password for some reason).
Ok great I haven’t tried the patch cable on the send/receive effects loop yet so I will try that tonight.
I saw on another forum that someone suggested spraying cleaning solvent into the tube socket holes. I’ve been scared to do that though in case it messes the amp up completely. Does that sound safe?

[Malcolm Irving]

...
I saw on another forum that someone suggested spraying cleaning solvent into the tube socket holes. I’ve been scared to do that though in case it messes the amp up completely. Does that sound safe?

Yes, that's a good idea. Just needs a quick spray to wet the pin contacts - no need to flood the thing. What I usually do is pull the tube out - spray the tube pins - let the excess drip off - push the tube in and out of the socket a couple of times to get a good wiping action.

[Auxjoel2]

Damn tried patch cable on the send/return of effects loop. But that didn’t fix it. I also pulled all tubes (rectifier and power amp tubes and the 3 preamps) and sprayed all their pins with Servison Electronic Cleaning Solvent. I then pushed and wriggled then in Ando it of their sockets 3 times each. Then pulled all tubes out and let amp sit powered off for another 20min just to make sure the solvent dissolved. Put tubes back in , fires it up but still crackles when I hit certain notes hard with overdrive pedal on.
Also, now the “windy noise” is blowing through my speakers. It did that once before before I replaced all the previous uses. But now with all day old tubes the windy noise is back again. Aghjhjhhh

[Auxjoel2]

Apologies if I reply twice I tried once but didn’t seem to save.
So I pulled all tubes out and sprayed their pins with Servisol Electronic cleaning Solvent. I think pushed/wiggled the tubes in and out of their sockets 3 times each. I them let the amp sit powered down for a while for solvent to dissolve (20mins). I then powered it up and the crackle was still there. E.g. If I put overdrive pedal on strum certain notes the extra crackle sound occurs.
Also now I’m also get this constant wooshing/windy noise coming out of the amp.
It even occurs if no guitar is plugged in. It seems to come from master volume as with all other knobs on zero I can still hear it and master volume increase increases the windy noise.
I also noticed that if I turn the amps tremolo on, the windy noise cuts in and out with the depth/speed of the tremolo.
Out of curiosity I disconnected the red and white Reverb cables from the head. But that didn’t do anything. I plugged in an external speaker and the windy noise came through it as well.
The overdrive crackle occurs on the external speaker too.

[Malcolm Irving]

Oh dear, sounds like it might be time for a visit to your local amp tech.

[Auxjoel2]

Yeah looks that way.
Thanks for all your help Malcolm.

[olddawg]

Have you tried plugging the amp into another speaker cabinet? It would determin if the problem is in the amp or the speaker...

[Auxjoel2]

Hi Old Dawg yes plugged into an external cab and the problems could still be heard coming out of that external speaker too