Solid State Guitar Amp Forum | DIY Guitar Amplifiers

So hopefully one of you guys can help me out here... I just bought a Crate G80XL for 60 bucks... I knew there'd be a problem with it, as that seemed like a ridiculously low price for that amp. So the problem is this; At a lower volume, the amp sounds fine. The louder I crank it, I start to get these "pops" that sound very similar to the pop it makes when I power the unit on.  It seems like the more bass I have, the worse the pops get...  I already cleaned out all the pots with contact cleaner... I'm thinkin it may be the power supply caps, but I'm not sure... Any suggestions?

Connect the amp to other speakers, the vibration from the inner speakers is probably vibrating a loose connection.

And likewise, turn the reverb down and the amp running, ball up your fist and whack the top of the amp. Does that make a pop or noise?  The amp should not react to the whacking, if it does, something inside is loose.

Looke connections inside are likely on larger parts like the large 5 and 10 watt power resistors, large filter caps, etc.

Quote from: Enzo on December 30, 2010, 08:25:55 PM
Connect the amp to other speakers, the vibration from the inner speakers is probably vibrating a loose connection.

And likewise, turn the reverb down and the amp running, ball up your fist and whack the top of the amp. Does that make a pop or noise?  The amp should not react to the whacking, if it does, something inside is loose.

Looke connections inside are likely on larger parts like the large 5 and 10 watt power resistors, large filter caps, etc.

Could be the input jack as well.  Try wiggling it around with the amp on, it should be virtually quite, maybe a bit of static-type noises but no pops.