2. amps-preamps
  3. 134032-70

Rectifier Hum

I have a Dennis Had Inspire Fire Bottle SEP HO amp that supposedly will work with just about any rectifier. I was using a new Gold Lion GZ34/U77 for a while and recently noticed a low hum from my subs. Took everything apart, checked cables, etc., and finally got to the tubes and discovered that swapping out the GZ34 with a Shuguang 274B fixed the issue. Assuming the GL had gone bad, I bought another GZ34, a JJ this time, stuck it in and there's the hum again. I also tried the originally supplied JJ 5Y3S and it hums also, but less than the Gold Lion or the new GZ34…why? I don't want to send the amp back to Dennis as it does work fine with the 274b, but it's on my mind so I seek counsel. Help me…help me…Atmasphere? 

wolf_garcia
bigkidz
3,387 posts
 

I think this is more than a rectifier tube issue.  The filter capacitor may be almost gone.  The 274b tube does better probably because the impedance is different than the others and the capacitor does not need to work that hard for that tube.


atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
11,841 posts
 
^^ I'm doubting the filter cap failure theory, but you might be on to something; on reading the specs on the 274b one of the claims is lower hum, provided the power supply is built in a certain way, which is to say a fairly low filter cap value for the first filter cap.

If that's true it might explain this.


wolf_garcia OP
6,708 posts
 
By the way, this is a new issue as previously with any of the rectifiers mentioned the amp was utterly quiet with zero pesky extra low bass noise. So something wearing out makes sense, and note the 274b remains utterly silent…the plot thickens!
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
11,841 posts
 
Can you be sure this just started happening or you just noticed it?
wolf_garcia OP
6,708 posts
 
When the amp showed up with the JJ 5Y3S (10 months or so ago) I thought it was surprisingly quiet, and I had tested the subsonic noise by simply touching one of my sub's driver cones…then more recently I noticed the audible low noise and sure enough, the sub drivers had a vibe goin' on. That may have been coming on gradually…not sure to what degree as I hadn't notice it recently until it became audible. 
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