OR15 noise!!! HELP NEEDED

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orys
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OR15 noise!!! HELP NEEDED

Post by orys » Wed Jul 23, 2014 3:51 pm

Hi there!

I am the proud owner of an Orange amp.
I was really excited when i bought this as a combo along with a PPC212OB cab.
I like stoner a lot so this amp is awesome for what i like to play.
Since i've been having vintage amps all my life from brands such as Dynacord, Fender Super reverb and twin reverb i always heard a hum which did not bother me.
A friend of mine sold me a Bugera 333XK-212 combo that was silent as hell but i never liked that amp as it was too tight for me.
Anyhow, after resoldering the whole Super reverb and adding all available mods to the ultralinear model i own i realised how quiet a really good vintage can be.
So to cut to the chase, as i am probably boring you with my story, i realised that my OR15 is making static noises or should i call them noises that sound like radio noise. Since i play in my bedroom (living in a flat) i can confess that they are not loud at all but you can hear the noise when close to the cab. i checked everything. It does it even with no cables plugged in as soon as i push the switch from standby to any of the wattage. Keep in mind that all knobs meaning volume bas treble mids and distortion are all set to zero and it still makes this noise. I really dont know what to do. Could it be the cab to head cable they gave me?
They told me it's a special cable and not any ordinary instrument cable will work. I have the cable running from the 16ohms port on the head to the left input on the cab.
This is an audio file of the noise it makes. https://soundcloud.com/orys/static-or15-track1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
The problem is that i contacted the shop i bought it from and they dont have another in stock so i really dont want to stay with just the Super reverb as it does not provide me with the sound i want. so i have a few spare tubes which i can obviously remove from the fender and i was wondering if that would fix it.
I would like to know if anyone is having the same problems as me.
Maybe the fact that it does this with everything at zero proves that this is the way the amp works.
Is there a way to check if it is the speakers or a schematic to make a cable to test if it's that?

PS. Please forgive me for my accent. I wasn't planning on being an actor ;)
https://soundcloud.com/orys/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

a.hun
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Re: OR15 noise!!! HELP NEEDED

Post by a.hun » Wed Jul 23, 2014 4:12 pm

Hi orys.

Hard to say for certain but it does sound like a valve (tube :wink:) problem. Yeah you could always use one of the preamp valves from your Fender (preferably a 12AX7 / ECC83 type) to swap out each of the OR15 preamp valve in turn.

If it isn't one of those than you'd need to think about power valves. (Best replaced as full sets = matching pair o f EL84s for your amp.)

Either way though if the amp is new it is up to Orange / your dealer to get it working right, so you should be able to get a replacement from them. Or if it turns out to be something other than valve(s) they should fix it anyway.

Does sound like a noisy valve though. Get spares anyway. Valves can fail or go noisy / microphonic at any time so you should always have some extra...


Andy.
aNDyH. :wink:

Ever tried to outstare a mirror?

In the bathtub of history the truth is harder to hold than the soap, and much more difficult to find!

orys
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Re: OR15 noise!!! HELP NEEDED

Post by orys » Wed Jul 23, 2014 4:32 pm

Yes i have a few spares over here from GT.
I have 3 sets of 2 x 6L6 matched pairs but no EL34s sadly.
So should i start replacing one 12AX7 at a time?
Don't all these have to be of the same brand?

This is what i have in hand. They're on the fender as i have the original fender ones from 78 and they are not even broken in. ;)
Check the prices in the ripoff land!!!

Image
Image
https://soundcloud.com/orys/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

orys
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Re: OR15 noise!!! HELP NEEDED

Post by orys » Wed Jul 23, 2014 5:33 pm

Have replaced the phase inverter tube with one of the 12AX7R i have an it seems to have gone away!!!!
Am I so lucky? From the first try?
Should i put the head back together or should i keep changing the tubes?
I mean is it possible that there's another at fault?
I have 3 of the same of this type of GT tubes.
Are they up to the Orange ones standard?
If so, should i replace all of them?
Last edited by orys on Wed Jul 23, 2014 5:48 pm, edited 1 time in total.
https://soundcloud.com/orys/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

orys
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Re: OR15 noise!!! HELP NEEDED

Post by orys » Wed Jul 23, 2014 5:34 pm

Makes a loud pop from 15W to standby now though. Everytime :(
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orys
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Re: OR15 noise!!! HELP NEEDED

Post by orys » Wed Jul 23, 2014 5:48 pm

There's a little noise from the speakers that is permanent.
I know it's there a soon as i put the amp to any wattage.
But i know that when i up the volume without a jack connected i get no change on the noise and when a cable is connected i get the white noise but beside it, i know that the noise from the speakers is still there.
Is it the current passing from the head to the speakers which powers them?
I know the radio changing frequency stuff has gone away for sure now with just the replacement of the phase inverter tube.
https://soundcloud.com/orys/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

a.hun
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Re: OR15 noise!!! HELP NEEDED

Post by a.hun » Wed Jul 23, 2014 5:52 pm

6L6s are no use for that amp. Neither would EL34s be. It has EL84 power valves!

It also doesn't have a rectifier valve at all.

Sounds like you did get lucky with the first preamp valve swap. No you don't have to use the same make at all, just the same type, 12AX7, whatever. In fact with preamp valves you can usually use different types too like the 12AT7s you also have, but the gain and sound will change. The GT12AX7R is a standard quality Russian one I think (probably Sovtek). If you like the sound okay it'll be fine, if not use the search function here to see which makes owners are liking and why.

Pop from standby? Not sure but it may in fact be fairly normal.
http://forum.orangeamps.com/viewtopic.p ... by#p581462" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Don't go switching from standby to play and back again more often than you have to. Standby is best used for a minute or two at powering up, and then only for longer breaks. Better that than powering the amp down and back up again as that puts more heat cycles on the valves leading to shorter life. That is where a standby is handy. You can always lower the output volume if the pop annoys you!


Andy.
aNDyH. :wink:

Ever tried to outstare a mirror?

In the bathtub of history the truth is harder to hold than the soap, and much more difficult to find!

orys
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Re: OR15 noise!!! HELP NEEDED

Post by orys » Wed Jul 23, 2014 6:01 pm

Ok so i removed all covers to see the tubes installed and they seem to have no brand on them except a JJ and the 12AT7 has just the part number printed in red colour.
should i be changing the unbranded in stage 3+4 to match the GT tube i already installed or should i leave it as it is?

Image


This is how my amp looks right now.

Image
https://soundcloud.com/orys/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

orys
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Re: OR15 noise!!! HELP NEEDED

Post by orys » Wed Jul 23, 2014 6:06 pm

a.hun wrote:6L6s are no use for that amp. Neither would EL34s be. It has EL84 power valves!

It also doesn't have a rectifier valve at all.

Sounds like you did get lucky with the first preamp valve swap. No you don't have to use the same make at all, just the same type, 12AX7, whatever. In fact with preamp valves you can usually use different types too like the 12AT7s you also have, but the gain and sound will change. The GT12AX7R is a standard quality Russian one I think (probably Sovtek). If you like the sound okay it'll be fine, if not use the search function here to see which makes owners are liking and why.

Pop from standby? Not sure but it may in fact be fairly normal.
http://forum.orangeamps.com/viewtopic.p ... by#p581462" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Don't go switching from standby to play and back again more often than you have to. Standby is best used for a minute or two at powering up, and then only for longer breaks. Better that than powering the amp down and back up again as that puts more heat cycles on the valves leading to shorter life. That is where a standby is handy. You can always lower the output volume if the pop annoys you!


Andy.

Andy, thank you very much for your reply. I have edited my post already as i meant the phase inverter tube.
will search and find out what the others tested and sound good in order to place an order and sort it out once and for all.
Once again, thank you very much for your support mate!
Any recommendations for stoner doom tubes would be awesome ;)
I like thickness in the sound a lot, though i think i can use my EHX Knockout to thicken the sound further.
https://soundcloud.com/orys/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

WDeranged
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Re: OR15 noise!!! HELP NEEDED

Post by WDeranged » Fri Jul 25, 2014 11:39 pm

Glad you've narrowed down your main issue but I'm certain that a small amount of underlying hum and fuzz is normal for the OR15, even with the knobs down and no instrument connected. I've used four of them, had one serviced by Orange twice and it still hums a tiny bit, I'm not entirely happy about it but once the gain is up the 'normal' interference totally drowns it out.

*edit*

The pop from standby is normal, don't worry :)

OrangeBoy
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Re: OR15 noise!!! HELP NEEDED

Post by OrangeBoy » Sat Jul 26, 2014 7:27 am

OR15 noise as the OP describes appears to be normal. In fact all my valve amps have varying levels of noise. In the case of my OR15 I'm confident valves are the problem but it's not annoying, is not affected by the gain or volume knobs so I'll do something about it when it comes time to change tubes.

As far as the popping goes, mine does it if I switch to standby as soon as I finish playing. If I finish playing and let it sit for a minute or so then go to standby it generally doesn’t do it. If switching between 7 and 15 watts, I leave it in standby until the background noise dies (less than a second) then switch to the other setting. Another thing I do is give the switch a quick, good positive movement to ensure it switches as soon as possible. I use the same techniques on all my tube amps fitted with standby switches and have very little popping noises.

Linked is another thread about OR15 noise for interest:

http://forum.orangeamps.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=52331" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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