Memphis Lead Channel Trouble

Hi Dave (your email bounced),

I hope you’re well and safe down in LA. My mom lives down there and I know a lot of people being affected.

This weekend I encountered a problem with my Memphis. When I switch to the lead channel, it’s incredibly noisy with white sound, the gain volume goes from zero to explosively loud and the master volume doesn’t do anything (it’s like it’s bypassed).

Knowing nothing about amps, I suspect it may be a preamp tube problem?

The rhythm clean channel seems to be working just fine. And after initially discovering the lead channel problem, I switched back and forth and at one point the lead channel was working again as it should. But after about a minute, it almost blew my head off with the white noise background and gain volume basically full on when it’s not at zero along with an ineffective master.

What are your thoughts?

Hi Eric, Sorry to hear about the issue with your Memphis amp. You are correct in assuming that the cause is most likely one of the preamp tubes. You’ll need to get a good spare 12AX7 tube and try swapping out V1, V2, and V3 one at a time making sure to play test the amp after each swap. If you discover a faulty tube using this method, be sure to discard that tube. Please let us know if we can be of further assistance.

Gil

What brand preamp tubes do you recommend for the Memphis these days?

Perhaps for future reference you share your thoughts on these:

  • Best sounding 12ax7 preamp tube for the Memphis?
  • Most durable 12ax7 preamp tube for the Memphis?
  • Best compromise of sound and durability?

Beans

Hi Beans,

Here are the tunes we currently recommend, What EL34, 12AX7, ECC83S and 5AR4 (rectifier) tubes do you recommend?

Regards,

Dan

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