Amp popping and crackling until warmed up

[CHW]

I bought a Laney R4H 300w head and 1x15 cab about 18 months ago and have gigged with it once a month, and practiced once a fortnight throughout this time and it hasn't missed a beat.

We did a gig just before Christmas and when I first turned it on, it would fuzz a bit, and pop and crackle when playing a note. In fact I had to play quite hard for it to respond at all. After about 3 mins it settles down and then goes on as ever, Does this sound like a familiar issue to anyone at all?

This has happened at 2 gigs now, and one practice- although I did leave my kit in the car between a couple of these as it was only a 36 hr gap.

A couple of storage q's, Is there any reason why an amp head should not be stored on its side. I don't have a huge storage cupboard and the head has to live on its side in order to fit, I've always assumed that it should be ok but on no real basis of any sound knowledge?

[aldude]

Uh oh....

I had a Trace Elliot combo (one from 2006 ish), 500W 2x10. After a year or so it started doing this, just while warming up for a few minutes. It got so bad after a while that I had to unplug the speaker while it was warming up so the room wasn't drowned in crack pop noises.

Turned out to be a design fault which was fixed by TE. But it doesn't look good for your amp, if it gets any worse I'd take it to an amp engineer asap to get it fixed.

And storing an amp on its side should have no effect whatsoever.

[mep]

I believe you should not transport an amp on it's side as the vibrations could cause components to work loose from the circuit board. Good luck with the amp.