MiltyG565 Posted November 18, 2012 Share Posted November 18, 2012 So i have an old ash down ABM400 head, and the other day, i got an XLR lead so i could DI it through my sound card and record some stuff. When i record my playing, i'm also monitoring at the same time, but i get some buzzing from the amp, but that is ok, because i don't normally hear that on the recorded track, especially since i do a couple of things to minimise the impact those type of things have. But something i didn't hear at all while monitoring was a crackling noise, and this is clear on the tracks (which are now unusable). I only noticed when i listened to the tracks after recording, without the sound card. There is a constant crackling noise, but only when i play. it gets louder as a i play, and is worse when i turn on the amp's EQ. any ideas what it could be? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Foxen Posted November 18, 2012 Share Posted November 18, 2012 So cracked solder, on the legs of some board mount stuff. Resoldering it all should fix it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MiltyG565 Posted November 18, 2012 Author Share Posted November 18, 2012 [quote name='Mr. Foxen' timestamp='1353281895' post='1873310'] So cracked solder, on the legs of some board mount stuff. Resoldering it all should fix it. [/quote] how sure can you be? do you mean resolder all the points in the amp, or just the cracked one? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Foxen Posted November 18, 2012 Share Posted November 18, 2012 Finding the cracked one is hard, soldering is easy. So reflowing all the possibles is the easy way. Happens a lot on amps with board mount stuff, and those are the symptoms. http://ampstack.wordpress.com/2012/05/21/ashdown-electric-blue-150/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MiltyG565 Posted November 19, 2012 Author Share Posted November 19, 2012 ok, don't i need to de-charge the amp before i do any of that stuff? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Foxen Posted November 19, 2012 Share Posted November 19, 2012 Does it still make noise if you keep playing after its off? Doing that will use most of the juice in the caps, it will be low voltage anyway. Mostly if its off for a while it should be fine. Valve amps are the ones that educate you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Starr Posted November 19, 2012 Share Posted November 19, 2012 Crackling is likely to come from damaged pots or connectors, poorly soldered joints or cracks in the circuit boards or from the breakdown of components with electrolytic capacitors going first usually but not always. there are safety issues and you would need to check the power supply caps are discharged before fiddling around inside the amp. there are several thousand connections inside the amp and resoldering all of them is more likely to end up with you creating other problems especially if there are surface mounted components. You will need a specialist soldering iron with a very fine tip and thermostatic temperature control. You can often find the fault using a freezer spray but even this is a moderately skilled job, if you can read a circuit diagram and can solder then fine but if not you will probably struggle. It depends upon you, if you are happy to spend long evenings learning loads of new skills then what have you got to lose, if you want an amp that works then you will have to pay someone who has spent the long evenings learning this stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stingrayPete1977 Posted November 19, 2012 Share Posted November 19, 2012 I had an ABM for years, every now and then it needed a good clean out, remove the gear tray and blow everywhere out with an airline first, get in the jacks etc and around the eq sliders, then liberally spray everywhere with servisol from maplins whilst turning sliding pushing and pulling every knob and control as you go, leave it stood on its end for a good few hours to dry out, connect it up and enjoy the hiss and crackle free goodness done it at least four times to mine, give the cooling fan blades a wipe down too. sorry for the lack of caps i have a bust arm! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MiltyG565 Posted November 19, 2012 Author Share Posted November 19, 2012 [quote name='Mr. Foxen' timestamp='1353285816' post='1873349'] Does it still make noise if you keep playing after its off? Doing that will use most of the juice in the caps, it will be low voltage anyway. Mostly if its off for a while it should be fine. Valve amps are the ones that educate you. [/quote] It has a valve preamp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghost_Bass Posted November 19, 2012 Share Posted November 19, 2012 [quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1353319109' post='1873470'] (...) sorry for the lack of caps i have a bust arm! [/quote] So... only open string notes for a while? Have a good and fast recovery Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Foxen Posted November 19, 2012 Share Posted November 19, 2012 [quote name='Phil Starr' timestamp='1353315926' post='1873433'] Crackling is likely to come from damaged pots or connectors, poorly soldered joints or cracks in the circuit boards or from the breakdown of components with electrolytic capacitors going first usually but not always. there are safety issues and you would need to check the power supply caps are discharged before fiddling around inside the amp. there are several thousand connections inside the amp and resoldering all of them is more likely to end up with you creating other problems especially if there are surface mounted components. You will need a specialist soldering iron with a very fine tip and thermostatic temperature control. You can often find the fault using a freezer spray but even this is a moderately skilled job, if you can read a circuit diagram and can solder then fine but if not you will probably struggle. It depends upon you, if you are happy to spend long evenings learning loads of new skills then what have you got to lose, if you want an amp that works then you will have to pay someone who has spent the long evenings learning this stuff. [/quote] Ashdown ABM stuff is simple inside, proper boards, would guess their digital mini ones will be surface mouth stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MiltyG565 Posted November 19, 2012 Author Share Posted November 19, 2012 [quote name='Mr. Foxen' timestamp='1353338385' post='1873787'] Ashdown ABM stuff is simple inside, proper boards, would guess their digital mini ones will be surface mouth stuff. [/quote] It's a very early ashdown head. it's 1998. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghost_Bass Posted November 19, 2012 Share Posted November 19, 2012 [quote name='MiltyG565' timestamp='1353340039' post='1873842'] It's a very early ashdown head. it's 1998. [/quote] Even better! It adds more to the theory of dirty guts. Clean it with compressed air and squirt some contact cleaner, let it dry and hook it up. Check for loose solders but don't solder anything that doesn't appear definetly knackered. Use a jack tip and plug it in and out of each socket a few times, roll all knobs and sliders just to make sure you get all the dirt out. Hopefully that will sort any noise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MiltyG565 Posted November 19, 2012 Author Share Posted November 19, 2012 but the thing is, i never heard any noise from it plugged into a cab, just into my computer, it records with a horrible cracking noise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Foxen Posted November 19, 2012 Share Posted November 19, 2012 Sort of says the issue is with the output to the computer. If it is the XLR and that is board mount, I'd do the soldering there, its a fairly chunky item to be board mounted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MiltyG565 Posted November 19, 2012 Author Share Posted November 19, 2012 [quote name='Mr. Foxen' timestamp='1353343521' post='1873947'] Sort of says the issue is with the output to the computer. If it is the XLR and that is board mount, I'd do the soldering there, its a fairly chunky item to be board mounted. [/quote] This makes more sense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stingrayPete1977 Posted November 19, 2012 Share Posted November 19, 2012 Some DIs are just noisy anyway, but a squirt of servisol in there won't hurt it at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MiltyG565 Posted November 19, 2012 Author Share Posted November 19, 2012 [quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1353355108' post='1874205'] Some DIs are just noisy anyway, but a squirt of servisol in there won't hurt it at all. [/quote] It isn't just noisy, it is ruining the recording with the loud crackling. I elimated buzzing sounds, but crackling? no chance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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