[playingdead]

My Vibrolux reissue is giving me a "zing" springy rattling sound on certain notes with the reverb turned on, I assume because the pan isn't isolated correctly, any tips in quieting it down?

[JonnyBoy]

My Vibrolux reissue is giving me a "zing" springy rattling sound on certain notes with the reverb turned on, I assume because the pan isn't isolated correctly, any tips in quieting it down?

does it sound like the springs are touching something or being hindered while vibrating? Do they sound too loose? The action inside a tank is really simple and can be fixed with stretching out harness springs, adding new harness springs or even bending it a little to were it needs to be, (the suspension/harness strings and connectors/reverb string & connection plate). Fenders may look a little different from my Mosvlve. Open up your reverb tank and see what is going on when you play, and if it is easy for you, post up what it sounds like.... The tanks themselves complete aren't too bad in price for repair. Try connecting it to your twins spring box and see if it does the same thing to rule out the circuit. It may be electrical with certain frequencies/voltage within the circuit. I hope that helps you out bro, JB.

[raisingfreen]

Sometimes after moving the amp around (cars, vibrations, bouncing etc) the springs in the tank can actual come disconnected. I have had this happen and it can really drive you crazy because you don't think to look for it. Also check the reverb send/return tubes as well as the actual pot if nothing else helps. I had a pot replaced just in case, (audio vs taper) and the reverb sounded a thousand times better. By the way I have a brand new Fender reverb tank model 4AB3C1B (2 springs) I think this one fits in your amp. I bought it for a replacement to problem that was not the correct problem. Should you find it is your tank let me know. I have this just sitting in my office.

Good luck.

[playingdead]

Thanks ... it's confusing, I pulled the tank last night, no visible problems, everything attached, nothing rattling.

Also noticed that it's frequency specific ... certain notes on the fret board make it rattle (almost like it's singing or oscillating). Will try swapping the tube out.

[JonnyBoy]

Frequency specific can be the tube, or on rare occasion, a dried out electrolytic cap in the circuit if its a vintage amp. If the tank works fin on the other amps or vice versa, then it's one of the above. I have had electrolytic caps literally explode before in circuits.

[raisingfreen]

This sounds exactly like a problem I had on a deluxe reverb. I had the reverb pot swapped and it fixed everything perfectly. I think the pot was switched to an audio taper type. The tube could be it but if you can swap the pot easily yourself I would try it. The fender tube amp book has diagrams and interesting info on all this stuff and the right direction to take.

[RiverRat]

.

[SarnoMusicSolutions]

Could just be a spring's resonant frequency. My first guess is that the tanks needs to be more isolated, thicker vinyl, maybe make sure the open face of the tank has the cardboard/fiberboard shield in place. Combo's can do this because of the speaker/spring proximity. Sometimes springs just need to be retired. Some develop resonances that make them feedback real easily. Maybe this is just a bad and hot resonance and a new tank will fix it.

Maybe the reverb driver tube is microphonic at a certain frequency and that's over-exciting the springs at that freq. Tap on it when the amp is live and see if the tube makes noise.

B

[playingdead]

Hmmmm. The reverb's also pretty noisy. I swapped out the AT7 tube, didn't make much difference. Is there another tube that's involved with the reverb?

I did check the cardboard and reseat the tank in the vinyl sleeve. Amp is a reissue, circa 2003.

[strumminsix]

I guess that just makes ya love the Axe all that more ,huh?>

Has it always made a resonate sound and increasing with loud volumes?

[playingdead]

I just changed all the tubes in the AxeFX, it sounds awesome now.

On the Vibrolux, it's always done this. Volume doesn't seem to be that important. I have a drawerful of JJ Gold 12AX7s from my old Egnater M4 preamp, I should just pop them all into the Vibrolux and see what happens.

[strumminsix]

I just changed all the tubes in the AxeFX, it sounds awesome now.

On the Vibrolux, it's always done this. Volume doesn't seem to be that important. I have a drawerful of JJ Gold 12AX7s from my old Egnater M4 preamp, I should just pop them all into the Vibrolux and see what happens.

LOL!

I wonder if you cabinet is resonating on specific notes.

[tigerstrat]

Hmmmm. The reverb's also pretty noisy. I swapped out the AT7 tube, didn't make much difference. Is there another tube that's involved with the reverb?

assuming the 12at7 you swapped out was the reverb driver V3, reverb recovery is one triode (half) of the 12ax7 in V4. The other triode of V4 is a gain stage for the vibrato.

not sure if it applies here but I've had good luck remedying unresponsive tanks by vigorously shaking them so that the springs swing side to side/width-wise (NOT up and down/height-wise) to straighten out the connections. I found this "there, I fixed it" method on the web many years ago but wasn't able to find it again last time the question came up.

[FretWilkes]

Hello Playingdead,

I, along with Strumminsix, belong to a Telecaster based forum called the TDPRI. In the "Amp Central Station" sub forum there are many Custom Vibrolux Reverb threads/posts. If you use the Search Function there you may find some good information.

I do recall that hiss or noise is a common complaint in an otherwise well respected amp.

Good luck in sorting yours out.

Fret

http://www.tdpri.com/forum/amp-central-station/

[SarnoMusicSolutions]

The 12AT7 is the driver, but there is also the reverb recovery tube stage. That's very important and if you hear a lot of hiss or other noise in the reverb, that would be a good place to look. It's a 12AX7. It's the tube section that amplifies the signal coming from the vibrating spring and then drives it to then be mixed with the dry guitar sound. It's an important tube stage. Even the plate resistor on that stage could be considered for noise issues. But definitely swap out that tube for another and see if it fixes the problem. It's the tube immediately on the other side of the reverb driver transformer from the 12AT7.

B