andyhaines

Very useful stuff, thanks, much appreciated. i’d also found the same fender link to the spellbinder schematics so at least I’ve got something useful to give to an amp tech if I can find a good one locally! Andy

Thanks for the tips - phantom power is off. Yes it has a tube preamp but as I’m very new to tube stuff I don’t know what a tube warming up sounds like. Power socket is earthed. with everything down apart from the master, the popping sound is quiet but certainly there - almost like a high pitched heartbeat, with the mute light flashing every other ‘pip’. Slowly turning the gain up increases the sound of the pips (as well as a 50z hum I think). Any of that help? cheers! Andy

Hello All, i’ve recently got hold of a lovely SWR Spellbinder Blue combo (valve preamp, 160w class d power amp) which seems to be in pretty good nick. It does however “tick”, well, more of a soft pop every few seconds when cold, with the frequency slowing down over time. Each time there’s a tick the mute LED beneath the master flashes on then off. Audible both through the speaker and through headphones, so I’m guessing more likely to be a preamp issue. Apart from calling the bomb squad, anyone any thoughts as to what may be happening? Getting the amp serviced would be a good start but struggling to find anywhere that deals with both valve and digital amps in the Bath area. pic enclosed for gear porners... cheers! Andy