Amp issues. It had been a while, so I guess I'm catching up already. :s

Sudden crackling and, especially, squealing can come from a tube going bad.  But, since you just got it, I'd take it back and let THEM diagnose it if it was me.

Take a look at the jack schematic on the right.


The arrow head between the Tip and the Tip Shunt indicates a temporary or switched connection. This is probably not a good connection at the present... it could be a loose spring tension or there could be some smutz in there... when this happens the amp squeals when there's nothing plugged in.


Sometimes the condition is exacerbated when the amp heats up and the metal expands a very very tiny amount.






The Blackstar uses a Reann style of jack assembly... I'm not 100% sure how to re-tension them but it should be sort of obvious. With a Switchcraft style jack you just take a needle nose pliers and retension the spring in the metal tab so the contact is complete and secure.


Let me know what you figure out.


:-)



best regards,
mike

 A Blackstar 1watt. ...man I would be returning that.

 Something could be loose inside or it could be the jack  but unless its used I would get another one if you have a warranty. If I could reach the tubes I would maybe see if they are loose other than that it sounds like a warranty repair.Plugging and unplugging the jack may also help.

Looking at my receipt, it seems that Sam Ash has a 30 days grace period if you're unsatisfied w/ an item for exchange/refund or 45 days (exchange only).

Considering that this was the only one they had in store, I'm kind of back to square one, evaluating my options, either having this little guy fixed (which would mean a downtime again) or picking an alternative - which probably means Line 6 Spider or Peavey Vypyr.

IIRC, someone here has the Vypyr (w/ the footwitch) and digs it quite a bit. As for the Spider, I wasn't so sure about it, but I've heard some interesting tones. The one thing that bugs me is that the output is stereo only.

Glad you're around John - actually, you're the first person I thought of when the amp started behaving. "Hmmm, wonder what would Ampfixer think..."

My uneducated guess was the tubes - and this'll sound silly for a ton of reasons - because it took a while every time after I power it up. I figured it was just enough for the tubes to warm up. 

Fortunately, I won't be troubleshooting it myself, so my uneducated guess serves absolutely no purpose but to entertain myself and expose my ignorance on these boards.

At first I also thought it could be that thingie where you plug the power cord in the back - I can't say that it's loose but, you can definitely move it. But I guess they made it so so that you could change the fuse.




Anyway, we'll drop by and see what they have to say tomorrow. Worst case I'll grab that Spider and be done with it...

And as we're getting ready to step out to run errands and bring back the amp chez Sam Ash, I thought I'd plug it in and see if it still made all those noises.

I left it on for 10 minutes. Nothing. Juts the hum. But he's not getting away w/ this. Unreliable.

I'm pretty much set on replacing t w/ a Spider IV 75 watts, for an extra $50. I had opted against Line 6 in the first place, but I guess I can do w/ the extra features and, well, I know those emulations...

The Kemper's and Axe-FX's give me hope that modelling will be killer in the future (hopefully I can afford that future! ;-)

Craig - Admittedly, Axe-FX is in a different league. That being said, if I could put that much money on emulation, I'd probably use it to sound proof a room and mic a big old Marshall stack or such. In fact, as soon as we get the house, I'm going back to the time proven formula of sticking a 57 in front of the amp.

So how good's the Spider? Well, I've only tested it w/ headphones so far - and I can't wait to try that speaker. Though I've heard it in the store and liked what I heard, obviously.

Funny thing is that the single output will only accept stereo cables. My first attempt - using a TRS cable and plug it directly into the input of my audio interface (in mono) overloaded something somewhere and I was getting some nasty distortion. So I dug out my old mixer, sent the stereo signal to that and form there went mono into the audio interface. Better.

1st thing - if you're looking for an amp that'll allow you to record hi-gain or even just distorted tones going in direct, this isn't it. It has the typical harshness and things are a bit squashed - the direct out is weaker than the one on the Blackstar. I may still have to rely on my old POD 2 and impulses for big rhythm guitars, until I can shove a mic in front of this guy. Classic tones are a different story - no issue going direct.

2nd - It's still a whole lot of fun to play. We were supposed to watch The Dark Knight tonight, but I wanted to take a few minutes to test this thing. Next thing I know, it's pass 11 pm, and I've been messing w/ this thing for over 2 hours - which felt like half an hour, max. For shredding leads, it kills the little Blackstar, imho. There's also a pitch shifter in there, and I must have spent a good part of those 2 hours playing Kyuss type of basslines/grooves on my guitar. My head is filled w/ new song ideas...

Though the direct out sounds a bit squashed, I still like the way it reacts to my playing. Software amp sims were never too good for my ego as a guitarist. So much that I ended up underplaying most of the time and I never thought my parts would make it on the album - I was basically recording placeholders. That's tough, man. I was seeing some friends whom I'd always considered average musicians making great records and had to push myself below them, cause even they sounded tighter than me. It was like, man I must really suck. But then I'd remember the stuff we'd recorded in studios or live back in the days, and it seemed I could play decently... When did I lose that? I never was a Vai or a Danzi, but I could definitely play keepers and a heartfelt solo here and there...

So I guess this amp will work for me - be it just for the fact that I'm having a lot of fun and ideas playing it. And when I can finally throw a mic in front of that speaker, I guess I'll be quasi-happy.

It's bigger, it blocks the way to the back of the desk, but I dig it!

Just lucky, myself, I guess...but I have never had any problems with any of the tube amps that I have owned either.

My biggest problem with the sims and modeling amps, is that with all of the choices, I never seem to settle into a sound.  It is so easy to change everything that I just end up playing with the amp all night instead of playing guitar.

 The only real problem I have had with tube amps is how LOUD they were, but then I was buying them too large for my purposes. Thats why I think that something like a 1 watt tube amp would be great.

 The only two amps I own right now are a mini PA setup and a small Behringer modeler amp I picked up really cheap. Believe it or not it sounds decent for what it is. I bought it at the time because I wanted to practice without my computer being on and it had a headphone jack. The other day I actually thought about miking it up for a guitar track.

  Hope it works well for you Rain.

   

Starise - even at 1 watt they can be pretty loud. Maybe not loud enough to play w/ a Scandinavian death metal band, but, by yourself, in a room, you definitely can get some serious volume out of those things. That being said, I'm kind of a loudness wuss - I pick clarity and detail over loudness every time.

The more I learn about recording and mixing, the more I can hear things upfront - stuff that I know will come back to haunt me when I start mixing. It's like my hearing is getting better all the time and it's becoming more and more obvious that capturing great distorted tones isn't as simple as it once seemed.

At this point, I'm starting to believe that you could fill the room w/ all the cool classic amps in the world, I'd almost always find something that doesn't work w/ them, a little something in their distortion that's nasty - a little fizz or buzz or resonance - that won't really bother me as a guitarist but which will stick out its ugly head the context of a mix. I know the Spider has plenty of those things, but it also has plenty of things which will work. So we'll focus on those.

The last studio session I provided some amps for was fun. All the amp heads were in the control room while the cabs sat in a big ISO room with an array of mikes. To me this was the best way to record tubes. They are loud and beautiful and have to be pushed to reveal the mojo. I really can't use amps in my apartment and that's where the convenience comes in with modelling.

At my last shop we had a live room for testing amps and P.A. It was the size of two basketball courts. Wood floors, wood ceilings 25' high. One day we slaved 4 Super Reverbs together and wound them up, what a wall of sound. Good times.

MakeShift 


My biggest problem with the sims and modeling amps, is that with all of the choices, I never seem to settle into a sound.  It is so easy to change everything that I just end up playing with the amp all night instead of playing guitar. 

You say that like it's not what we're supposed to be doing? 

I did??    I was pretty sure I used the word "I".


Rain, as you have said, back in the day, you pretty much cranked up your Marshall and stuck a 57 in front of it to record.  You might have a few peddles to add in, but, you kind of found "your sound" and you went with it.  That's what I was trying to say. 


I've got most of the sims and several Line 6 products and I like them a lot.  I find them pretty usable for recording, especially for rhythm tracks that kind of sit in the back ground anyway.  I have had many people ask me what amp I was mic'ing to get tone in songs and were often surprised if I was to say I used POD Farm, or Guitar Rig, or what ever I might have used.  Sometimes though, it can be unproductive for me when I am trying to get a song done, because there are just sooooo many choices, that I start second guessing if I have the right tone for the song.  It's like, I always feel like I can find better tone that the amp model I am currently using.  Sometimes, it is just to many choices.  I find that I tend to make better decisions when I home in on which amps in each sim that I like the best and kind of find my tone with that amp.


I don't play with a lot of distortion though, so this might be completely different for some one else.  I tend to like my tube amp tones best for leads.  There is absolutely nothing wrong with spending an entire evening twiddling the knobs on sims, it can be fun to see what tones you can come up with.  When I am actually trying to get something done, however, they can sometimes bog me down, personally.

Notice...I said me.  

Sounds like you're on a fun ride Rain!

@MakeShift - Ironically, I used to own a LOT of Line 6 gear and even did some beta testing for them, but now I'm down to only having Variax guts built into a custom guitar (that also has passive pickups) and I use three tube pre-amps (a VHT Valvulator GP3, a Peavey Rock Master loaded with NOS Mullards and a Mesa Boogie Rectifier Recording Preamp) into a tube stereo power amp (a VHT 2/50/2).  Oh well!

Great for recording and learning stuff, but when jamming it would mysteriously disappear into the mix.

I bought my Line 6 Duoverb head to replace my old head which had crapped out on me. It was supposed to be MORE than powerful enough to do the job live. Damned thing just refused to cut through. Also the first and only time I brought it out live it started making horrible noises then just cut out completely. I thought it was toast. I borrowed another amp for the gig but I was really pissed. When I got home I hooked the Duoverb back up again and it was fine. Since then it has been delegated to recording which it's great for because of the two XLR outs on the back (one for each channel on the amp). Most of the models are pretty crappy but I can get a slick clean tone and toss stompboxes on it. I'm looking forward to trying it with all my fancy new amp sims and X2. It hasn't been touched for like three years because I didn't have room.

/CSB