[galexem]

Hello everyone,



Hopefully this is the right place to post this.. if not I apologize in advance - thank you for understanding.

I'm a proud and happy owner of an MASSDROP X ALEX CAVALLI TUBE HYBRID AMP and I'm loving it so far - have had it for about two months.

The only "problem" I've noticed is static/crackling when turning the volume knob, which never happened before..

I'm guessing it has something to do with the potentiometer and possibly dust.. Would I be correct in thinking so?

The thing is my music room IS my bedroom and you wouldn't believe how much dust can accumulate after only a couple of days, not even a week (even after an EXTREMELY thorough cleaning of my room).

I clean and vacuum quite often, about once a week and I make sure that my electronic gear is in perfect condition, but I guess this regime just isn't working with my audio gear..

So do any of you guys have any advice on how to (possibly) try to eliminate this issue?



Thanking you all for your input in advance!

 

[tomb]

If you think your room is clean and it's too soon for the pot in your CTH to get dirty enough to induce static/crackling, you could be right.

Try changing the tube. Or, making certain the pins are clean and are making good contact. It could be tube oscillation. Tube oscillation can easily sound exactly like a scratchy pot.

 

[galexem]

Tube oscillation can easily sound exactly like a scratchy pot.

Thanks for the reply @tomb. Hmm, I'll try that! It might be a little hard for me to get these tubes here in the EU, but I might just try it.
The thing is.. everything is pretty much brand new..

In the meanwhile, everyone else is also welcome to share their thoughts.

Thank you!

 

[tomb]

Thanks for the reply @tomb. Hmm, I'll try that! It might be a little hard for me to get these tubes here in the EU, but I might just try it.
The thing is.. everything is pretty much brand new..

In the meanwhile, everyone else is also welcome to share their thoughts.

Thank you!

If your amp is brand new, chances are it's tube oscillation, not the pot.

You should not have any trouble finding a 6922 or 6DJ8 anywhere in the world. There are even new manufacture versions by New Sensor or Sovtek (Electro Harmonix, JJ, etc.).

 

[tomb]

P.S. I'm not intimately familiar with the CTH, but tube amp designs often do not include a resistor in the circuit known as a "grid stopper." This makes the tube circuit particularly sensitive to oscillation when adjusting the input level. This oscillation manifests itself as static or crackling when you move the volume knob. You may find that if you move the volume knob much more slowly, this crackling will go away.

Just a suggestion ...

 

[galexem]

This oscillation manifests itself as static or crackling when you move the volume knob. You may find that if you move the volume knob much more slowly, this crackling will go away.

Hey @tomb! Thanks for the advice and info, I really appreciate it.

I was doing a bit of researching and actually tubes are pretty hard to get here, especially in my country (Slovenia). I don't mind buying from elsewhere in the EU at all, but in all honesty don't know where to even begin searching (foreign language etc.). I didn't even know how tubes were called in my own language tbh. Anyways if you, or anyone else has any suggestions or know any online EU stores that stock tubes I'd appreciate the info.

Actually, i find that it crackles exactly when I move the knob slowly.

Thing is, I don't mind it, but just find it weird how it didn't happen for a month or two, but started happening now.

I also tried re-seating the tube, as you suggested but there isn't much difference.

One thing I must mention is that when I move the knob around for a couple of minutes (slow - med speed) the crackling goes away..