Sonzera 50 buzzing

[Paul Sharpe]

Had my Sonzera 50 just under 6 months and it has suddenly started to make a very loud buzzing noise. It does this with nothing plugged in and no controls alter it. If I a play a sharp chord or gently tap the top of the combo it stops briefly and then starts again. Im guessing its a dry joint or a value housing problem. Its never left the studio. Any suggestions?

 

[Ste76]

I had a similar problem with my Twin Reverb. In my case the problem was indeed a tube housing problem, probably just something loose. My "tech" friend fixed in 5 minutes without even pull out the tube. Never had any other problem since. Hope you can fix it as easily.

 

[Paul Sharpe]

I had a similar problem with my Twin Reverb. In my case the problem was indeed a tube housing problem, probably just something loose. My "tech" friend fixed in 5 minutes without even pull out the tube. Never had any other problem since. Hope you can fix it as easily.

Thats great thanks. Any idea what he did?

 

[Ste76]

Sorry, no idea of how he fixed it. But i'm sure that someone here on the forum will be of more help. Maybe someone with a Sonzera may have already experienced such a problem and can help you with that

 

[Boogie]

Does it sound like the cable jack was pulled out and you touched the tip?

 

[ERICmySON]

ive had my sonzera 50 for a couple of months now, and i have an annoying buzz on the clean channel... nothing is plugged in and the buzz in significant. any help would be aprreciated.

 

[DougChambers]

Just picked up a new Sonzera 20 after waiting since June for it to deliver. The Clean Channel has more floor noise with nothing pugged in than I expected. May try to roll the tubes or take it back for something else. Could be I need to reset my expectations on the noise level.

 

[dmatthews]

Does it sound like the cable jack was pulled out and you touched the tip?

Sounds a little personal dude...

 

[Alnus Rubra]

Sounds a little personal dude...

Uncle Boogie’s Marital Advice Hotline!

 

[Boogie]

Uncle Boogie’s Marital Advice Hotline!

In that situation, I encourage such activity. What goes on behind closed doors is no one else’s business. Just don’t Facebook Live the moment.

 

[AP515]

May try to roll the tubes...

This is the direction I would go. Most times the buzz is a tube beginning to fail. For those who may not be familiar with the terms, rolling the tubes means replacing the tubes one at a time to see if the buzzing cleans up. Buy one preamp tube and one power tube and start swapping out the tubes of the same type. If there is no improvement on the first swap, use the tube you just pulled in the next spot, and keep going until all the tubes have been tested. You can, of course, just buy one preamp or power tube if you want to lower the cost but there is only a 50% chance you guessed correctly.

 

[Tucson Thump]

Just picked up a new Sonzera 20 after waiting since June for it to deliver. The Clean Channel has more floor noise with nothing pugged in than I expected. May try to roll the tubes or take it back for something else. Could be I need to reset my expectations on the noise level.

I left mine on for eight hours with nothing plugged in and it lowered the floor noise, although it is still there to a degree. It isn't as quiet as my Dallas or HXDAs.
Someone else had suggested getting a decent short 1/4" cord and connecting the FX loop, but I have some pedals in there as it is.

 

[Dane]

Assuming you are not getting the guitar too close to a computer that's running and you've already tried a different guitar to amp cable, it's time to start substituting tubes. Start with v1 tube and move down the chart with the vacuum tubes. I usually keep a set of spares for times like this. Turn off the amp when swapping tubes.