Last week I got a new Louis Electric Buster 6V6 sent to me.
Firstly I must say that this amp ticks all the right boxes for me. Sounds wonderful at medium and high volume and works great with my Strat and P90 Les Paul R4. I play blues and slide. Great tweedy sound, but firmer and more forward than a regular Tweed Deluxe. Also even with 6V6s, is much louder and bigger sounding when compared to the new Fender Custom 57 tweed deluxe.
Good cleans, clarity, and wonderful natural drive when turned up. Ideal bar or club amp. and light weight!
Everything is right about this amp.
Unfortunately it has a noticeable hum, even on standby, with nothing plugged in.
I am about to send this back, but am very loath to return it simply because it fits what I do better than any other amp that I've tried over the last few years.
So, do any other Louis Electric owners on this forum have any experience or advice about the hum that I'm hearing?
I know quite a few here have had various Louis Electric amps and I think someone took his to a tech to get a hum issue sorted out.
I also noted a couple of other minor issues which are certainly much easier to correct - second normal input jack socket is very stiff and does not 'latch', and rear top back panel vibrates loudly at certain frequencies.
If I'd bought this second hand I'd probably want to hold on to it and get it sorted, but buying new at top of the market, I feel all should be right.
Hum has nothing to do with mains supply in the house, and is noticeable as soon as it's turned on. Gets louder when standby is turned on, but is not noticeably affected by volume control or tone on the amp. Nothing plugged into amp. All valves seated properly.
I am very impressed with Louis Electric amps, and understand that occasionally any amp will show problems due to shipping or handling etc. If I didn't live so far from civilisation, I would try and get a second opinion from an amp tech before sending it back. But living in the far West of Cornwall, getting the amp checked over by someone knowledgeable is difficult.
Dilemma!
Comments
There are various downloadable apps for your phone that will help you identify the frequency, I use one called 'FFT Plot' but it's £4.99
Anyway, common causes of hum in new amplifiers:
Rift Amplification
Brackley, Northamptonshire
www.riftamps.co.uk
Magnetic coupling is caused by incorrect siting or orientation of one or both transformers. If it's just mechanical hum then it's probably a fault with the PT, although it could just be loose - this can sometimes happen with shipping.
The issue with the second jack socket sounds like it's oriented wrongly so the spring contact hits something as the plug goes in which prevents it opening far enough.
Vibrations and rattles are unfortunately common on combo amps.
When you say 'send it back', do you mean to a UK distributor?
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
Send it back, it's not right.
Rift Amplification
Brackley, Northamptonshire
www.riftamps.co.uk
Doesn't appear to be amplified by the speaker. It is being collected by a UK distributor tomorrow. I wish I knew how to sort this out myself!
Other than seeing if you can tighten up the mountings, there's not much you can do - if it needs a replacement PT that's a job for the distributor since you would void the warranty if you did it yourself anyway.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
Rift Amplification
Brackley, Northamptonshire
www.riftamps.co.uk
Looks like it'll be going back . . .
Will be contacting Uk amp builders soon re new amp.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
I've had issues with both of my Louis amps. The KR12 "motorboated", but only at full gain. They took it back and fixed it. The Columbia's power transformer burnt out. They took it back and fixed it.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
What's with the red paint?
Bearing in mind that it's not that difficult for anyone with a little knowledge and a multimeter to work out what the values are anyway, even if you don't recognise the circuit. For what it's worth it looks like a 5E3 with fixed bias and 6L6s, to me - so a sort of tweed Deluxe/Bassman hybrid.
Whatever the reason, it must add an extra amount of labour and cost for no useful purpose.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein