Ok I have a Fender Frontman 212 DSP. The amp for the most part sounds pretty good, but on occasion I get these popping/crackling noises the that occur what I consider pretty randomly. The sound really doesn't degrade tone, and for the most part the it sounds pretty clean. I am playing a Fender MIM Telecaster through it(if anybody is curious). I am a college student and I share a duplex with three other dudes, and the crackling and popping seems to have started to occur sense moving into the house. When at my parents house this never seems to be an issue, and for the most part it's flawless. When I was living on campus I would get similar problems with my small 15w line six amp, except the popping seemed louder and more pronounced on the line six. As I said I have flipped/flopped amps sense moving into a bigger place, and the amp that never seemed to give me problems has started making irregular popping sounds, and alternatively the line six, which is now at my parents house, seems have stop making these popping noises all together. I have also noticed, that somtimes the popping become more prevelant and occur more often if an appliance like a fan or my laptop is on. Is it possible that the area that I'm living in nows electricity is affecting the amp differently(please don't hate, I don't know much about the electronic aspects of amps)?
Do you always use the same patch cord to hook up the guitar to the amp? If you have another cord try using it and seeing if the problem is the cord and not the amp.
If you have another guitar (or a buddy who's got another guitar), try seeing if that noise occurs with it.
How long has this noise been occuring on this amp? On my Epi Valve Jr. I had heard a popping noise that would occur randomly for a couple of days: it turns out that the tube was dying and within a few days the amp was silent.
However if the noise is also happening with another amp, especially a line 6 (which is a solid state amp, no tubes, if I am correct), then this is probably not the case.
Steve-0
I'd check the instrument cable(s) first, and make sure they weren't the source of the problem.
Then I'd start looking at what was on the power circuit with me that would come on at apparently random intervals: refrigerator, freezer, air conditioner, fluorescent lights, dimmer switches, and anything else that could cause a quick power spike or loss in the circuit your amp is plugged into.
Playing guitar and never playing for others is like studying medicine and never working in a clinic.
The crackling has started occuring since moving into the house. I have had no issue with this amp before. Over the last few days I've been playing I haven't experience any popping, although I have been heavily distorted when playing. I've also made sure my laptop charger is off because that does cause my amp to receive intense feedback when it's on. I've also been using a bass envelope filter stomp box recently(some of the settings make the guitar sound pretty wild), but I have recently unplugged that too and just have the cable running to the guitar. I'm gonna try fiddling with the cables some more and try some more process of elimination see if I can find a culprit.
Sounds like you have a power issue with your new house.
I think Moonrider is on the right track.
Have you tried plugging in in other rooms, or to other outlets in the house?
Try a kitchen outlet.
Try an outlet as far from the kitchen as possible.
Try the plug in the back yard.
Or it may be something that affects the whole house. Do you have an AM radio that plugs in? See if it makes similar noises.
I wrapped a newspaper ’round my head
So I looked like I was deep
Yea I really can't tell. As of recently I have stopped playing with the pedal and haven't received any popping or crackling lately as I said. Turning things like my small fan or my computer charger on make the guitar amp have much more intense feedback and somtimes static/crackling noises. Like I said I'm trying to find a culprit, but I'm havng a hard time figuring out if it's more of a cable issue or eletrical interfernce. To clarify this is a solid state fender amp, i have actually tried different guitars through the amp and have gotten similar popping/crackling sounds, so I don't necesarrily think my guitar is a factor.
So I think I may have found the culprit to my amp popping noises. For the last week or so I have been playing with the guitar running directly to the amp, no footswitch or stomp box. I had mentioned in an early post that I had been screwing around with a bass envelope filter. So after going a few solid days with having no popping noises, I plugged the the pedal back in. With in a few minutes of playing a got a quite pop, and then a few minutes later another one. Both on the channel one of my amp. The first pop occured when the effect was off, but the pedal still plugged in, the second actually occured with the effect on. I set the second channel of my amp to the same settings as the first channel and received no popping, however, all pops have been in random sucession and have had no pattern to them so I am assuming that the channel isn't part of the equation. I have also found that wiggling the AC input supplying power to the pedal causes popping in the amp to occur much like turning on the fan. Is it possible that the AC adapter's power is interferring electronically with the amp, because I also noticed unplugging the AC adapter from the pedal causes me to receive radio broadcasting for a split second.
