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I have a Fender Custom Champ amp. I'm sure you guys know better than I do the amp I'm talking about but just for clarity, its the recent 5w hand-wired model, tweed covering, from Fender, not a boutique or anything. It's about two years old and lightly played, like maybe 20 hours max? (doubt it is the tubes)
Ok well it is making a vibratey - buzzy sound. Now, I know what 60 cycle hum is, this not that. Mostly because it doesn't do it when the guitar is just sitting there, even if I turn the volume up high. I also do not think it is fret buzz, (unless I have multiple frets that all at once went caddy whampus) because it makes this noise on multiple spots on the fret board, on different strings. To be very specific, it only makes this noise when I play a E, F, or F# believe it or not, No matter where I play these frequencies on the fretboard, or what octave (except way down on the low E or way high on top E string).
This sound does not sound electronic, to my inexperienced dullards ear it seems like something vibrating at a certain frequency and rubbing against something else. Like a loose screw or cable connection or something? The buzz does not SEEM to increase as I increase amp volume, but it does not happen at very low (3 or less) volume. I put the amp in the center and walked around it playing the offending note, it is definitely the amp, not the doorknob or drawer handles or something.
Any ideas on how to start troubleshooting this? I have a couple of amps and guitars so I can try a few different instruments or the same amp with a different guitar (the guitar I noticed it with is a Heritage 575).
Before you tell me to un-solder the pressure sprockets from the flux capacitor diodes, or re-align the magnetic constrictors on the cochrane core, keep in mind I'm a novice lol. I can turn a screw or two if needs be but not a lot more. I have no problems taking it in, but I'd rather save the money (plus I can't take it anywhere right now due to the COVID).
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04-14-2020 01:40 AM
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It could be something loose on the amp, and just tightening every screw you can find might fix it. It's also very possible that it's the guitar that's buzzing. Archtops have lots of bits and pieces that can get loose and rattle. It's often the pickup vibrating, and that can sometimes be fixed by raising or lowering the pickup. Sometimes it takes wedging something between the pickup and the mounting ring. Or it could be almost anything. There are at least a couple of threads on the forum about troubleshooting archtop buzzes. It can take persistence and careful investigation sometimes. I've found more than once that what I thought was an amp buzz was actually something else in the room, even though I was pretty sure it wasn't.
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verify that a different guitar does it.
tighten ever screw you can see without getting electrocuted. If there's a reverb tank, make sure the connections are tight.
Make sure the tubes, if it has tubes, are seated well. Just press them in.
Then, take something that doesn't conduct electricity, like a pencil or a drumstick, reproduce the problem and press the stick against every part of the amp.
If it's a vibration, you ought to be able to affect if, and then you'll know where it is.
Press the speaker, the tank, the knobs, the jacks, the back panel, the chassis, the rubber feet, whatever, all while the buzz is there.
When you figure out what is vibrating, invent some way to make it stop. A shim, tighten something etc.
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If you have a tone pot on the guitar, try turning it to 10 and see if your buzz is still there. I have had bad tone pots create a strange buzz on certain notes when the pot is engaged.
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I experienced something similar years ago. The cabinet had a loose brace, so it took some dismantling to find the cause.
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The possibilities are almost numberless. I had one guitar on which I eventually traced the buzzing to the tone pot. It was a push-pull for coil splitting, and it was worn enough so that the shaft vibrated and buzzed. I've seen internal wiring vibrate against the back or even the top. Pickguards can buzz. Loose hardware on the headstock. Pickups. Bridge hardware. The fact that it only happens at certain frequencies points to mechanical vibration, and that can be almost anything. And once again, more than once I was convinced that the buzzing was from the amp, but was actually something else in the room being vibrated. Take the amp to another room and see if the buzz persists. I know it's hard to believe, and it was for me the first time I encountered it, but it's possible.
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If a little piece of something gets between the grill cloth and the speaker it can dance around and make all sorts of bizarre noises.
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Also, my heating/cooling vents in ceiling used to rattle in such a way that sounded like it was coming from the amp. I used a looper pedal to loop the offending notes then walked around the room touching literally every surface—sections of the amp, stacks of paper, books—until I discovered it was the screws in the vent above the amp.
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Okay thanks everyone I will try the ideas you put forth and let you know if I can determine anything at all, its annoying but not the end of the world. Thanks again everyone, I will let you all know,
I hope you all are well.
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Perhaps the best help I can be is to list the number of things that have caused buzz for me thru the years in different amps:
1) Speaker not sufficiently tightened. (But don't over tighten !)
2) Speaker wire hitting against the speaker.
3) Amp chassis not sufficiently tightened and rattling against the cabinet. This took several tries to fix. Finally ended up using strips of rubber weather stripping around the chassis to cushion it. Also discovered that one of the screws had an issue while I was at it. (It was an old second hand amp.)
4) Back panel on the cab rattling. Tightening the screws didn't help. Ended up using the weather stripping trick again.
5) Pictures rattling on the wall.
6) My personal favourite: An obnoxious buzzing when I played certain notes. Tubes? Nope. Speaker rattling? Nope. Finally smartened up and plugged into another amp. Buzzing still there! The answer: rattling truss rod in the guitar. Sheesh !
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The last Fender amp I bought was a Showman (SS) with an EV15L in 1983. Unpacked it, plugged in, turned it on, hit the open 6th string and heard buzz like it was full of bees. Found problems with chassis mounting, front grill, speaker mount, speaker wires and probably other things. Used a bunch of rubber weather stripping, rubber washers and RTV to get it to stop making extraneous noises. It was then my main amp until 1991.
Danny W.
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Hold the amp up in the air by the handle power off unpluged.
Tap the cabinet lightly with a rubber mallet.
Tap it in all directions till you hear the buzz.
Remove or tighten what you can one piece at a time. Tubes, speaker, etc.
Keep at it till the buzz goes away. It's the last thing you did.
Fix that and your done.
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Keep in mind that screws that are TOO TIGHT may also be the cause of buzzing. I had one amp that buzzed at certain frequencies. Lossening the chassis bolts just a touch cured it. Strange, I know.
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Capacitors can develop vibrations. This is usually the high-voltage ones.
Unless you know what you are doing, I don't recommend poking around in the innards around the ~450V caps - it'l kill you (really).
If you are ok with that (and drain the caps), you might check that they are fastened down - often with hot-glue.
Just a thought.
Hans
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Speakers can decay or otherwise get torn and create noises, as well as the voice coil leads.
Originally Posted by rio
Filaments in tubes can also actually rattle.
Probably a process of elimination if you haven't solved it yet.
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