How do you know if your tubes are wore out?

robgilmo

Are there any tell tale signs?

Fingers657

Your amp generally starts to sound shit and won’t do what you want it to do..

robgilmo

Fingers657 said:

Your amp generally starts to sound shit and won’t do what you want it to do..

I think my tubes are wore out then. Its sounding a bit muddy today.

robgilmo

Another thing I noticed today, a hum, but also I can feel a vibration if I put my hand on the amp above the transformer, thats not normal is it? I cant remember it doing that before?

ESBlonde

I see you’re also in Suffolk, what type of valves/ amp do you have? I have some spares on hand if you want to try a quick swap to see it that’s all it takes, sometimes a single ecc83 swap makes all the difference, then you can buy what you need. If not you need to visit the ever reasonable Paul Glazebrook in Kesgrave for a service.

robgilmo

ESBlonde said:

I see you’re also in Suffolk, what type of valves/ amp do you have? I have some spares on hand if you want to try a quick swap to see it that’s all it takes, sometimes a single ecc83 swap makes all the difference, then you can buy what you need. If not you need to visit the ever reasonable Paul Glazebrook in Kesgrave for a service.

Thankyou, that is very kind of you. I dont live too far away from Kesgrave so it might be an idea just to have someone give it the once over as it hasnt been done in years.
Its a Peavey Deuce with I believe 4 6L6GC and solid state pre.

I had a mess areound with it last night, reseated the valves which seems to have helped however the majority of noise and hum seemed to be from my pedals, I went straight into the amp and it cleared up, the sound brightened and it was pretty much back to normal.

I ordered some different patch leads which arrived today so I will have another play with things and see if that helps, my guess is though its a power issue on my daisy chained pedals thats putting noise into the amp but I dont see how that can effect the overall sound and muddy it all up.

It could be the amps power and pre jacks are playing up, they do that from time to time and need cleaning.  

ICBM

If it's just wear and not some sort of failure, usually the only easy way to tell is to replace them with new ones - the change is so slow and imperceptible that you won't notice, there certainly won't be a sudden change from sounding good one day to sounding muddy the next.

If the sound via your pedals was duller than with the guitar straight in, do you have a lot of true bypass pedals? They tend to do that since with them all off, the guitar is then driving a much longer length of cable which will take off top-end. If that's the case you need a buffer (or more than one at different place in the chain). Noise and hum as well might indicate a faulty cable, possibly a patch lead on the pedalboard.

A slight vibration from the amp's power transformer is normal.

robgilmo

ICBM said:

If it's just wear and not some sort of failure, usually the only easy way to tell is to replace them with new ones - the change is so slow and imperceptible that you won't notice, there certainly won't be a sudden change from sounding good one day to sounding muddy the next.

If the sound via your pedals was duller than with the guitar straight in, do you have a lot of true bypass pedals? They tend to do that since with them all off, the guitar is then driving a much longer length of cable which will take off top-end. If that's the case you need a buffer (or more than one at different place in the chain). Noise and hum as well might indicate a faulty cable, possibly a patch lead on the pedalboard.

A slight vibration from the amp's power transformer is normal.

Cheers buddy, I replaced the patch leads, one of which was just a short guitar lead so not ideal, it seems to have cleared the sound up no end, still some hum but nothing out of the ordinary, my pedals are all Boss, RC-3, SD-1 , DS-1 and a CH-1, the looper was putting all sorts of clicks and bangs into the signal but it seems to have stopped now.
This amp always did have a mind of its own and can be a little moody sometimes. 

Nikc

not an issue with solid state

Kurtis

robgilmo said:

Are there any tell tale signs?

Pee dribbles on your trousers? 

Kevinaston1

Hit a power chord and let it ring; now hit a high harmonic. Tired valves, no harmonic.