Buzzing when standby engaged ?

I just have too much fun with this amp. Anyhow the other night, I was playing the lonestar mic'ed up late at night with the volume down when I heard a buzzing coming from the amp. I just never noticed it because I play at more generous volumes most of the time. Anyhow is it normal for the caps to buzz and then have more buzz when you flip on the standby switch ? Just curious, kinda annoying. Its still under warranty, so I may just take it in to be serviced. Only downside is the place out here in DC makes you drop 70 bucks as collateral and they keep it if its not a warranty issue regardless of whether or not they repair it, good deal huh ?

~ Sean

Edit: Something I forgot to mention is that changing the wattage changes the amount of noise coming through, the 50 being the quietest, 10, followed by the 100 watt setting as the loudest. This is in both modes with the master volume all the way down. Does not change regardless of SS or rectifier settings.
The fan is also noisy, does anyone ever notice that ?

Hard to be sure without being in the room. And "standby engaged" is always a confusing phrase for me -- I assume it means that standby is DISengaged when you're playing, right? :?

If that's true, then the only time I've noticed anything audible coming from the amp (aside from the fan) is when I have had a bad power tube. In those cases, the tube in question was cracked and the buzzing was LOUD. The first time this happened I let it go on for too long and the fuse blew. Since then I've only had this happen one other time, and I turned the amp off FAST. It was very unpleasant.

Not sure if this has any connection to what you're experiencing, since the amp still functions, yeah?

Yeah, this is when the amp should be silent. The caps buzz quite a bit.

As a side note, I just picked up a stiletto ace last weekend. When I compared them, the stilettos overdrive is smooth and full sounding, regardless of volume. The lonestars flat out sucked, muddy and harsh as hell. So I figured what the hell, why not, I ran the lonestars preamp out to the stilettos power section and cab and it sounded just like I thought a lonestar should. So then I tested the cabs and the even the lonestars cab sounded fine through the stilettos power section.

Which leads to believe something might be up with the lonestars power section. With the stilettos cab and lonestars power section it was muddy again, so the preamps and cabs have been eliminated completely. The other thing thats weird, is when I select the tweed mode, there is a discernible amount of volume drop and even loss of gain from the preamp !! I actually lose overdrive in tweed mode !! I did not know that was supposed to happen. Anyhow, I've run other amps through the LS's power section and cab as well and they all sound terrible.

To describe the sound, its extremely bassy, with very little treble or presence, even with the presence dimed on either channel, still not much clarity at all. Even with a different power section but with the LS cab I was still dialing off presence. It's also very harsh sounding in the top, scratchy (what is coming through anyways). It's all mud and fizz.

Would this be the signs of power tubes going bad or is something along the lines of the transformers, resistors, screen caps, anything possibly power section related.

Just a thought, but a ways back, I had used JJ's KT-77s in the amp on the el-34 setting and this was when I noticed this jump in the bass. When I installed those tubes there was a bright blue flash out of the back of the amp. Hasn't been the same since. But its been over time that this decrease happened.

I think a whole new set of tubes may be in place. I don't trust JJ's. I still have a over a year left on the warranty (even though it is technically void .. SHH! ) I think I'm just gonna stick to mesa's tubes, they sound just fine in my stiletto and if other players we know of (Andy Timmons, Quinten Hope, John Petrucci) are using, there is no reason for me not to.

~ Sean

PilotSSW said:

I just have too much fun with this amp. Anyhow the other night, I was playing the lonestar mic'ed up late at night with the volume down when I heard a buzzing coming from the amp. I just never noticed it because I play at more generous volumes most of the time. Anyhow is it normal for the caps to buzz and then have more buzz when you flip on the standby switch ? Just curious, kinda annoying. Its still under warranty, so I may just take it in to be serviced. Only downside is the place out here in DC makes you drop 70 bucks as collateral and they keep it if its not a warranty issue regardless of whether or not they repair it, good deal huh ?

~ Sean

Edit: Something I forgot to mention is that changing the wattage changes the amount of noise coming through, the 50 being the quietest, 10, followed by the 100 watt setting as the loudest. This is in both modes with the master volume all the way down. Does not change regardless of SS or rectifier settings.
The fan is also noisy, does anyone ever notice that ?

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Sometimes transformers can buzz. About the only thing I can think of that would make an audible noise (buzz) if the standby is engaged. Bob

I notice a very slight buzz from almost all amps when they're on standby.

Old thread but..... I noticed noise in standby or volume off too.... turned out to be the fan running making some noise

I had this same problem withmy version 2 Heartbreaker. The power transformer buzzes in stadnby and even has a slight vibration. It is in the shop right now awaiting some repairs mentioned in the following thread I posted to;

http://forum.grailtone.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=56421

the short answer for me is that - My Mesa certified AND highly reliable tech has doen a lot of testing over the past few months and we are replacing the Power Transformer.

I had a power transformer buzz on my Marshall JMP. I tightened the covers on the transformer a little and the noise almost went away