Jess Oliver's legacy - AMPEG PORTAFLEX CLUB part 10

[TheDialog]

I have not. Let me get to jiggling

[wessman]

Hi,

I just recorded a clip to show what kind of noise my Heritage B15 makes even though no guitar was plugged into it. It´s a steady noise - exactly as shown on this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEvVt...ature=youtu.be
Also my Mrshall 1959 and Rivera Sedona and Gretsch Playboy making same stupid sound. Is there any way to get rid of it - i mean the noise not amps ;-) ?

Thanks again for your replies, Comrades :-)

BR: yeppe

[beans-on-toast]

Since it is affecting more than one amp, it appears that you have an issue with an external source of noise that the amps are picking up. The noise is certainly not normal.

First try a different instrument cable to eliminate that as a possibility. There may be a problem with the wiring in your home. Try moving the amp into another room that is on a different circuit. If that doesn't help, take the amp to a different location such as a friends house and try it there.

Noise can also come from sources such as fluorescent lighting fixtures and light dimmers. A bad transformer out on the street or a transmitter in your area can be causing the noise. There is a long list of possibilities.

Test what you can. You may need to call in an electrician to inspect the mains wiring.

[beans-on-toast]

Originally Posted by TheDialog

I absolutely love my '61 B15 NRF (pilot light), but it has a slight crackle that I can't figure out. It's not always there, but it comes through the speaker here and there. Sometimes it's there for a while and sometimes it's not present at all.

Does anyone have any thoughts on what this could be?

Sometimes the fix is as easy as a loose wire as Rich said but if you aren't so lucky it can also be more complicated. A bad plate or screen resistor is a good candidate. Possibly some other component or a bad solder joint. Could be a loose or dirty tube socket connection or a bad tube as Jimmy said. Could be a leaky capacitor in the signal path.

Poking around by tapping with a stick might help locate something loose. I think that the amp needs to be methodically checked out to nail the source of the problem.

[beans-on-toast]

Originally Posted by Bass 45

I got a new Iphone with a panoramic camera option.

Here is a shot of my Ampcave.

I demo'ed an iPhone at an Apple store and SIRI got upset and called me a rude name. Worse than the lady in my GPS when I miss a turn.

That camera feature would be nice to have though.

[shadven]

Originally Posted by Bass 45

I got a new Iphone with a panoramic camera option.

Here is a shot of my Ampcave.

I think you have too many portaflex's and need to give one up...

[Apex_speed]

Originally Posted by Bass 45

I got a new Iphone with a panoramic camera option.

Here is a shot of my Ampcave.

Wow, and I thought I had an Ampeg hoarding problem. Very nice!

[Apex_speed]

Originally Posted by wessman

Hi,

I just recorded a clip to show what kind of noise my Heritage B15 makes even though no guitar was plugged into it. It´s a steady noise - exactly as shown on this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEvVt...ature=youtu.be
Also my Mrshall 1959 and Rivera Sedona and Gretsch Playboy making same stupid sound. Is there any way to get rid of it - i mean the noise not amps ;-) ?

Thanks again for your replies, Comrades :-)

BR: yeppe

Beans hit it dead on. I will add that this noise is spot on for an induced hum. Meaning that it is picking up RF or EM from the environment. Especially if it does it with no instrument or cable attached.

Here is what I would do as a diagnostic...Make sure you have no obvious source in the room or adjacent rooms like a fluorescent light. If you do, turn them off to see if it goes away.

Next thing to do is plug an amp into a wall socket that is on a circuit breaker with NOTHING else. Verify that it hums. Now go to the breaker panel and turn every breaker off except the one for the circuit the amp is plugged into and make sure there is NOTHING else on that circuit. If it isn't humming anymore, turn the breakers on in groups of 4 (this will be faster if you are running back and forth). When you hit the group where the hum starts again, you can work backwards and shut them down one at a time until the hum goes away and then figure out what is on that circuit that is causing the hum.

If you shut down all the breakers and it still hums, move it to the complete other end of the house and see if it changes. It is very rare but I have seen high-tension wires outside a house cause radiated hum (if that was the case, I would move) or if you live in a multi-unit building, there might be a grow operation underneath your home studio room.

If you need help with any of the above. Feel free to PM me and I will give you my phone number and help you out as best I can over the phone.

I am not an expert in the realm of instrument amps but I am in the realm of $750k audio systems, the principles are the same, just a whole lot simpler.

[beans-on-toast]

At that realm, it must be one doozy of an audio system.

There is a simple test that you can perform that could help locate a problem with the wiring. Get a portable AM radio, tune it between two stations, and turn the volume up. This acts as a crude detector. Hold the radio near an outlet, along conduits, at junction boxes, or at the breaker box. Some noise is normal, if you hear a lot of noise, it could be a location of a source of a problem.

[Bass 45]

Originally Posted by beans-on-toast

I demo'ed an iPhone at an Apple store and SIRI got upset and called me a rude name. Worse than the lady in my GPS when I miss a turn.

That camera feature would be nice to have though.

I think once the phone got to know you, it would treat you with the utmost respect

[Bass 45]

Originally Posted by shadven

I think you have too many portaflex's and need to give one up...

Well, in the last few months I have had to let a few things go. As far as Portaflexes that recently went: I sold a '65 B15N and a PF500/PF115e x2 rig. I feel like I need to try them all I guess

[Bass 45]

Originally Posted by Apex_speed

Wow, and I thought I had an Ampeg hoarding problem. Very nice!

Thank you!

The '60 B15 and the '61 B15N did not make the photo.

Yes, there are multiple symptoms of a problem

Not being able to stop looking on Ebay is one of them

Now I have a '67 BT15C on the way. I won on a low bid on that I did not expect to win - as the cab is loaded with two JBL D130f's (I think).

The seller is making me very nervous though - so I am afraid of what I may be actually receiving. Before the auction ended, I asked if there was a JBL in the lower compartment (the photos only showed the top one) and he never responded (I assumed he did not have a clutch head screwdriver). Then, after I won, he sent me an invoice with a padded shipping cost and AZ sales tax added (he is in Florida!). And - I won the item on January 27th and he still has not shipped it. Every few days I get a long winded message from him "updating" me on his shipping process AND HIS CAPS LOCK IS ALWAYS ON!

Anyway - here it is folks:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-AMPE...vip=true&rt=nc

[spacebassed]

Originally Posted by Bass 45

Thank you!

The '60 B15 and the '61 B15N did not make the photo.

Yes, there are multiple symptoms of a problem

Not being able to stop looking on Ebay is one of them

Now I have a '67 BT15C on the way. I won on a low bid on that I did not expect to win - as the cab is loaded with two JBL D130f's (I think).

The seller is making me very nervous though - so I am afraid of what I may be actually receiving. Before the auction ended, I asked if there was a JBL in the lower compartment (the photos only showed the top one) and he never responded (I assumed he did not have a clutch head screwdriver). Then, after I won, he sent me an invoice with a padded shipping cost and AZ sales tax added (he is in Florida!). And - I won the item on January 27th and he still has not shipped it. Every few days I get a long winded message from him "updating" me on his shipping process AND HIS CAPS LOCK IS ALWAYS ON!

Anyway - here it is folks:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-AMPE...vip=true&rt=nc

That's a D140f, not a 130 - it's got a ribbed cone. Hopefully there's another one in the bottom.

[Bass 45]

Originally Posted by spacebassed

That's a D140f, not a 130 - it's got a ribbed cone. Hopefully there's another one in the bottom.

You are right! I think assumed it was a 130 because it is grey. All of the 140's I've seen were black. Obviously I don't know much about JBL's.

[beans-on-toast]

Originally Posted by Bass 45

Now I have a '67 BT15C on the way. I won on a low bid on that I did not expect to win ...

The seller is making me very nervous though...

I wonder if the seller wants to back out because they didn't get what they wanted out of the item. Delay enough and leave the door open for you request that they cancel the sale.

I hope that it works out. Getting jerked around is never fun.

[Bass 45]

Originally Posted by beans-on-toast

I wonder if the seller wants to back out because they didn't get what they wanted out of the item. Delay enough and leave the door open for you request that they cancel the sale.

I hope that it works out. Getting jerked around is never fun.

That thought has occurred to me.

[beans-on-toast]

There was a show on TV a while ago that dealt with the proliferation of fraud on high end musical instrument sales on the internet. Sellers are doing things like taking reissue instruments and modifying them to pass off as originals, selling an item online and shipping something else or swapping out parts before shipping an item that they can part out and make even more money on. They gave an example of a guitar that was shipped with knobs that didn't match those in the sales images.

Even experts are being fooled. They showed errors in books that are commonly used as reference standards. They concluded that a lot of people are being taken advantage of without realizing it and that it pays to be careful.

Amps are kind of a different story. They need maintenance to be functional. I don't know how many times I've seen SVT's advertised as all original 1969's that aren't. A lot of sellers will call a blueline a 69. B-15's aren't such a problem. The problem with some Ampeg products is that it can be difficult to distinguish between factory and modified because there was so much variation in the products.

[xoir]

Originally Posted by Bass 45

I got a new Iphone with a panoramic camera option.

Here is a shot of my Ampcave.

Nice!

I took this panoramic too the other day when I took my B18n to the shop, lot of cool stuff to dig.

[Apex_speed]

Originally Posted by beans-on-toast

At that realm, it must be one doozy of an audio system.

Here is a nice tame example with Focal Grande Utopia EM and MBL electronics.

[Apex_speed]

Originally Posted by Bass 45

Thank you!

The '60 B15 and the '61 B15N did not make the photo.

Yes, there are multiple symptoms of a problem

Not being able to stop looking on Ebay is one of them

Now I have a '67 BT15C on the way. I won on a low bid on that I did not expect to win - as the cab is loaded with two JBL D130f's (I think).

The seller is making me very nervous though - so I am afraid of what I may be actually receiving. Before the auction ended, I asked if there was a JBL in the lower compartment (the photos only showed the top one) and he never responded (I assumed he did not have a clutch head screwdriver). Then, after I won, he sent me an invoice with a padded shipping cost and AZ sales tax added (he is in Florida!). And - I won the item on January 27th and he still has not shipped it. Every few days I get a long winded message from him "updating" me on his shipping process AND HIS CAPS LOCK IS ALWAYS ON!

Anyway - here it is folks:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-AMPE...vip=true&rt=nc

Great score. Another issue is likely that they didn't realize how big a job it is to properly pack and ship a 2X15!