1967 Silver Face Super Reverb noisy or normal ?

[Roderman67]

Hi, I’m new to vintage fender tube amps… I picked up this all original 1967 SF SR a month ago and wanted to ask if the noise level sounds normal or if it sounds noisy and needs to be fixed? It has had some capacitor s replaced and some tubes. Other than that it’s original. I took a quick video so you can hear the noise the amp makes when it is turned on and idle. Amp sounds great played and speakers are nice and tight.

I don’t know how to get the video to load on here. Seems to only lets me attach photos. Here are some photos anyway, if I can attach a video let me know how…

Any insight to these amps and the “normal” amount of noise they make while idle or if they can be silent sounding without any “static” noise for lack of a better word.

thanks

 

[abcdefghijklmnop]

Hi. That is a great amp, a late 1967 drip edge SR. I also have a 1967 and play it every day. Mine is from earlier in the year and is a blackface model, also with the original speakers like yours.

Mine was noisy too when I got it, so I went though the entire amp with 91% alcohol on Q tips and cleaned the heck out of it. Clean every tube socket, inside and out with a toothpick and then use contact cleaner spray. Clean every pot with contact cleaner spray from the inside of the chasis. Clean every switch and connector. Take the Q tips and dip in the alcohol and then clean every contact, solder joint inside the chassic. Clean the fiber board. Clean the contacts on top of the tube sockets etc. Clean the heck out of it. I bet if you do all of that, then you will get rid of the noise.

If cleaning does not help, it could be a bad tube. Start with the reverb driver tube the 12AT7, and pull that one. If it quiets down, then you know its probably that tube causing noise. If its not that tube, start with V1, pull each tube one at a time and see if the noise stops. Also tap on the tubes lightly with a pencil to see if they are microphonic.

If its not the tubes, it could be the 100K plate resistors on V1 and V2 which could be drifting and getting noisy if they are the original carbon comp resistors....however according to your photos, those resistors may have already been replaced so they are probably good.

 

[Roderman67]

Thanks , I appreciate all the good info. I will definitely do that and check the tubes… I cleaned it and sprayed the pots , but did not do every contact and solder joint.

 

[corliss1]

Vintage Fenders can be made Pretty Darn Quiet with a good tech. Your pictures look like it has been nicely serviced somewhat recently, but a noisy tube or resistor can pop up at any time.

 

[Wally]

Nice amp. Usual observation…the 3 wire AC needs to wired in a ’best and safest manner’.
Static noise…lots of suspects. Power resistors, plate resistors, tubes...
Is the noise in both channels? Starting with the V1 input preamp tube pull those tubes one by one until the noise stops….if it does. If and when it stops, the area of concern has been located. Or…a signal tracer would be handy.

 

[LostGonzo85]

Vintage Fenders can be made Pretty Darn Quiet with a good tech. Your pictures look like it has been nicely serviced somewhat recently, but a noisy tube or resistor can pop up at any time.

Yup. The push-pull Fenders can and should be virtually silent at idle, and there's no reason yours can't be after a tune-up from a good tech.

 

[Roderman67]

Nice amp. Usual observation…the 3 wire AC needs to wired in a ’best and safest manner’.
Static noise…lots of suspects. Power resistors, plate resistors, tubes...
Is the noise in both channels? Starting with the V1 input preamp tube pull those tubes one by one until the noise stops….if it does. If and when it stops, the area of concern has been located. Or…a signal tracer would be handy.

Thanks...I will check it out and see what I come up with..

 

[Roderman67]

Nice amp. Usual observation…the 3 wire AC needs to wired in a ’best and safest manner’.
Static noise…lots of suspects. Power resistors, plate resistors, tubes...
Is the noise in both channels? Starting with the V1 input preamp tube pull those tubes one by one until the noise stops….if it does. If and when it stops, the area of concern has been located. Or…a signal tracer would be handy.

Nice amp. Usual observation…the 3 wire AC needs to wired in a ’best and safest manner’.
Static noise…lots of suspects. Power resistors, plate resistors, tubes...
Is the noise in both channels? Starting with the V1 input preamp tube pull those tubes one by one until the noise stops….if it does. If and when it stops, the area of concern has been located. Or…a signal tracer would be handy.

did find I have a power switch that is acting up ... so I will be replacing the power and standby switches....then I will tackle the noise, I have noise on both channels..its not very loud but its there and I think could be fixed...I just dont watn to remove any of the vintage caps that add the sweet sound of the amp. Some of the pre amp tubes are older...so maybe that or like you said maybe a resistor.

 

[Michael Smith]

Very nice amp! From your photo's I can see all of the filter and reservoir caps, cathode bypass caps and bias cap have been replaced, along with the screen grid and some other resistors. I have a 69 Super Reverb, and after I serviced it, it is very quiet.

If you have a YouTube channel, you can post a video with audio of the amp there, and then use the "insert link" above to link to the YT video. The insert link is the icon that looks like an "8" tipped sideways.

 

[Roderman67]

Very nice amp! From your photo's I can see all of the filter and reservoir caps, cathode bypass caps and bias cap have been replaced, along with the screen grid and some other resistors. I have a 69 Super Reverb, and after I serviced it, it is very quiet.

If you have a YouTube channel, you can post a video with audio of the amp there, and then use the "insert link" above to link to the YT video. The insert link is the icon that looks like an "8" tipped sideways.

Thank you! ... I don’t know too much about vintage amps, learning as I go...thanks for pointing out what’s been replaced. I hope it was not anything unnecessary that would affect the tone advertently,, want all the vintage blackface “mojo” sound I can get......I don’t have a YouTube channel,, but I may make one to post some of these issues and questions with video...thanks again

 

[BlueWildAngel]

did find I have a power switch that is acting up ... so I will be replacing the power and standby switches....then I will tackle the noise, I have noise on both channels..its not very loud but its there and I think could be fixed...I just dont watn to remove any of the vintage caps that add the sweet sound of the amp. Some of the pre amp tubes are older...so maybe that or like you said maybe a resistor.

Did you hit all the switches with contact cleaner? When I got my SR, it had spent almost a decade in a tool shed outside. Surprisingly, it had been serviced just before it was put away, but had gotten really dirty. My power and standby switches were real noisy and I would get loud pops when flipping them. The pots were loud too. I hit everything with contact cleaner and then put a little Detoxit in each for good measure. That eliminated all the excess noise. But a handwired tube amp will have a certain noise floor. It'll sound like a low hum when you start getting up on the volume dial. But it should be consistent and not change character, just get louder with more volume. Also, solder joints can crack over time due to shock from being handled. I have found several cracked (or cold) solder joints in the various vintage amps I've had. They cause intermittent connection and can lead to noise. Also, poor solder from previous repairs can give noise. I look over them with a magnifying glass and light to be able to find cracked joints. Also, if a blob of solder isn't smooth and shiny, I'll usually redo that. In an audio circuit, it's important for everything to be dressed well.

 

[Wally]

Thank you! ... I don’t know too much about vintage amps, learning as I go...thanks for pointing out what’s been replaced. I hope it was not anything unnecessary that would affect the tone advertently,, want all the vintage blackface “mojo” sound I can get......I don’t have a YouTube channel,, but I may make one to post some of these issues and questions with video...thanks again

Ime, with a large number of tweed, 6G and BF/SF Fenders plus other vintage amps, one will never heara vintage amp yield sonics that it would have yielded when it was in its prime until all electrolytics have been replaced. At that point, one might even have to replace tone and coupling caps as well as resistors in order to put the amp in PROPER operating condition. At that point, it may very well sound nothing like it did before the work was begun. However, it will sounds like it SHOULD.

 

[Michael Smith]

Thank you! ... I don’t know too much about vintage amps, learning as I go...thanks for pointing out what’s been replaced. I hope it was not anything unnecessary that would affect the tone advertently,, want all the vintage blackface “mojo” sound I can get......I don’t have a YouTube channel,, but I may make one to post some of these issues and questions with video...thanks again

None of the capacitors that have been replaced "should" negatively affect the tone of the amp. In fact, it was a good idea to replace all of the electrolytic caps as the originals were well beyond their expiration date. It looks like all of your "tone" caps are still original.

When you turn the volume knob up on the normal and vibrato channels do you hear any "scratchiness"? If so that could be DC leaking through the coupling caps. (assuming you've already cleaned the pots with contact cleaner (isopropyl alcohol)). I bought a can of it at Electronic Parts Outlet over on Fondren, near Westpark.

 

[Roderman67]

Did you hit all the switches with contact cleaner? When I got my SR, it had spent almost a decade in a tool shed outside. Surprisingly, it had been serviced just before it was put away, but had gotten really dirty. My power and standby switches were real noisy and I would get loud pops when flipping them. The pots were loud too. I hit everything with contact cleaner and then put a little Detoxit in each for good measure. That eliminated all the excess noise. But a handwired tube amp will have a certain noise floor. It'll sound like a low hum when you start getting up on the volume dial. But it should be consistent and not change character, just get louder with more volume. Also, solder joints can crack over time due to shock from being handled. I have found several cracked (or cold) solder joints in the various vintage amps I've had. They cause intermittent connection and can lead to noise. Also, poor solder from previous repairs can give noise. I look over them with a magnifying glass and light to be able to find cracked joints. Also, if a blob of solder isn't smooth and shiny, I'll usually redo that. In an audio circuit, it's important for everything to be dressed well.

Thanks for that... I did clean the swithes and pots with Deoxit fader F5...should I have used something else? I did not however check the solder joints.... I will do that...

So, I guess it does have the floor noise as you say, not loud at all and it does get louder as the volume is turned up....however, the noise is a little different when its plugged into the vibrato side of the amp..little more scratchy. I will try to do a video when I get some time.

 

[BlueWildAngel]

Thanks for that... I did clean the swithes and pots with Deoxit fader F5...should I have used something else? I did not however check the solder joints.... I will do that...

So, I guess it does have the floor noise as you say, not loud at all and it does get louder as the volume is turned up....however, the noise is a little different when its plugged into the vibrato side of the amp..little more scratchy. I will try to do a video when I get some time.

Detoxit D5 is what I use. But it leaves a residue to lubricate. That's good, but I don't like a lot of it hanging around in the amp. It can also soak in and discolor the old cloth wiring if you are not careful. I like to use regular contact cleaner for the cleaning and then a little shot of detoxit it once clean to hopefully keep it clean for some time.

You should definitely not have scratchiness in any channel. The noise that is normal sounds more like white noise, if that makes any sense. And it should be louder in the Vibrato channel because there is an extra gain stage in that one for the reverb recovery. But that white noise sound should not change in character, just increase in volume when turning up. And that's totally normal.
I would also clean the RCA plugs/Jacks at both ends of the reverb tank.

 

[BlueWildAngel]

None of the capacitors that have been replaced "should" negatively affect the tone of the amp. In fact, it was a good idea to replace all of the electrolytic caps as the originals were well beyond their expiration date. It looks like all of your "tone" caps are still original.

When you turn the volume knob up on the normal and vibrato channels do you hear any "scratchiness"? If so that could be DC leaking through the coupling caps. (assuming you've already cleaned the pots with contact cleaner (isopropyl alcohol)). I bought a can of it at Electronic Parts Outlet over on Fondren, near Westpark.

EPO is such a great place. I used to live only a couple blocks from it. I can spend a whole day there just looking. There is stuff crammed everywhere!

 

[Michael Smith]

EPO is such a great place. I used to live only a couple blocks from it. I can spend a whole day there just looking. There is stuff crammed everywhere!

I love it too. I'm probably 6 or 7 miles from it. Last time I was there I bought a used Amperex GZ34 for $12. It's happily residing in my 69 Bandmaster Reverb.

 

[schmee]

Without a sample of the noise it's hard to say.
-Power switch failures are not uncommon. The contacts inside go bad. IF the amp pops loud turning on or off that may be your issue.
-Low level hssing, increasing as you turn the volume up is often a tube or the 100K resistors in the preamp section. (right side facing from the back)
-humming can be many things including tubes, or reverb issues.
-Crackling is often a pre tube or reverb tube. But can be other things including bad solder joints on the green wires going to the tube sockets. Or any solder point on the tube sockets.