Fender George Benson Hot Rod Deluxe...Help!

[guildman63]

I just received this amp today, and what a surprise when I opened the box. First, it said "This end up", which it was, and "Open this end", which I did. What a surprise when I found the amp to be upside down...and that was only the beginning. The reverb tank was connected on one side to the bottom of the cabinet, but the other end was stuck to the speaker as the screw and washer were bouncing around freely in the cabinet. The screws holding the chassis to the cabinet were very loose, as were all of the screws in the back. So loose, in fact, that I could grab the bottom of the panel in the back and wiggle it forward and backward at least one full inch. The nuts to the screws from the front of the amp were all loose also. I think out of all of the screws in this amp only about two of them were properly tightened. After tightening all of the screws and nuts I plugged her in and gave it a play briefly on all channels. It initially sounded great as far as I could tell, but I did not have time to play for long. After my son went to bed I plugged it in again and put it on the clean channel. It rang like a bell! While I only had the volume at 3 it sounded incredible! Then after about 10-15 minutes came the rattle from the back (or so it appeared). Most notes were fine, but a few, most notably notes B and D, resulted in what sounded like tube rattle. I pulled the back off and touched every potentially moving part in the amp while playing a B or a D, and nothing got rid of the rattle. I then turned the amp off, let it sit for about 10 minutes, and turned it back on. Everything was fine for approximately 5 minutes, then the rattle returned.

Does anyone have any thoughts as to what could be causing this? Tomorrow I will put it through its paces, but if it is noisy on the clean channel at a volume of 3, I can't imagine what it will sound like on any of the channels at around an 8.

Thanks!

 

[Default]

Try tightening the speaker and the baffle. Also, take a pencil and thump the tubes with the eraser end. You should get a thumb, but if the tube rings, it's bad. If it only rattles when the reverb is on, then the tank might is damaged from transit.

 

[guildman63]

I already tightened the speaker, but haven't touched the baffle. I will try that, along with tapping the tubes and testing the reverb tomorrow. Thanks!

 

[Jeff Haddad]

Since the noise only appears after the amp has been played for a short time, I would guess a tube is rattling after it gets hot. It must have really been jostled around for so many screws to come loose during shipment.

Also, if it was bounced around so much, maybe the speaker was damaged. If you have another speaker cab or combo that you can plug the amp into try that to see if the rattle happens with another speaker cab.

 

[Walter Broes]

Probably a tube. Fender ships their amps with the cheapest, crappiest variety of chinese tubes available.

 

[dklsplace]

I know Fender has been shipping stuff packaged upside down for at least the past couple of years. If you bought this new, my first recommendation would be to send it back for exchange. Or, if it's under warranty, check their support site for an authorized service center near you.

 

[guildman63]

After thinking about the upside down packing, perhaps it makes sense as it may take stress off of the tubes during transit as gravity helps to keep them seated fully. Just a theory, of course.

as for the noise, I did the following to identify the cause:

tapped the power tubes - no problem.
removed the reverb tank - did not make any difference.
made sure the speaker had no loose screws any longer, and it doesn't.

Default, how does one tighten the baffle?

Another thought is to try tube dampeners. Does anyone have any experience using those?

 

[Walter Broes]

Guildman, if you're going to buy anything for the amp, get some decent tubes. Amp will sound and perform better, and it's very likely the noise will be gone too.

I work at a guitar store one day a week, and honestly, the tubes in the new Fender amps....it's embarrassing. I actually catch myself holding my breath a little when I flip a brand new Fender amp off the standy, it's that bad. Whistles, oscillations, howling, scratchy noises. I don't really understand how they get away with it.

 

[guildman63]

Walter,

the amp came with Groove Tubes, but perhaps something like JJ's will be better. I'm not much of a tube guy, so any other suggestions for good tubes? Thanks!

 

[Jeff Haddad]

The upside- down packing is done so the weight of the carton is at the bottom.

 

[dklsplace]

JJ's are great tubes, or at least they used to be. It's been a few years since I've had to buy new tubes & I seem to recall some complaints about them (though minor) at some point. I had a Hot Rod Deville 212 a number of years ago. A new set of JJ's, a bias adjustment & she was great. Ultimately, I replaced the Fender speakers with a set of Reverend Alltone's, changed the 12AX7's to 5751's & I loved it!

Jeff, that makes complete sense.

 

[guildman63]

I put in a set of Electro Harmonix, but I have not yet re-biased the amp. Initially, it seems to have made a slight improvement, but we'll see how it sounds after the re-bias. I have been using a Henriksen Jazz Amp for a while, and tubes have gotten much more expensive since I last bought them.

 

[guildman63]

As much as I like the amp I have decided to return it at the sellers suggestion. The new tubes certainly sounded better, but did not improve the rattle by much. More than that, the way the amp came to me with most of the screws significantly loose, and the reverb tank stuck to the speaker with its screw bouncing around in the cabinet, I just don't have confidence that I will not have issues with it in the near future. I have been bouncing back and forth between this amp and a Henriksen BluesAmp for a while, so the debate resumes! The BluesAmp has the same design as the JazzAmp, but with the addition of a tweeter, and for speakers it has an Eminence Rajun Cajun in the 10" version, and an Eminence Legend 1258 in the 12" model. I would really like the Rivera Jazz Suprema 115, but at nearly 2K versus $800-$900, it's a huge step up in price.