Yikes what was that sound from my Orange Terror?

[BassYerbouti]

Plugged my bass into my trusty Orange Terror Bass 500 yesterday for a quick practice and got a worrysome sound I'd never heard before. Like a loud electrical buzz that distorted each string and only happened when I played a note rather than being there all the time. I switched it off and on and got the same effect but after that episode haven't had a reoccurrence.

I've ordered a new set of valves more out of panic than anything rational as I have a couple of gigs soon and will be f***d without it.

Does it sound like valves? when a valve goes does it become temperamental and then fail or fail straight away? I've been looking for videos that demonstrate different sounds/problems with amps but haven't turned up anything yet.

Does anyone have similar experience of advice please?

regards,

Chris

[bobbytodd]

did you try different leads both guitar and kettle.also did you have a tv on at the time?my genz buzzes like hell if my plasma telly is on .lastly how high did you have the gain

[paul_5]

Have you checked the wiring (or battery) on your bass and your lead? Start checking the inexpensive things first…

Hope you get sorted.

Edited October 5, 2014 by paul_5

[BassYerbouti]

Hello again. Well the problem hasn't gone away and came back with a vengeance tonight, long enough for me to grab a phone and record the offending noise. I've attached a sound file which is fairly boring buzzing which gets exacerbated when I pluck a strng, until I switch the amp off about 6 seconds from the end and you can hear an interesting whine and whistle before it shuts down. It did this several times in a row, all with the same sound at the end (when it's working normally it doesn't sign off with this whine and whistle).

In line with advice here I have tried different guitars, speakers, swapped all the kettle leads, guitar leads, speakon cables and am 100% sure its the amp. I'd previously changed the valves too and get the same noise on old and new sets.

Its going to go back to Orange no doubt but I'd be really interested to know if others recognise the sound and have any knowledge of what the problem was with their amp please.

regards,

Chris

[BassYerbouti]

The amp went back to Orange via my dealer Absolute Music and was fixed very quickly. Turned out it was a PCB failure. Mighty pleased I bought from Absolute as they offered 3 year warranty. The amp was 2.5 years old - phew.