• WARNING: Tube/Valve amplifiers use potentially LETHAL HIGH VOLTAGES.
    Building, troubleshooting and testing of these amplifiers should only be
    performed by someone who is thoroughly familiar with
    the safety precautions around high voltages.

Tube amp volume fluctuation

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I have a tube preamp and amplifier and the volume will suddenly drop or violently increase..

I have recently changed all the tubes in it so i dont think they were the cause..
Its possibly a faulty component somewhere would you think? none of the pots are scratchy..

could it possibly be the output transformer? the amp does this when hot or cold though..

i just dont know :xeye:
 
Could be cracked solder to a pot though. Is this for guitar? If so, I always suspect effects loop jacks first. To test for that, take a spare guitar cord and plug it into the effects send, and the other end right back into the effects return. If this restores the sound, the retrun jack needs service.

If nothing else, use the two sections with other gear to see which is guilty.
 
I had this happen to me on a Ampeg SVT Guitar Amp - found a coupling capacitor (input to the driver stage) which fell in half when I prodded it with an INSULATED screw driver. Also could be a dry solder joint. Tap components to see if you can localise the problem and then a good visual inspection will usually reveal the faulty component or solder joint.
Cheers,
Ian
 
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