Ultimate Rhoads

I have a Peavey Windsor 100 Watt tube amp, and for the last few months now, I seem to be getting a loud buzzing noise when I use it live.

I had a person actually ask my to turn my amp down, because the buzzing was so loud (I couldn't, because then I'd lose all my tone and volume)

After my show tonight, he told me that he thought it might be the grounding on the amp. I changed the preamp tubes, and that didn't remedy the situation. Grounding would make the most sense to me, for the main issue.

If it would help anyone, I could upload a little clip of the noise. Other than that though, is there anyone out there who could help me figure the problem out with it? If at all possible, I'd like to avoid taking it into a shop, but I'm guessing I will have to if the grounding needs work on it.

If I do have to take it into a shop, I'd like to know the cause of the problem beforehand, because the only shop I know of that works on amps costs somewhere around $50 upfront, plus $80 an hour to work on it. That's a little expensive to me (And the price would probably go up if he needs to replace parts on it). So I'd like to be able to say "This is what's wrong with it, can you fix it for me?" Or something along those lines.



Sorry for the long ramble there lol, but ANY help would be VERY appreciated. It's pretty embarrassing to be playing and having a loud buzz in the background.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUYJwD-Z ... re=related

The noise is most noticeable in the beginning.

Here's a clip of a song my band did. You can clearly here the buzzing in the beginning. VERY loud.

Did this problem start all of a sudden or has it been an issue since you have owned the amp? The buzzing sounds like 'interference' in the signal to me. Does this noise happen when you are the only one with equipment turned on or does it happen only when others are also amped up and ready to play?

I remember a buddy doing a gig at a High School one time and the guitar amp had major buzzing... it turned out to be because the amp was touching a metal cross member on the staging and grounding to it. We put a piece of carpet under the amp and the problem went away...

It wasn't always THIS loud, but I think it may have always been there, just at a really low volume. Or it may just be my imagination. It's been there for so long that I don't remember it being NOT there lol

It happens at any gig I've played. I hear the sound even at home.

What type of guitar are you using? Humbuckers or single coil pickups?

Have you replaced your cables or checked their connections?

Have you checked the connections on your amp?

I'd start with checking the cables and the jack on the guitar...

If it happens with any guitar plugged into your amp, it's definitely the amp. You mentioned the possibility of going to a shop with your amp. Maybe you could go to the shop and describe your situation and ask for advice? I'd think a reputable repair shop would be willing to offer suggestions.

have you check the speakers??? some times the cone came rip or detach....

It the clip you posted it seems to be gone when you aren't playing in parts of the song????....what have you done during these parts?? (like turn guitar volume down or turns gain channel off etc)

I have a pedalboard, and the amp makes noise even when the volume pedal is down (It's the second to last pedal in my chain, only flanger is after it and I KNOW it isn't the problem). I'm positive it's the amp. I go through 2 different guitars, and I still have the problem. I'll check the cable that connects from my pedalboard to my amp, but I doubt that's the problem.

I'm going to see if I can take it downtown this week and have a professional take a look at it.


@Sytharnia, I don't play until around :21 seconds into the clip. After that, whenever I go quiet, it's me using my volume pedal to turn down the volume to play a clean part (At one point, I went to far on the pedal and it mutes my guitar).

The noise you hear before that (The buzzing sound) is my amp. I don't think it's the speaker, because when I turn the gain on my amp down, the noise goes down with it. The only problem with that though, is I lose a LOT of attack/sustain/tone. That made me think it was the preamp tubes, but I know it isn't because I changed them all out.

Do you use the preamp volume from the amp to get overdrive? Maybe one of the preamp tubes (those little 12ax7 tubes) got a bit faulty? For sure they can become noisy if they are worned out. These are easy to replace btw.
Also I see the amp has an effects loop, if nothing else you could try to place a good quality noisegate into the effects loop.

I've replaced all 3 preamp tubes because that was what I thought the problem was. After I changed them, the problem persisted. I find it odd though that the noise would go down if I turn the preamp down, but it would get louder if I turn the preamp up. I find it VERY unlikely that I'd get the SAME problem after switching all 3 out, if the tubes were the problem.

I do have a noisegate (MXR Smartgate to be exact), but I use it in my pedalboard.

Have you tried going straight from the guitar to the amp and keeping the pedalboard completely disconnected?

You say it happens regardless of the guitar, so it's got to be the pedalboard, the patch cords or the amp. Is it a set of stomp boxes or an actual board? My train of thought is that you remove all effects and if there's a buzz you'll know the culprit... if no buzz, hook up one pedal at a time to find it... hopefully it's a simple thing.

Go to the forum at peavey.com and post your problem in the amplifier section. People there can and will help, especially if you can get Enzo to reply.

99% sure it's the amp, I use the same cords on my other amp, and no problems. Only other thing it could be is my flanger pedal, and I know that isn't it.

Cryptic Night wrote:I@Sytharnia, I don't play until around :21 seconds into the clip. After that, whenever I go quiet, it's me using my volume pedal to turn down the volume to play a clean part (At one point, I went to far on the pedal and it mutes my guitar).

The noise you hear before that (The buzzing sound) is my amp. I don't think it's the speaker, because when I turn the gain on my amp down, the noise goes down with it. The only problem with that though, is I lose a LOT of attack/sustain/tone. That made me think it was the preamp tubes, but I know it isn't because I changed them all out.

if the sound goes away when you mute with the volume pedal that tells me it isn't the amp........

If you run straight into the amp without pedals is the noise still there???
are your pedals run from batteries, individual 9v plug supply or linked (either with daisy chain or a pedal power type thing)???

It sound very much like 60 cycle hum... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vf6Bq-vStLA

I only have 1 pedal after my volume pedal, and that's my flanger pedal. It's almost always off (I only use it on one song to add a bit of "flavor" to it). I have it set with a Dunlop DC Brick. The volume was set off on my pedals (My volume pedal was down) until :21 seconds into that clip, which is why I don't think it's the pedals. My volume pedal is passive, it doesn't run on power.

It's too late to test anything now on it, because I've already sent it in, and I should get it back sometime next week hopefully. It does sound similar to that 60 cycle hum, yes.

Please let us know what the results are.

Well, I got my amp back today.

The problems with it:

One of the power tubes was running out of juice (Or whatever lol, you get the point). Also, apparently a wire connected to the power transformer wasn't connected or something, so he fixed that for me.

It cost me $108 in the end. Well, it cost my PARENTS $108 lmao