Dual Rectifier Hisses When Powered On

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gabe.hunts

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My Dual Rectifier makes a hissing noise right after I turn the power on and as I'm running it I hear what sounds like filament rattling. It does not come from the speakers but from the head itself. I took it to two techs, one of them being a Mesa Boogie tech, who both said that they couldn't hear the hissing. At first I just decided to ignore it because it doesn't effect how the amp sounds; however, every time I power on the amp, I get a gnawing feeling that the hissing is going to cause me more problems down the road. I just want to mention real quick that I did a full retube and have played the amp through multiple cabs and it still hisses every time I turn it on. It sounds like gas hissing. Do you guys think it's a big deal or should I just keep ignoring it? Here's a sound clip, you need headphones to hear it and the volume needs to be kind of loud.
https://youtu.be/Hupa2SI8amY
 
Hmm, I hear it. Have you been able to figure out exactly where the sound is coming from? Did this happen then before the retube as well? I've never seen any one with this complaint before and I'm more of a hobbyist than a technical person so I couldn't say if it is a big deal, but did you demonstrate this hissing to the techs that you brought it to? If not, perhaps bring it back and have them plug it in so you can tell them what to listen for, or show them the youtube clip.
 
Have you been able to figure out exactly where the sound is coming from?
I've done some troubleshooting and it goes away when I pull the rectifier tubes. I've pulled the power tubes one at a time and briefly turned the amp on to see if the sound was still there and it was, even when all the power tubes were pulled. I told that to the tech and he said that I won't hear anything at all with the rectifier tubes pulled. And the sound is definitely coming from the head itself and not being amplified through the speakers.
Did this happen then before the retube as well?
Yes. I got the amp used and it's been happening since I first powered it on.
did you demonstrate this hissing to the techs that you brought it to?
The first tech couldn't hear it but when I went to pick it up, he let me play through it to see if I was satisfied. I didn't hear the hissing but his shop was relatively noisy with fans and AC. I took it home and the hissing was still there and I also saw arcing in the tubes so I called him and he agreed to look at it again with no charge. This time I heard it in the shop but he couldn't hear it. He is an older man and he says his hearing is going so he brought another employee in and he said he could hear it. The tech got out his tube tester and plugged in the rectifier tubes and they even hissed with the tube tester, which the tech couldn't hear but the employee could. He did some work that fixed the arcing and gave me two free rectifier tubes that fixed it for a little bit, then it started hissing again the next day. I would totally bring it back but I've already spent a lot of money having it looked at by two techs. I'm a little hesitant because I feel like the same thing is going to happen, especially after the Mesa/Boogie tech looked at it and couldn't hear the sound.
 
Definitely Rectifier tube rattle. Only thing you can do is replace them or run diode rectification. Had this issue with my Triple Rec. Replaced with some JJs and no more rattle. Weird that the other set he gave you also rattled.
 
I retubed the whole amp and it still rattles, even on diode rectification. The rectifier tubes are brand new Electro-Harmonix 5U4 tubes.
 
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