The Friendly 12bar Blues Guitar Forum

Any thoughts on this little whining noise from the SuperChamp XD.

It's pretty quiet so you may need a bit more volume. https://www.box.com/s/j7f3o52rwssko3ok72sq

It's after about 30 seconds of switching the amp on - not a loud noise - first time it happened I was leaning over getting a pedal out of the cupbaord - I thought it was me wheezing.

There are no further noises or oddities after its done this though till next time it's switched on.

Pre-amp tube? I could swap wit the one in teh VibroChamp and see if it still makes the noise.

Under warranty at least being new (ex Demo).

Mhh, sound to me like a capacitor loading and with that create a oscilation efffect that is responsible for the noise. not sure though.

You could well be right ... though i hope not.

The more I read up about, and the more I find out about, tube amps the less certain I get as to what might cause a problem!

But .... this evening I took out the preamp tube. Replaced it with the preamp tube from the VibroChamp. No whining noise. Switched off again. Gave it a while. Switched it back on - still no whining noise. Switched off and put the original tube back in. Switched on - no whining noise.

Will need to give it a few days to see if the change is permanent.

One thing I did think when i took the back off the SuperChamp was that the preamp tube looked to be seated at a bit of an angle - also once I'd taken it out and studied it I felt that the pins seemed to be angled in a bit towards each other while the VibroChamps tube had pins pretty much parallel to each other. I think I would have to change the angle of those pins on the SuperChamps preamp tube to get it to fit in the VibroChamp without danger of breakages.

I must also get myself some electrical contact cleaner - make sure the connections for the tubes are as good as possible.

Hmmm .... back to the whine this morning. Though it was too good to be true.

As long as it only does this for a couple of seconds at start up and it's fine the rest of the time I maybe don't need to worry.

Yes you shoul worry now and not after the warranty period. The amp is partial digital and not easy to fix.

Know what you mean HBL. Though at only 13 days since purchased I've got a bit of time to spare thankfully.

It's a round trip of several hundred miles for it to go back to where I bought it and back to me - so if it's something easily fixed by me it would help. Think I'll try the SuperChamp for a few days with the VibroChamps preamp tube in it.

Also I'll get some electrical contact cleaner (not that I can find any locally which is typical ).

Ok, but please, PLEASE be very careful with contacts cleaner and the amp. There is some high voltage in there and depending on the capacitors used in the amp, the voltage can stay there (let's say stored) for quite a while. so watch yourself.

Thanks for the warning!

I should have been clear - the cleaner is just for the tubes.

I've seen enough about the way a tube amp works to be very wary about opening it all up and doing anything else. The amount of time an amp can keep lethal charges of electricity is quite terrifying.

Hi VB
Just taking out the tubes is normally not that dangerous, even less if you use a glove.
And just taking out the tubes from the sockets and put them in again will "rub off" any oxide in the contact points.
If you use an good electrical contact cleaner, spray it on the tube pins before put the tubes in the sockets.
/Kalle

Kalle wrote:Hi VB
Just taking out the tubes is normally not that dangerous, even less if you use a glove.
And just taking out the tubes from the sockets and put them in again will "rub off" any oxide in the contact points.
If you use an good electrical contact cleaner, spray it on the tube pins before put the tubes in the sockets.
/Kalle

Maybe I should have made more clear, I was refering to the contact cleaner and the tube feet.....

Thanks Kalle.

HalfBlindLefty wrote:Maybe I should have made more clear, I was refering to the contact cleaner and the tube feet.....

No problem - it was clear for me. I found a FAQ section on EuroTubes website that makes good reading too
http://www.eurotubes.com/eurotubes-FAQ- ... iasing.htm
- they are very pro using contact cleaner, and call it their most important tip - even when installing tubes in a new amp .

I have e-mailed a link to my soundfile to teh place I got the amp from. They're going to run it past their amp tech for his view on it. In the meanwhile the amp continues to work fine and the noise is no louder or longer, and only happens just after switching on.

The tech / repairman where I bought the amp from has listened to the sound file. Thinks the amp "doesn’t sound very healthy".

Will be courier-ing it back and then it's up to Fender whether a repair or replacement is needed.

I'll miss it in the meanwhile - the most enjoyable amp I've ever had.

Hold tight, it will be worth it :) i"m sure these days they will probably replace it with a new, or reconditioned unit.....with a new factory warranty !!

tytlblues wrote:Hold tight, it will be worth it :) i"m sure these days they will probably replace it with a new, or reconditioned unit.....with a new factory warranty !!

Thanks Tytl - nice thought and can but hope ..... though at the moment there's a short delay - Fender now have a copy of the soundfile and are anaysing it. Then they'll decide the next step. Unfortunately they wanted the serial number, and as I hadn't made a note of it, and as I'd got to the stage of securely packaging it all up for transit had to hack away with the scissors and undo all my good work .... Grrrrr!

All sorted it seems.

Sent of the package to Fender at their expense. Got it back a week later - that's a nice fast turnaround. No problems with the whine any more. It also seems quieter when it's switched on and nothing is plugged into it.

They basically just replaced the DSP module.

Makes a change to post a good news story!

Ummmm sound sample please ;)

So the whine just after start-up came back about a week or so ago. It's just for 5 seconds or so and is then no problem, but it does indicate something is not right.

Contacted Fender direct on the advice of the shop as still well within warranty.

Within 24 hours it was arranged that they will shortly be delivering a brand new amp and uplifting the old one.

Really pleased to find such good customer care from Fender (again).

My only concern is will the new amp sound as good? The new one is a SuperChamp X2 as the one with the problem is a discontinued XD. The X2 does have the PC connectivity and works with FUSE software - I just hope that the extra bells and whistles haven't come at the expense of the wonderful natural sound that works so well for me with the XD.

VikingBlues wrote: Really pleased to find such good customer care from Fender (again).

It's always a good thing when companies discover that a pleased customer is the best advertising they can get!

With the Internet a bad customer care can ruin any company. Now I hope it sounds well!

VikingBlues wrote:
My only concern is will the new amp sound as good? The new one is a SuperChamp X2 as the one with the problem is a discontinued XD. The X2 does have the PC connectivity and works with FUSE software - I just hope that the extra bells and whistles haven't come at the expense of the wonderful natural sound that works so well for me with the XD.

I'd say you are getting a free upgrade! The FUSE is great (haven't it myself though). But reading online, the new one is slightly different (in tone). But I at least would love the opportunity to pick "amps" through the SW. Well, I only ever used the first 2 amps on the XD (in stores, haven't one).

12bar wrote:

VikingBlues wrote: Really pleased to find such good customer care from Fender (again).

It's always a good thing when companies discover that a pleased customer is the best advertising they can get!

With the Internet a bad customer care can ruin any company. Now I hope it sounds well!

Can't fault the service at all - very impressive and unusual these days too.

But you'll maybe need more than fingers being crossed! ......

weelie wrote:

VikingBlues wrote:
My only concern is will the new amp sound as good? The new one is a SuperChamp X2 as the one with the problem is a discontinued XD. The X2 does have the PC connectivity and works with FUSE software - I just hope that the extra bells and whistles haven't come at the expense of the wonderful natural sound that works so well for me with the XD.

I'd say you are getting a free upgrade! The FUSE is great (haven't it myself though). But reading online, the new one is slightly different (in tone). But I at least would love the opportunity to pick "amps" through the SW. Well, I only ever used the first 2 amps on the XD (in stores, haven't one).

Had the replacement for nearly 48 hours now.

The X2 is VERY different in tone to the XD, which had a natural singing sustain that made it my #1 amp. There seems (to me) to be a more compressed identity to the sounds of the X2 regardless of what can be done with the FUSE software (which has fairly limited ranges of change and only those amp models already on the amp). Though I'm pleased to say the software loaded up and connected and worked with no problem.

The build quality is a disappointing on the X2, and I'll admit to being a bit shocked - the parts seem cheaper - the knobs are a more flimsy plastic - and two were damaged on arrival (replacements on the way). The Fender logo on the speaker cover is thin sharp edged plastic instead of rounded metal. The plastic buttons for the channel select and tap tempo feel very lightweight and flimsy with sharp edges. Think it highly likely I'll be scouring the internet for one of the last few of the discontinued XDs still for sale and selling on the X2. Ho hum .... not much luck with gear for VB recently ... guess that getting a computer that works was too much good luck!