Hello from Santa Maria,Ca

[Antvas1963]

Hello,
I have a used Blues jr that started making a lot of intermittent crackling noise. I want to eliminate the socket board and ribbon cables. When I tapped on the ribbon cables two of the lines on them were microphonic. Quite a few of the solder joints on the socket board had cracks in them as well.
I’d really like to try building a amplifier myself, this forum looked like a good place to get some good information

[EL34]

Welcome to the Hoffman Amps forum

There are many different boards on this forum for different topics.

The Tube Amp Building - Tweaks - Repairs board is where you can post amp questions.

That board is listed here.
https://el34world.com/Forum/index.php?board=13.0

Thanks,
Doug Hoffman

[acheld]

I have a used Blues jr that started making a lot of intermittent crackling noise. I want to eliminate the socket board and ribbon cables. When I tapped on the ribbon cables two of the lines on them were microphonic. Quite a few of the solder joints on the socket board had cracks in them as well.
I’d really like to try building a amplifier myself, this forum looked like a good place to get some good information

It's a great place for high quality information!

I have several BJs myself, and the ribbon cables and the tube board are notorious for the problems you describe.

You can simply replace the ribbon cables with individual wires -- very simple to do but you will have to learn about removing solder from PCB holes with a solder sucker.   If you were going to do this, Hoffman sells a replacement tube board that you can wire up -- very robust and well done.   

Go to: https://hoffmanamps.com/MyStore/perlshop.cgi?ACTION=enter&thispage=PartsListIndex.htm&ORDER_ID=!ORDERID!   scroll down and click on the link to Hoffman Blues Jr. Tube Board   -- the installation instructions link is on the right.