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SWR 550x Problems, buzzing on two notes!

S

Siggy_Bass

Jul 26, 2006
787
0
Ålesund, Norway
#1
Hi, my 550x has not been well lately and I wondered if anyone had any experience/tips that could make it work out.

Problem:

Lately I have felt that one outlet in my practice room have not been giving enough power to my amp, causing it to fuzz out and get really low in volume sometimes (Randomly falling out), hence I changed the outlet after it hat happened about 10 times. It then worked perfectly for a long practice last night.

Well, when I came to the room this morning, the amp started and all seemed to be ship shape. Getting a low groove going on with the band, and i could clearly hear some kind of fuzzing, especially on the low notes, so I telle everyone to shut up and help my understand what the problem is.

The amp seems to be buzzing (almost like a peak) on a low C and C# on the B string. The amp doesnt clip and a loud low B doesnt buzz at all!!

What can cause this problem? Really starting to annoy me.

-Can it be that I am still not getting enough power from the outlet, causing the amp to buzz out on very resonant tones?

-Can it be my preamp tube? It hasnt been changed for 1,5 years, but I wouldnt think that a preamp tube would cause this problem.

And I really dont think it can be my cabinet, its completely new and is the most fantastic cabinet I have ever had. And it has handeled the low notes with SUPER EASE everytime I have used it before.

Any tips on hints on how to address this problem would be greatly appriciated!
 
#2
It could be the preamp tube. One way to check this is to play with the head on top of the cab and then set on the floor off the cab. Sometimes, the vibration of certain notes can interact with a 'bad tube' to cause problems. It the 'buzzing' goes away when you place the amp on the floor, that's a good indication that you need to change the preamp tube.

If not, then not sure what the issue would be. However, you should continue to eliminate causes (i.e., true the rig with a different bass, the cab with a different head, the head with a different cab, etc.) to try to isolate the issue.

Good luck!

K
 
#3
KJung said:
It could be the preamp tube. One way to check this is to play with the head on top of the cab and then set on the floor off the cab. Sometimes, the vibration of certain notes can interact with a 'bad tube' to cause problems. It the 'buzzing' goes away when you place the amp on the floor, that's a good indication that you need to change the preamp tube.

If not, then not sure what the issue would be. However, you should continue to eliminate causes (i.e., true the rig with a different bass, the cab with a different head, the head with a different cab, etc.) to try to isolate the issue.

Good luck!

K
Click to expand...

Hey Ken thanks for the fast response :D

If its something wrong with the head as I suspect, it wont cause any damage to the cabinet trying to eliminate the issue would it? Would hate to ruin something!

I will get back to you guys later when I figure some things out.
 
#4
Siggy_Bass said:
Hey Ken thanks for the fast response :D

If its something wrong with the head as I suspect, it wont cause any damage to the cabinet trying to eliminate the issue would it? Would hate to ruin something!

I will get back to you guys later when I figure some things out.
Click to expand...

If it's just sounding a little strange on certain notes, there should be no danger to a cab IMO.

I'm sure others will also have suggestions as the morning progresses in the US!
 
#5
Hehe I hope so.

Well, its more then a little strange sound IMO, I dont know where the limit goes with you though. But it sounds like a very harsh peak, very fuzzy right after you strike the note, and then the note kind of dies and all you here is the buzzing.

I will go down now and try some things. Talk to you later Ken, thanks for the replies.
 
#9
It returned. It came back haunting me for a little practice tonight.

I forgot to do the on the floor thing. But when I turned the volume down a hunch, it stopped. I have noe idea what could cause this :( Most definately aint the bass though, and I dont think its the cab either.

I am going with the dodgy outlets, but no one has experienced this before?
 
#10
I'm with the resonance theory.

Something's shaking loose from the vibration of these notes, whether it's the tube, the flaky outlet connection (it's possible), a badly soldered board component, a cable, a dirty pot, switch or jack (even on the bass itself) or maybe three dozen other things. :hmm:

You just have to start isolating different parts of the signal chain while repeatedly playing those notes until you find the culprit. My suspicion is that it'll be something pretty trivial.

Funny, I bought a brand new 550X for $499 a couple of years ago and the very next day got long deal on a lightly-used 750X w/Goliath III cab. I've never, ever used the 550X! :rollno:
 

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