Rebel 30 Lack of Sustain with unpleasant Fizzle sound prob

[Quick Ben]

Hello. New to forum!

I just bought a Rebel 30 (used for 1+ years) for the silent play feature (sold a 1962 Bassman to get it). It sounds great on "silent record" through the mixer, etc.

About a week later I purchased a brand new matching 1x12 Cabinet for it. I set the amp for 16 ohms, plugged it in and let 'er rip. That's where the problem started. When I strike the note the tone immediately "fizzles", weakens and dies out like a dead duck falling from the sky. It's not pleasant. I will sometimes be more pronounced than other times but there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason...hot tubes, cold tubes, loud, quiet, strong attack, light attack....it's always there to some degree. The amp is still loud and If I use a distortion pedal it seems to sort of "overpower" the weakness and I can get some decent tones from it. It feeds back with control like it's supposed to. Playing with no overdrive sounds like eggs cooking....not good. Same with channel 2 even with the gain up. Reverb or no it doesn't matter.

I guessed that maybe the output tubes might be going as it's over a year old. I purchased some JJ 6V6's and EL84's and it didn't make any difference. I took a spare 12AX7 and exchanged it with all the pre-amp and PI tubes to no avail.

Do you think it's the speaker or cabinet since it only happens when going through the speaker? I didn't sound like this when I demo'd the amp at the fellow's house (and his no-name cab/Eminence speaker...sounded great in fact). I don't have another cabinet to test the theory but I suppose I could run it by the guitar shop I frequent....I'm sure they won't mind if I test it briefly.

Thanks. Matt

 

[Quick Ben]

On a whim I moved the rig to another wall plug on the other side of the room and the tone was much better...not perfect but much better. I moved it to the original plug today and the problem was back again.

There are 2 banks of halogen pot lights in this room on dimmers. Maybe it's the electrical circuits! Should I try one of those power conditioners? or a Computer Voltage regulator gizmo?

 

[Quick Ben]

I`ve emailed Egnater twice with no response. Any ideasÉ

 

[JeepGuy04]

I have read posts before here where dimmers have caused problems. I would avoid that outlet that is giving you problems and keep testing it on the "good outlet".

 

[bruce egnater]

If it sounds right with your friend's speaker and the XLR out sound good, this certainly indicates a bad speaker

 

[Quick Ben]

Yes. I`ve come to the conclusion that it`s the speaker. I took the rig to my local guitar store and the Rebel 30 Head sounds AMAZING through the other cabinets. Their Blackstar heads (which sound thin and whimpy next to the Rebel 30) elicit the same issue with my cabinet. On another forum a fellow says it must be the `voice coil`starting to fail....he`s probably close to right.

Since it`s only 1 month old and it`s been happening since the first time I plugged it in then it must be a defective Celestion. I`ll call my dealer on Tues as I think that would fall under the 90 day warranty for new speakers.

Thanks. I`ll post a final update once I have a new speaker.

Cheers. Matt