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250 tremelo, vibrato noise [message #21350]

Thu, 04 September 2014 20:15

freekey
Messages: 3
Registered: September 2014
Location: Los Angeles

Junior Member

Hello I am the happy owner of a vintage 250 with tremolo, vibrato & reverb. The trem and vibrato effects are a little noisy. Sounds like waves on a distant beach ; ). At loud volumes this is of no significance, but I have recently been playing this amp a ton in my home studio at softer volumes and the noise is a tad annoying. Any of you 250 owners able to get a close to quite signal while using the trem and vibrato? The amp is beautifully silent when not playing with the trem and/or vibrato.

Cheers.

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Re: 250 tremelo, vibrato noise [message #21357 is a reply to message #21350]

Thu, 04 September 2014 23:19

chicagobill
Messages: 2010
Registered: April 2003

Senior Member

Welcome to the place. Yeah, sometimes the metalfront trem/vibrato circuit can get noisy. The only thing that I've found that will quite it down is to replace the modulator ics. And even then sometimes the noise reduction is not that dramatic.

How bad is the noise?

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Re: 250 tremelo, vibrato noise [message #21361 is a reply to message #21357]

Fri, 05 September 2014 00:35

freekey
Messages: 3
Registered: September 2014
Location: Los Angeles

Junior Member

Ah, it's not too bad. But it would add noise during a recording for sure. On a scale of 1-10 it lands around a 4. I play keys and have been running my rhodes and wurlitzer through them. Since I resurrected this amp about a month ago it has been my favorite. I am trying to decide weather to chase the rabbit down the hole and try and make it quite. At this point I think I'll look at it as character. I know some of the noise is coming from my Wurli. Big props to this excellent board. These amps rule and deserve the love you guys show for them. Cheers.

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Re: 250 tremelo, vibrato noise [message #21365 is a reply to message #21350]

Fri, 05 September 2014 06:33

stevem
Messages: 4786
Registered: June 2004
Location: NY

Senior Member

I have 3 of these amps and on 2 of them had some extra noise also, all I did was unplug and replug the connectors a number of times on that effects board (pc5068) and my noise was gone, although I think as Bill posted it may be the IC chip, or some resistors getting noisy!

[Updated on: Fri, 05 September 2014 06:34]

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Re: 250 tremelo, vibrato noise [message #21369 is a reply to message #21350]

Fri, 05 September 2014 11:53

freekey
Messages: 3
Registered: September 2014
Location: Los Angeles

Junior Member

Annnnnd the rabbit goes down the hole. Thanks Stevem ; )

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Re: 250 tremelo, vibrato noise [message #21371 is a reply to message #21369]

Fri, 05 September 2014 13:35

chicagobill
Messages: 2010
Registered: April 2003

Senior Member

That's a real good point. If you have access to a can of contact cleaner open it up and spray a little on each pin of every connector and plug and unplug each one few times to burnish the contacts. It may or may not solve your noise problem, but it will help the long term fitness of the amp.

While you are in there, you could give each of the pots a little spritz. And you can inspect the front panel switches for cracks.

I use and recommend DeoxIt spray cleaner, as it does a really good job and is readily available at Radio Shack stores.

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