Suddenly... Loud Hum from My PeaceMaker... HELP??!

[Anonymous]

All of the sudden my PeaceMaker is humming loudly at any volume with or without a guitar plugged in. Even with all knobs including my PPIMV turned all the way off the loud hum is present. I've tried two different speaker cables - same result. It was fine two days ago and I haven't changed a thing... So... what do I check? Any ideas? Maybe my chassis ground wire has come loose??

Steve

 

[Greazygeo]

Probably bad tubes....see if your power tubes are red plating while its on.

 

[Anonymous]

Probably bad tubes....see if your power tubes are red plating while its on.

I'll check it out - tubes are pretty new though...

Steve

 

[Anonymous]

Probably bad tubes....see if your power tubes are red plating while its on.

Oh, btw - wouldn't I have no sound at all with bad tubes? The amp sounds fine if I turn it up, it just has this loud hum with the normal good amp sound. I thought bad power tubes would mean no guitar sound??

Steve

 

[Strat+Marshall]

Probably bad tubes....see if your power tubes are red plating while its on.

Oh, btw - wouldn't I have no sound at all with bad tubes? The amp sounds fine if I turn it up, it just has this loud hum with the normal good amp sound. I thought bad power tubes would mean no guitar sound??

Steve

Tubes can produce sound even when they are not working properly.

Its not some sort of interference from something is it?

 

[Anonymous]

Probably bad tubes....see if your power tubes are red plating while its on.

Oh, btw - wouldn't I have no sound at all with bad tubes? The amp sounds fine if I turn it up, it just has this loud hum with the normal good amp sound. I thought bad power tubes would mean no guitar sound??

Steve

Tubes can produce sound even when they are not working properly.

Its not some sort of interference from something is it?

Well, the tubes are definitely not red plating...

I have no idea what it would be interference from??? I haven't added anything to my room or the whole house and it was working fine a few days ago. Like I said, it was working fine a few days ago. I moved some stuff out of my studio, and simplified my setup. I literally have the amp plugged into a wall outlet, 1 16 ohm cab connected to the 16 ohm amp output and a guitar plugged in (or not). I've tried a different outlet, my power conditioner, a surge suppressor, a different cab - all the same result - a loud hum with all the controls off or on - guitar plugged in or not... The only thing I can think of is a chassis ground wire came loose when I moved the head, but it was not dropped or jostled much, just moved on top of a different cab. This is trippin' me out and I want to play this weekend since I have the house to myself... This is my only amp left!!!

Steve

 

[glpg80]

i had the same problem and it was a cable problem.

amp hummed loud after just hooking it up. i was like wtf it just worked fine at the gig.

ended up being a cable was wrapped in a way it didnt like. changed the faulty cable out of the chain because i was too tired after a gig and tear-down/back together to check solders in wires.

it solved the problem.

if its at any volume and no matter the settings of the pre-amp it could be a grounding issue inside the amp itself. but honestly dude always start simple before assuming the worst.

good luck

 

[Greazygeo]

Probably bad tubes....see if your power tubes are red plating while its on.

Oh, btw - wouldn't I have no sound at all with bad tubes? The amp sounds fine if I turn it up, it just has this loud hum with the normal good amp sound. I thought bad power tubes would mean no guitar sound??

Steve

I've had that type thing happen before and it was a power tube drawing too much current. It was also red plating. That can happen with new or old tubes.

Are you just running gtr--amp---cab? If so check your cables since that is easiest (Make sure the ends are screwed on)....Also check to see if there are any wall wart adapters near your signal cables, they can cause hum. Then check your tubes. If its doing it with the volume turned down and its definately the amp, it must be something in the power section.

 

[JamesPeters]

Short of a bad cable or whatnot...

If any of the power tubes aren't doing their job, the hum from the heaters won't be canceled effectively which will result in your hearing more hum.

If you want you can yank all the preamp tubes and turn it on again to see if any of them were to blame. Then I'd replace the output tubes, bias the amp, and go from there.

No matter how new the tubes are, it doesn't matter. Tubes fail all the time (seemingly) irrespective of how much use they've seen. Always suspect the tubes first. And really, why not suspect the tubes first? I'd rather the problem be a bad tube than anything else.

 

[glpg80]

if you let the amp warm-up and shut down properly every time you turn it on or off, then theres a heresay rule of thumb for life expectancies:

roughly 5 years on new preamp tubes (given no cathode mods for more gain)

and roughly 4-6-12 months depending on the music you play and how loud you play it.

low end chugs on power tubes are like razorblades to our skin. it kills them so fast its insane.

NOW.. throw in your faulty tubes in that mix and you get what i mean. but essentially tubes are exactly like light-bulbs. they go when they want how they want. with that being said you can make the call on whether its more of a tube issue or something else.

also.. on the cables. make sure you have no cables or interference around the PT. any cables that leak DC current through the magnetic waves of the PT will get large amounts of hum that WILL NOT go away

 

[Rufus Leaking]

Sounds like a preamp tube went bad to me....

 

[Anonymous]

All fixed - one of the power tubes was seated poorly. As soon as I fixed that, everything was fine... I must've jostled the amp more than I though when I moved it?? Strange...

Thanks to all who helped!

Steve

 

[Greazygeo]

All fixed - one of the power tubes was seated poorly. As soon as I fixed that, everything was fine... I must've jostled the amp more than I though when I moved it?? Strange...

Thanks to all who helped!

Steve

Good to hear it was something simple!