Kel84 hisssssssssss

[Nuff3rs]

Hi all. My first post here and also my first amp.

I've now had the amp roughly 3-4 months. My problem is as soon as I switch the amp on I get hissing and the occasional pops coming through the speakers. It isn't very loud and you cant hear it when playing music.
Being inquisitive I removed the bottom and had a look about.
It seems whoever made the amp either didn't tighten up the screws or left a black wire off for some reason. I tried to trace it back and found its the black wire running straight across the black - outputs at the back of the amp.
Here's a few pictures of the internals, I've circled in red the loose wire.
I'm not sure the connection blocks are standard? I've been looking on line and no one seems to have this in there's!?

Oh PS: I must let you all know that my electronics skill is zero so any advice for a first timer would be greatly appreciated.

[John Caswell]

Hi Nathan,
and welcome to the WAD/WD forum.
Well the first thing to ask is does this hiss occur on both channels?
Secondly does it vary with altering the volume control?
Once answered back here we shall see what can be done about it.
Resist the temptation to change anything until told/asked to do so.

John

[Nuff3rs]

Originally Posted by John Caswell

Hi Nathan,
and welcome to the WAD/WD forum.
Well the first thing to ask is does this hiss occur on both channels?
Secondly does it vary with altering the volume control?
Once answered back here we shall see what can be done about it.
Resist the temptation to change anything until told/asked to do so.

John

Hi John,
Thanks for the welcome!

I think it's the same on both channels and yes I'm sure it gets worse with the volume control.
I'm not 100% about this as I'm not home and cannot confirm this. I will try and report back tomorrow morning.

Thank you again,
Nathan.

[Nuff3rs]

Morning John,

I've just tried the amp and it seems as if it's from both speakers and doesn't get louder with the volume knob.

Cheers,
Nathan.

[vinylspinner]

Hello Nathan and welcome to the forum,

Is the hiss on all inputs and do you have any spare ecf80 valves that you can substitute?

These are a nice little amp imho, regret selling mine.

Nigel

[Nuff3rs]

Originally Posted by vinylspinner

Hello Nathan and welcome to the forum,

Is the hiss on all inputs and do you have any spare ecf80 valves that you can substitute?

These are a nice little amp imho, regret selling mine.

Nigel

Hi Nigel, hope you had a good Christmas mate.

The hiss is on all inputs yes. It's not overly loud mind you but it's starting to bug me a little when I get up to change the record.
I've not got any spare valves no, I was thinking about maybe looking for some as spare anyway so I suppose that would be my first starting point.
Have you any recommendations? At the moment I have JJ EL84 and Mullard ECF80
Nathan.