Tweeter making a crackling noise? Marshall MBC115

[TheRockinRoadie]

Hi All,

I have a Marshall MB450H running through an MBC115 - I've had a lot of problems with the MB series, but i wont go into that now.

After having my cabinet fixed the week after I bought it, everything has been running fine. But recently I've noticed that my tweeter is starting to crackle when I play anything in the higher register, or if I 'attack' the bass harder than normal. I'm pretty sure its the tweeter, as when you turn it off at the back, the problem stops.

I've opened the amp up, and checked the board and the (rather inadequate) connecting cables - all seems fine. I haven't got the Eq on the amp or bass (Lakland 44-02) set to any extremes. I;ve also noticed that the amp seems to generally be lacking in top end recently.

Does this sound like I might need to fit a new tweeter? Has anyone got any ideas as to how I might solve the problem?

Any help or suggestions will be much appreciated!

Many thanks,

Lorry

[Lozz196]

I had a similar problem with a crackling sound on one of my Precisions, when hitting the higher end, sounded like a loose screw was vibrating/rattling. But it was only with that one, not the others. Turned out the pickups were raised too near the strings, and lowering them solved this. Worth checking out.

[TheRockinRoadie]

Okay thanks for the suggestion. However, it does it with my Jazz, Precision and Lakland, so I'm assuming it's something 'electronically' wrong. I'm going to get my friend whose an electronics engineer to take a look at it. Luckily, I've realized it isnt as noticable when i use the classic/valve channel, so I can still get away with playing it, without getting annoyed!

Cheers,
L