fender princeton 65 rri noise?

Th4fonz

Hi guys I purchased a fender princeton 65 reverb reissue recently and clean this issue isnt there or if i use my ditto looper pedal.  If I turn on the my tubescreamer mini i get quite a bit of noise and like a repetative clicking sound come out the amp why is this????

thermionic

There’s a known problem with these I believe, which stems from the tremolo circuit (hence the clicking) not being manufactured with the same components as they used to be.

ICBM

Probably because your phone or your watch is too close to your guitar pickups .

It’s not an issue with the amp because it’s increased by the Tube Screamer, so it’s noise being picked up by the guitar.

It’s nothing to do with the tremolo circuit, because the Princeton uses bias modulation tremolo rather than an opto-coupler, which is the type that’s been replaced with a new circuit.

DJH83004

Does the tick vary when you adjust the speed setting of the tremolo, if so it is definitely emanating from the printed circuit board that has replaced the traditional Fender opto-coupler. The solution is to disconnect the PCB (including the supply rails) and fit an old style opto-coupler onto the main board - they are readily available from TAD, Hotrox etc. This is all to do with the LDR (light dependant resistor) in the opto-coupler containing cadmium, which is an RoHS banned substance in electronic products.    

Lewy

DJH83004 said:

Does the tick vary when you adjust the speed setting of the tremolo, if so it is definitely emanating from the printed circuit board that has replaced the traditional Fender opto-coupler. The solution is to disconnect the PCB (including the supply rails) and fit an old style opto-coupler onto the main board - they are readily available from TAD, Hotrox etc. This is all to do with the LDR (light dependant resistor) in the opto-coupler containing cadmium, which is an RoHS banned substance in electronic products.    

As ICBM says, it's bias not opto-coupler in the 65 PRRI. Are you thinking of the Deluxe Reverb reissue perhaps?

thermionic

That’s the one I was probably thinking of! I didn’t know the Princetons had a bias tremolo.

DJH83004

Yes, misread the title! just saw the '65 and off I went .The Princeton is bias trem and doesn't have the hideous opto circuit 

Th4fonz

Ok thanks guys Ive had a littlke play this morning and its still there without reverb or treemolo on.  If reverb and trem are on it doesnt make it any worse what i did notice though was........ once i put tube screamer on if my volume on my strat is anything bvelow 10 i get this continuous clicking noise if i put 10 on the volume on the guitar it goes away?

DJH83004

This may seem a strange question, but its not RFI from your watch is it? I have known this happen before believe it or not!

Th4fonz

DJH83004 said:

This may seem a strange question, but its not RFI from your watch is it? I have known this happen before believe it or not!

I dont wear a watch and i put my phone across the room also.

gringopig

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Th4fonz

Ok here is a audio clip i did on my phone excuse the out of tuneness

martinw

Could it be a Wi-Fi extender, homeplug or similar?

Try unplugging it if so.

ICBM

Th4fonz said:

Ok thanks guys Ive had a littlke play this morning and its still there without reverb or treemolo on.  If reverb and trem are on it doesnt make it any worse what i did notice though was........ once i put tube screamer on if my volume on my strat is anything bvelow 10 i get this continuous clicking noise if i put 10 on the volume on the guitar it goes away?

It's definitely something in the house being picked up by the guitar, and it's probably getting in via the earth wiring rather than directly to the pickups if it goes away with the volume at 10.

Th4fonz

Interesting I'll try plugging it in a diff area in the house?  I'll also remove WiFi and any WiFi extenders in home also when I'm home later on to test it.

thermionic

This reminds of the night last week when I had a knock on the door at 11:45pm... bloke from across the road in his jimjams, calmly said “We have a fire in our house, can you please call the fire brigade?”. The fire had started in the mains consumer unit and his wife was outside with a cat in a carrier. There were two fire engines there in about six minutes, and they were there for about an hour.

Anyway, about five minutes earlier, my cordless phone handset started beeping. I took it out of the cradle, thinking It wasn’t connecting to the charging contacts. Took the nicad AAAs out, put it back again, still beeping. It was making funny electrical noises when I held it to my ear. As I was doing this I could hear similar electrical noise coming from the hi-fi speaker (amp was still on, but no music playing). I’m sure there was some serious disruption to the mains supply to most of the street.

Th4fonz

let me re edit this

By taking out one of those wifi electrical internet mains boosters has helped alot on this test.  I still get some static noise from the pedal but goes if i rest my barefoot on the pedal? lol

Also I noticed with ts on cranked loud if i turn a light on and off in a diff room i hear the reverb on my amp make a pop sound?

ICBM

Th4fonz said:

I took out my wifi extenders but I still got the noise. 

However what i have noticed was my TS mini I am bare foot so i rested it on the switch and noise stopped took foot off and noise back again.  So if i touch bare skin on the switch it stops the noise......

Does touching the guitar strings also stop the noise?

If not, the earth connection to the strings (via the tremolo claw in a Strat with a trem) is missing in your guitar... when you touch the footswitch with your bare foot you're grounding yourself, which should also happen when you're touching the strings.

gringopig

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menamestom

It’s worth trying the amp at a different location.
The other thing to discount might be the pedal power supply, but either way I’d mess with those two variables. These amps are usually pretty quiet and the symptoms do point to external interference.

My Princeton picks up significant external interference, usually after 9pm, I can often hear a noise like ‘turn it down, the kids are in bed....and you’re banging your foot again’.
Only seems to happen at my house so I assume It’s local interference..... 

jackorion

how are you powering the tubescreamer?

Are you using a daisy chain power supply? Or a cheap generic 9v wallwart?