Road King Channel 1 problem (not clean)

Hello everyone.

I'm sorry if this has been covered before but I couldn't find a post using search in the short time I have before I start work.

Channel 1 in my Road King 2 head has recently become.. not clean at all. Both clean and fat modes have a certain amount of gain that I am not able to dial out anymore. It didn't use to be like that. I've tried switching the power tube options, changing from bold / spongy but it's always still there. Channel 2 is as normal, it's only channel one.

I'm guessing (hoping) it's just a preamp tube problem. Would anyone be able help and point me into the right direction into which tube it may be as it's a tube-fest inside this thing and I have no idea where to start.

Thanks in advance!

Well I feel stupid..

After fumbling about with preamp tubes for a few hours I figured out that the problem was not the amp. The problem was the battery in the guitar. Now the pickups in my guitar are passive, however the piezo system uses a battery. The thing that threw me was the fact that I was plugging into the mono / piezo jack, which I guess the uses battery even when selected to the magnetic pickups. As soon as I plugged into the magnetic only jack, the sound cleaned right up again.

So yeah, hats off to me and my idiocy. I'm just glad I figured out the problem before I decided to try more extreme measures. :roll:

We've all been there with those "oh ****!" moments...

At least you found out before spending any money