1966 Ampeg Reverberocket 2 Hissing and popping

[Keith65]

My '66 Reverberocket 2 has been making some hissing and popping noises. Volume control does not affect the noise, and the noises stop when I pull the output tube closest to the preamp tubes. I switched the 7591s to see if it was the tube, but that made no difference. I don't play this amp often and never gig with it. I recapped the whole amp with orange drops when I bought it about 12 years ago, and this problem only occurred recently. Any ideas on what I should check first? Thanks!

[The Dude]

I would try cleaning and retensioning the tube sockets.

[Keith65]

Thanks, good advice, start simple. These amps sure are strange, down to the screw heads. And the way the chassis is suspended in the cabinet makes me wonder what they were smokin'...

[Leo_Gnardo]

The tube you removed is itself a suspect. Before you heave it out, cleaning corrosion from its pins would be a good idea. Sometimes that's all it takes, just having a good clean metal to metal contact from pins to base.

When that amp was made, Ampeg was in Linden NJ. They didn't need to be smoking anything, just breathing the local air. A big Esso refinery was nearby as well as plenty of chemical plants of all sorts. I had relatives that lived in that area, and it was hell to go visit them in that industrial wasteland.

[lowell]

I always felt like I was in some futuristic nightmare driving from Bloomfield NJ to NYC. Only it wasn't the future... just a nightmare. Gross.

[Leo_Gnardo]

I always felt like I was in some futuristic nightmare driving from Bloomfield NJ to NYC. Only it wasn't the future... just a nightmare. Gross.

Heck you were 30 miles north of Linden on that path from Bloomfield to NYC. But I am familiar with that zone, Lyndhurst, Secaucus etc. True, back in the day the "swamps" was a weird frightful area. You didn't want to break down on any of the few surface roads. Packs of wild/feral dogs roamed the area and would set upon anyone who wasn't inside their car or truck. It's all been turned into shopping malls, industrial parks & stadiums now. Not to mention Mount Trashmore.

[Enzo]

And yet south Jersey is all gardens.

[SoulFetish]

And yet south Jersey is all gardens.

I remember my first trip to New Jersey. Coming from the North East, I (not knowing better) took the cross-bronx express way over the GW bridge into Jersey. After 20 minutes into the turnpike I'm still looking around and thinking "Garden State my ass". But it wasn't too long before it opened up and lived up to it's name. It cleans up quite nice. I have fond memories of my times in New Jersey.

[Enzo]

You drive past 80 acres of eggplants, or 100 acres of tomatoes. When I was touring with Stanley Steamer we played in Phila and the Jersey shore. We had a band house halfway between, in the middle of south Jersey. The house was a block away from a Mrs Paul's onion ring plant. Whole area smelled like onion rings 24/7. I have many memories of Margate and Lucy there.

[Leo_Gnardo]

After 20 minutes into the turnpike I'm still looking around and thinking "Garden State my ass".

"Garden State" 100 years ago on back. When I grew up there the kids called it the "Garbage State." There was a time when all those suburbs, industrial parks and highways were farm land. I watched the last of it get paved over and turned into housing developments in the 1950-60-70's. Imagine 80 to 200 years ago, when all that area west of Manhattan was pig farms and swamps. The typical breeze from the west brought in waves of fragrant air... mmm "I like mine on the Jersey side" has meanings perhaps you weren't aware of. And would like to remain blissfully unaware.

Interior South Jersey was and mostly remains pine barrens, blueberry bogs and the world's friendliest mosquitos. On the left there's Camden, the less said about the better. And on the other side Atlantic City, same.