OK guys, I have a 1968 Fender Deluxe Reverb amp. It's never given me any problems...until now. It has the original footswitch with it that controls the reverb and tremelo/vibrato. While the reverb has always worked fine, and so has the tremelo, for that matter, I can't get the tremelo to work. I was playing my Strat tonight and tried the tremelo, nothing.
I think what happened was I left the tremelo on via the footswitch, ie I didn't turn it off, so while the control knobs for it were set at 0 on the amp, it was still on, lurking in the background.
I've been told not to leave the tremelo on when you're not using it. I don't know why that is. I normally am good about turning it off via the switch on the footswitch and then turn the knobs on my amp for that function to 0.
Anyway, there's always been a background tapping noise of the vibrato when it was on, which I thought was normal. Now, the guitar sounds the same whether it's on or not, and there's no noise after about 5 on the speed knob. When I turned it up to 10, there was a loud background tapping noise, and quite a bit of hum/buzz, which I attributed to the reverb being on.
On the lower vibrato speed and intensity settings, the guitar sounded distorted, but not in a good way. It sounded like when one of my pedals' battery is dying--it'll distort the guitar but it doesn't sound the way a distortion pedal or overdrive on the amp sounds. Also bear in mind that the volume of the channel I was using was between 1 and 2. I wasn't blasting anything out.
I am planning to take it tomorrow to my local Sam Ash to see what they can tell me about it. As it's a vintage amp, I am expecting a hefty bill.
I checked the connections from the foot pedal to the back of the amp, they seemed fine, no frayed wires or loose connections. I then unplugged it and untangled the rather long cord, plugged it back in, no change.
I don't know if there's a short somewhere, or if something needs to be replaced. Maybe I need a new foot switch/pedal?
And I hope at least some of what I've written makes sense. It's hard to describe unless you hear it.
Thanks in advance guys!
