Fryette Memphis 30 Head - Resonant noise

Amps & Cabs Memphis
1

Hello everyone,

I’m taking the liberty of creating a topic, as I’m having a problem with a Fryette Memphis 30 head.

The amp has just been overhauled, the tubes are new, but when I play, a background noise can be heard on both the clean and distortion channels.

I’ve tried to capture the resonance on video, and the noise is present on all my guitars. I’ve also changed my jacks.

Have you ever encountered this problem?

Thank you in advance and have a nice day!

2

Hi @SkeletonCrew and welcome to the forum,

Yes, you are in the right place. Thanks for posting; the video really makes understanding the problem easier. Yes, I can hear the subharmonics of the notes you are playing.

This could be:

  1. Microphonic tube – no because you said you have changed all the tubes.
  2. Ground loop
  3. Damaged speaker
  4. Filter capacitors in the power supply mix hum with your fretted note.
  5. Oscillation

Ground loop check

To eliminate any possible ground loop, remove everything from your FX loop and just connect a guitar to the amp. With one wall connection and no other equipment, any loop will be broken.

Speaker check

Do you have a Power Station, a load that has a LINE OUT or a different speaker cab? I think this could be coming from the speaker. If you can make a recording without the speaker, that would eliminate that as the cause.

See how you go with that and we can debug more…

1 Like
3

Hi @dan !

Thank you for your detailed feedback and politeness.

I tested on an isolated electrical socket, without the effects loop and just the instrument, yet the subharmonics remained.

I only have one 2x12 cabinet (Marshall Silver Jubilee 2536A), and it appears to function great with my other amp head, but I’ll try it with another one.

I’ll drop off the Fryette MEMPHIS with the technician again, submitting your post to him, and I’ll get back to you to let you know what caused the breakdown, which may help other users.

Wishing you a wonderful day!

4

Ok so it sounds like the speaker is probably fine. Your amp tech will have a speaker can so they can verify that easily, just in case.

But yes, I’d be suspecting power supply ripple (failing cap) or oscillation. Let us know what they find. We can explore more options later

5

One thing you might not be aware of is that the Memhpis had more subharmonic activity baked into the design to give it a more old school feel.

That may be what you are reacting to now, and possibly why your tech doesn’t find anything wrong.

Cheers,

Dave

6

@SkeletonCrew @DavidPhelge sorry for the bad advice! I don’t have a Memphis… :melting_face:

7

Hello everyone!
@dan @DavidPhelge

Thank you very much for your replies; the Fryette community is great. Not knowing anyone who owns this amp in France, it’s difficult to compare.

After David’s message, I contacted Fryette for more information, and yes, you’re right.

Here’s the feedback from their very responsive customer service: “The Memphis had more subharmonic activity built into the design to give it a vintage or old-school feel and sound. So yes, this is common in the design of the Memphis.”

So I’ll have to get used to the subharmonics. I hope this thread will be useful to other users.

Have a good day, and thank you again!