The Steel Guitar Forum

I have been noticing a small "crackling" sound coming from my Black Widow speaker in my Nashville 400. It will occur even with both gain knobs at 0. The amp is certainly still usable but it's annoying knowing something is different and "wrong". The amp is about 10 years old and has been taken care of, I've never had the volume over 5 it's entire life.

Anyone have any ideas what it might be?

Scott,

I used NV400's for almost two decades. That's why I was puzzled when I read the description of your problem. It doesn't fit the symptoms resulting from the two problems that the amp is noted for. Those two are 1) The reverb pan's molex connector that plugs into the bottom of the amp chassis is notorious for coming loose or developing a bad connection. That situation can cause a variety of odd symptoms and 2) any of the input jacks on the front or back can get dirty and not connect or close.

I'd suggest cleaning the Molex connector and making sure it is tight. Then clean all the input jacks. Both of those tasks are simple and cost only the price of a can of contact cleaner. If that doesn't do it then send the chassis to Peavey. They do great work and the turnaround time is minimal.

Plug a short cable into the power amp input on the back. If the noise goes away it was coming from the preamp (or a bad connection on the contact of the very jack you just plugged into). If the noise still occurs with the jack plugged into the Power amp in, then the problem is in fact in the power amp section.

If you plug a cable form the preamp out to the power amp in and the noise goes away, leave it there and play on! That will bypass the the contact on the power amp in jack that can be troublesome.

"Small crackling" --- sounds like swine flu to me

I agree with Ken, it's about the right age. Amps all over the world with FX loops that have never been used are coming up "broken" because of unused jacks storing 10-15 years of dust and funk. The jumper works a quite frequently on intermitent crackles and sound cutting out and "oh no, my amp is getting older" sounds.

Many thanks guys, I will try these suggestions and let you know!