Tube amp gurus please respond

[mule]

Curious question. I just purchased a new Fender Blues Junior on Friday. It has been making a sputtering, crackling noise ever since I got it home. It does it even with nothing plugged into the input jack. Just wondering if this might be a bad tube or something else. Thanks for your help.

[Curly]

sometimes you can isolate trouble spots by pulling the preamp tubes one at a time
if you find the right one, the noise will stop - if not, put it back in, and move to the next tube

sometimes, you can tap very lightly on a tube with either a fingernail or chopstick instead, but use caution

it may just be a tube, but if replacing the tube in the problem area with a known good tube doesn't stop the noise, then it's something else in that part of the circuit

[mule]

Thanks Curly!

[aleclee]

sometimes you can isolate trouble spots by pulling the preamp tubes one at a time
if you find the right one, the noise will stop - if not, put it back in, and move to the next tube

Do you mean pulling or replacing? Pullling a tube will stop the signal along with noise.

[Curly]

Do you mean pulling or replacing? Pullling a tube will stop the signal along with noise.

if you happen to have Gerald Weber's first book, check page 128

[Gearjoneser]

Do what Curly said, but if it's anything beyond a tube problem......you bought it new, right? Many big stores have their own return/exchange policy for 10 or 30 days, so act quickly.

[mule]

Thanks again guys. I think I'll just be swapping it for another one this weekend.