Weird Sound

[Munga]

My 5E3 was sounding alright, but there was a little hum, so now I am trying different methods of grounding it to make it dead quiet. However, no the hum is louder, and, when the volumes are off, there is a weird crackling sound coming from the speaker. Any ideas?


Thanks,


Alec

[zorro]

Tap the tubes

You might try tapping the tubes to see if any of them are microphonic.

[Munga]

You might try tapping the tubes to see if any of them are microphonic.

No, but does it mean anything if I turn the volume up with no cord in the jack, and touch the jack's tip with a chopstick?

[Andrei_T]

Hi, crackling and hum usually comes from a bad tube.

If the hum raises in volume with the volume pot then the problem is in the gain stages before the volume.
If the hum is not affected by the volume pot then the problem is in the stages after the volume.
If the hum has a max with the volume set at half way or 3 o'clock and it minimizes with the volume at min or max, then the wiper of the pot needs to be shielded.

HTH,

Andrei

[Munga]

An interesting thing I am observing, is that that when I touch each of the jack tips with chopsticks, only one of them makes that familiar touch grounding click. Does this mean only that jacks has some sort of grounding problem?

[RickyD]

If this is new since you started working on your grounding, I think it could be a cold solder joint going intermittent. To check it out, use your chopstick to tap on each solder joint with the amp on. (Other hand in your pocket You will know it if you tap a bad joint.