Crack + speedball noises

[AustinWhitacre]

So after listening to me crack+speedball for a while I noticed there’s a almost consistent wind like crackling noise regardless of volume level and with nothing plugged in. Sometimes after a heats up a little bit after turning it on, the sound becomes less consistent. When I do turn up the volume, there’s an additional hum that gets louder but only in the left channel. I tried the chopstick test and I couldn’t make any “pops” after going around the board several times. I have it plugged into a dac connected to my pc using an optical cable. I also tried to resolder the joints but nothing seemed to have changed. That could just be me tho, soldering is definitely not my forte lol. In the end it still sounds amazing just wish I could get the annoying/loud crackling to go away

 

[Paul Birkeland]

If you jiggle either tube, does the noise change?

 

[AustinWhitacre]

I don’t believe so, the sound I hear is kinda in and out so it’s hard to diagnose like that. When I tap the bigger one, it hear a noise in the right channel but it doesn’t change the buzzing.
I’ll test the voltages when I get off work today to see if that’ll tell me something

 

[Paul Birkeland]

It would also help to take the amp with you to a different location, as sometimes noises like these are a consequence of some other equipment polluting the environment around you, and the amp itself is just picking up stray noise that may not exist somewhere else.  If that ends up being the issue, then there is a whole different set of tests to do to come up with potential solutions to reduce that to a tolerable level. 

Oxidized tube pins can also cause problems like this, and it can help to take a scotch-brite pad and very gently rub it across the pins to be sure they are relatively clean.