I was rehearsing with the new band here in Copenhagen when ater a kick the tank started sounding much drier. The other guys noticed it as well, without me telling them anything. It was like this for the rest of the rehearsal.

When I played the tank at home it sounded perfect. After moving it around a bit, it lost it's reverb again There is some, but too little.

Any idea what might be causing it? The pan looks allright, nothing obviously disjointed.

There's also this noise with my unit. It makes a crackling noise whenever I tap it. Even the vibrations from other amps and drums are enough to make it do that noise.

I have recorded samples of all the above and uploaded them on soundcloud.
https://soundcloud.com/raistmagus/sets/reverb-problems

Any help will be greatly appreciated guys! Here in Denmark I expect the tech prices to be super crazy high, to the point of considering buying a new unit...

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Last edited: Feb 26, 2016 16:35:55

Try jiggiling the input/output cables to the pan. I had a similar issue once, and a bad cable is all it was.

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Thank you for your feedback. It is a normal made in USA 90s tank with a Mercury Magnetics input transformer (to convert it to EU current), some NOS 6K6 tube, a Jan Philips 12AT7, and the cap mod. All the mods were done by amp techs.

I tried jiggling and tightening the rca plugs to and from the pan and there is no improvement.

Before I go out buying tubes and pans, is there anything I could check on the pcb? By looking at it or poking around with a stick? The noise goes away when I turn the mix to 0, which means it is caused by the 'wet' part of the circuit. The noise is not caused by the pan.

Could it be some bad solder that isolates a cap or resistor and doesn't let one of the amplifying stages of the tubes do it's job properly?

https://zakandthekrakens.bandcamp.com/
https://www.dirtyfuse.com

Last edited: Feb 27, 2016 07:20:38

UPDATE

I accidentally turned it on with the 12AT7 and the 6K6 tubes removed. The noise-when-taped was still there. I replaced the 12AX7 with the 12AT7 and turned it on again, the noise was there.

I also hear a clinking sound when I shake the 6K6, is that normal or does it mean it is dead?

https://zakandthekrakens.bandcamp.com/
https://www.dirtyfuse.com

Last edited: Feb 27, 2016 07:41:54

Thank you Badger!

Tere is some noise when I tap on the cable from pin 2 of the 12AX7 and on the hot wire (red) from the pan return.

No noise when I tap the tubes or any of the other wires.

https://zakandthekrakens.bandcamp.com/
https://www.dirtyfuse.com

Last edited: Feb 27, 2016 08:24:07

RaistMagus wrote:

It's alive! It was a connection inside the pan. There seems to be a tiny plug-like white plastic thing between the tranducer and the RCA jack. It was kinda loose, I messed with it a bit and now all is good. Until the next kicks probably

These new Korean Accutronics pans sound much better than the MOD ones (the MOD of recent years seem to be very cavernous) but my MOD lasted 5 years of abuse before dying. The Accutronics has been there only for 1-2 years IIRC.

Thanks for the help everyone!!!

Glad it's working for you. Maybe take turns from which direction you kick the tank...

Seriously if you're going to do that as a regular thing you may want to simply find a good deal on a spare pan. I had a MOD for quite awhile in a reissue Fender tank & liked it fine - just didn't have to turn the dwell up as much. But if you get a decent one the current Koreans are fine. In prowling my tech's secret stash I've found more differences in the old USA pans but they are nice when you get a good one.

Even though it's working, are you still getting the noise you described when it's idle?

Wes
SoCal ex-pat with a snow shovel

DISCLAIMER: The above is opinion/suggestion only & should not be used for mission planning/navigation, tweaking of instruments, beverage selection, or wardrobe choices.

Yeah, on the noise, my RI tank used to pick up spurious stuff, sometimes a "time of day" issue (early afternoon) 'cause I live in the shadow of a big AM tower. Others simply because the light-weight circuits & cables all combine together to be an antenna. Under the same conditions, my Gomez is dead-quiet; just one of those things. Anyway, glad you have splash!

Wes
SoCal ex-pat with a snow shovel

DISCLAIMER: The above is opinion/suggestion only & should not be used for mission planning/navigation, tweaking of instruments, beverage selection, or wardrobe choices.

It is funny you said that. I bought a MOD pan based on your video and found the same issue. The trails were either HUGE or off. Lol. It wasn't a total loss. It worked quite well for some of our material.

RaistMagus wrote:

The noise kinda went away, it is harder to induce and weaker when induced. Probably poking around the cables and all on the inside of the tank made it stop. I expect it to come back sooner or later.

I wouldn't expext a tech to solve these issues. Most of them would clean the tube sockets, get me a new set of tubes and a new pan and maybe still won't fix the noise. Intermittent problems in particular are really hard to get fixed be a tech.

About the pans, my MOD was a bit old, and souded fine. But a friend bought a MOD recently and it was way too cavernous for surf use. I got a similar comment on a youtube video from someone buying a MOD because of my video and complaining it was too cavernous. If I was to get a new pan (maybe sooner than later) I'd still go Accutronics.

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JObeast wrote:

With all these RF interference and cold solder issues, it hardly seems worthwhile to get a Fender-branded tank. FMIC should hear about this, and Bjorn Isheden should see an uptick in Surfy Bear orders.

Yes, although RFI situations can vary based on location, other stuff in the area, even seasonally the noise floor can change. (Although I'm pretty easy on my gear & don't kick my tank.) Or I might've been lucky as I had no real issues with my RI (which is now living somewhere in Surf City.)

Regarding the Surfy Bear, it continues to amaze. As we often get to look through hindsight, if I came to SG101 now instead of before and was getting my first reverb tank (and no G-Springs around) I'd definitely get a Surfy Bear, hands-down - I like my springs (and admittedly my tubes). But if someone had to have a real pan, a relatively compact Surfy Bear build, a decent single speaker cab and a little Quilter would be a helluva potent & mobile combo. Such a thing would travel nice belted into a thrifty little car's backseat.

Wes
SoCal ex-pat with a snow shovel

DISCLAIMER: The above is opinion/suggestion only & should not be used for mission planning/navigation, tweaking of instruments, beverage selection, or wardrobe choices.

hi!
good that you found the issue. for my venerable RI-tank, I came to the conclusion that the PCB and the components were finely selected, and only the worst of them were finally used for mine. over the years, i had a transfomer going up in flames as well as other issues. the meanest was a broken pot, that one was really hard to find ;) - so, whenever your tank falls silent, think of checking the pots, too ...
yours
wolfi

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