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Topic: Vibrolux faint clicking sound |
Joe Burke
From:
Toronto, Canada
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Posted 19 Jan 2017 6:57 am |
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I have a 1975 Fender SilverFace Vibrolux. Love it. Lately I can hear a faint, but steady clicking sound. Almost like a timer.
Has anyone come across this? Any suggestions for addressing this issue are greatly appreciated!
Thanks. |
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Edward Rhea
From:
Medford Oklahoma, USA
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Posted 19 Jan 2017 7:14 am
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Maybe it's the vibrato effect? Try setting the effects to "0" or off?
_________________
“TONESNOB†|
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Mark Fowler
From:
Minnesota, USA
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Posted 19 Jan 2017 7:35 am
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Here is some notes on problems with the tremolo/vibrato circuit.
Slowing down the tremolo speed
If you're like me you think the speed control on Fender trem circuits is too fast. There are three caps in the trem circuit: Two .01's and a .02. You can slow the trem speed down by replacing the .01's with .02's. Tone wise, I don't think it matters here but I used Orange Drops.
Fixing the "Ticking" in Fender Tremolo circuits
This is from the great electronics guru R. G. Keen. For an astonishing amount of information about tube amps and guitar effects check out his website, geofex.com.
• Fiberboard contamination: Dust, dirt, and junk can let the LFO signal leak into the audio path. Vacuum the dust and dirt away, and if it still persists, remelt the wax top and bottom with a hair dryer.
• Solder blobs from eyelets touching insulating board: Sometimes excess solder drips out the bottom of an eyelet and can intermittently contact the insulating board, can cause ticking. Remelt the eyelets and examine the board underneath for any blobs dripped down.
• Funny ground on some SF Fenders; On one of the signal tubes, the cathode cap was placed on the tube socket, and wired to a ground lug on the vibrato cancel jack instead of across the resistor on the fiberboard. The vibrato shares this ground line, and can the vibrato current can cause audible ticking in the audio path. Rewire the cap to another ground or relocate it to the board.
• Poor Signal wire layout: signal wires run too close to vibrato leads can pick up the LFO signal. Move them around and see if the ticking goes away.
• Bad repair/replacement foot switch cable: the Fender foot switch cable is not two conductor; it's single conductor shielded, plus single conductor. The reverb wire is shielded, vibrato wire is not. This keeps vibrato out of reverb. If you retrofit with two conductor shielded, you get vibrato ticking onto reverb audio.
• Sharp tick in vibrato oscillator: On neon/LDR Fenders, on the neon bulb side of the module there is a 10M to one side of bulb, 100K to the bulb; from the 10M straight across the board is the gnd point of the LDR. Put a 0.02 cap from 10M/bulb to the ground point; this works by filtering the output of the oscillator. |
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Joe Burke
From:
Toronto, Canada
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Posted 19 Jan 2017 11:28 am
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| Thanks everyone. It was the tremolo. I had it dialed off, but forgot that it was switched off. Everything sounds great again. May have to have a look at the tremolo down the road. |
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Bruce Derr
From:
Lee, New Hampshire, USA
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Posted 20 Jan 2017 6:49 am
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| This is a common problem with the opto tremolo circuit in old Fenders. I remember reading a Fender service bulletin about it back in the '70s. |
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Steven Paris
From:
Los Angeles
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Posted 20 Jan 2017 6:59 am
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| Bruce Derr wrote: |
| This is a common problem with the opto tremolo circuit in old Fenders. I remember reading a Fender service bulletin about it back in the '70s. |
What did the service bulletin say to do?
_________________
Emmons & Peavey |
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Bruce Derr
From:
Lee, New Hampshire, USA
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Posted 20 Jan 2017 9:44 am
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I'm not at home to look, but I found it online and took a screen shot:
 [/img] |
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Mark Fowler
From:
Minnesota, USA
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Posted 20 Jan 2017 9:56 am
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I was looking in my CPU for that service bulletin but could not find it so I post the RG Keen info instead.
Good job. |
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Jack Hanson
From:
San Luis Valley, USA
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Posted 20 Jan 2017 11:23 am
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| Had a '67 Bandmaster that ticked in time to the light bulb. You could always just barely hear it ticking, even with both the Speed & Intensity controls set to zero. Stuck a shorted RCA plug in the "Vibrato Pedal" jack in the rear panel -- problem solved. |
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