[LostChild1]

If it's crackling/static then you probably have a tube that is intermittent or has a short.  I ran into this a couple of times back when I had a Woo amp.  Cleaning the pins and the sockets is step one, getting yourself a different pair of driver tubes is step 2.  If it is still there then you may have power supply noise leaking into the circuit or a bad cap somewhere.

Hey thanks for the reply! The noise only happens as it warms up and then doesn't happen at all.

I have a GZ34 and two 7N7 <-> 6DE7. I have a few older tubes that I had swapped for these around somewhere that I could try and see if it is indeed a tube issue.

Do you have any recommendations on how I should go about cleaning the pins and sockets? I would hate to accidentally do more harm than good.

I don't think it's PSU noise or anything like that. If I turn the sound up high enough I can hear a hum but I definitely don't play it at that volume so that's not an issue. This is a distinctly scary sounding electrical noise as it warms up. Quick burst, maybe 3-4 as it warms. I warmed it up with the headphones unplugged and only plugged them in after this time and it made a quick pop sound as I plugged in but then nothing afterward, which I assume is more normal.

 

[Xcalibur255]

It's a pain but I roll a thin strand of steel wool and sand the pins by hand.  That gets followed by Deoxit applied by Q-tip, and a few minutes later rubbing alcohol again by Q-tip to clean everything up.  Deoxit makes a mess in sockets if you let it build up.  It's important to clean the tube well if you do it this way since steel wool touching across two pins is enough to produce a short and a single strand is really hard to see if stuck that way.
 
You generally only ever do this once when you buy old tubes, but it is good practice otherwise your sockets get full of crud over time if you roll a lot. 
 
On the off chance you actually need to clean your tube sockets on the amp and you use Q-tips with the paper type rod you can cut a portion out of the middle (just the stick part only) and soak that slightly in alcohol and this ends up being about the right thickness to insert into the socket pins to work back and forth a few times.  That's what I did the only time I ever cleaned the sockets on my Woo and it seemed to work well.  There is probably a better way but you normally don't need to clean the sockets if the tubes have been cleaned properly before insertion. 
 
Of course you want the amp unplugged when doing this.  Make sure it has been sitting at least 15 minutes to let the bleeder resistors on the power supply caps do their job.  There is high voltage in tube amps that can kill you. 
 
First things first though, have you tried any other tubes in your collection to see if this crackling noise happens every time?  The fact that it happens only during startup makes it even more likely it is a tube issue.  Something is probably intermittent then the issue goes away once things heat up.

 

[LostChild1]

Hey thanks again for a detailed reply, I appreciate you taking the time.

I just got out my old 6DE7's and I've put them in. When I turned it back on there was no electrical sound, but it may be because the GZ34 was still warm from before I made the switch. I'll give it another shot tomorrow when it's definitely cold and see then. I hope it's just a tube issue and not something more major! It's been a while since I've rolled anyway, so I'm going to try some new combinations if it turns out to have been a simple tube issue.

Thanks again!

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

Yes.

Lol




Yes, the vegan option comes with both headband and pads in vegan, and is noticeably more comfy, IMHO. Ideally though, I'd try and acquire the foam headband from an R-1, which is more comfy than both..

 

[DarKen23]

ROFL @picture ^

 

[Kiats]

Hi all! I have a quick question. I have never heard a rev 1 before. Is it sufficiently different to make sense getting one even when I already have a rev 2?

Thanks!

 

[Defiant00]

Hi all! I have a quick question. I have never heard a rev 1 before. Is it sufficiently different to make sense getting one even when I already have a rev 2?

Thanks!

 
Unless you just really want to have every version, probably not. They sound almost exactly the same.

 

[Viper2005]

Unless you just really want to have every version, probably not. They sound almost exactly the same.

I found the rev 1 to be more veiled and mid-bassy than the rev 2, by a small but noticeable amount.

 

[DarKen23]

Hi all! I have a quick question. I have never heard a rev 1 before. Is it sufficiently different to make sense getting one even when I already have a rev 2?

Thanks!

Nope, unless you have OCD around the 2.

 

[raykoh5]

Hi all, absolutely love the lcd2s but i find that at least my lcd2.2 wooden connectors need time to warm up. 
every time i plug it in, the first few minutes are so bad that they sound close to really cheap earbuds, not the hifi ones that come with ipods...
voices are intelligible, ThereIsNoInstrumentSeparation, details are            . 
i'm using a relatively cheap solid state amp while waiting for my SD GEEK  to arrive. files are mostly flac.
does anyone else experience this? or is it perhaps my ss amp (PCM2702 + OPA2134) that needs warming up? silly as that may sound.
no, i'm not a troll, just a newB
thanks

 

[Barry S]

  Hi all, absolutely love the lcd2s but i find that at least my lcd2.2 wooden connectors need time to warm up. 
every time i plug it in, the first few minutes are so bad that they sound close to really cheap earbuds, not the hifi ones that come with ipods...
voices are intelligible, ThereIsNoInstrumentSeparation, details are            . 
i'm using a relatively cheap solid state amp while waiting for my SD GEEK  to arrive. files are mostly flac.
does anyone else experience this? or is it perhaps my ss amp (PCM2702 + OPA2134) that needs warming up? silly as that may sound.
no, i'm not a troll, just a newB
thanks

Must be your amp--I've never experienced any burn-in or warm-up with my LCD2.2s.

 

[PuffyElvis]

I've never heard of anything solid state needing warm-up time.  Burn-in time certainly, but not warm-up time.
 
Easy way to tell is use a 1/4" to 1/8" adapter and try plugging your LCDs into your PC.  Assuming your LCDs are cold, then you can see if the problem occurs.  If it doesn't, then you can try plugging them into your amp (cold) and see if occurs.

 

[DefQon]

Solid states don't need warmup time.

Wooden connectors don't need warm up time.

Metal connectors don't need warm up time.

Tube amps do need warm up time.

It's all in your head.

 

[PuffyElvis]

...the part that's got me stumped is that after a few minutes warm-up you don't experience any problems anymore. 
 
My first thought was that you were simply under-powering the very inefficient and current hungry LCD-2s.  But that wouldn't go away after a few minutes.

 

[korzena]

 
Must be your amp--I've never experienced any burn-in or warm-up with my LCD2.2s.

Me neither.