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Popping from tube integrated amp

I've owned an Eastern Electric M520 for about 3 years and have it connected to Omega Hemptones. I changed the EL34 tubes about three months ago from the stock Chinese tubes to NOS Mullards.

This afternoon about a minute after powering up the amp, very loud popping noise came through the speakers - - the popping was constant - about 90 to 100 pops per minute I would guess. The volume was at a (loud) constant level, regardless of where I set the volume control. The popping continued without regard to which input I selected.

After turning off the amp, I reseated the tubes and tried again - - same popping. The tubes all look normal - - no unusual visual cues.

Anyone have any idea what the problem is likely to be? Many thanks for any suggestions.
rshak
toudou's avatar
toudou
84 posts
 
hello,
is the popping coming from the left or right speaker, or both? also try to swap the tubes left to right, right to left........
Good luck.

David
thorman
1,262 posts
 
Sounds like you have a bad tube already....If you still have your old tubes ( as back up ) take your new tubes out and put back in the old..I bet the problem goes away.................Not that unusual to get a bad new tube...I recently purchased a beautiful pair of Tungsram 12ax7 only to find out after 30 minutes one tube was bad........Had to send them back for a refund..................If you have a good tube supplier he should help you out with a replacement set...Good luck..
phd
1,283 posts
 
Have you tried reinserting the stock (Chinese) tubes to see if the problem continues?
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