Vibrato sound on a non-vibrato amp?

[DuaneOh]

I have a '59 Fender Harvard 5F10 that is mostly original and am getting a faint fast vibrato, mostly noticeable when playing higher single notes, especially on humbucker equipped guitars. I haven't opened it up yet to look inside, I was hoping to get some direction before I go in. Any suggestions on where to look?  Thanks.

[sluckey]

Got a fan in the room?

[DuaneOh]

Got a fan in the room?

You are a genius! Turned off the fan and the vibrato went away. Thanks!

[brewdude]

That is soooo funny!


I was once pulling my hair out trying to find an oscillation.  It took two days to figure out it was the ceiling fan above the table I was working on. 

[zircontweezer]

So just to clarify it's a mechanical/audio effect of the fan blades rotating that makes the vibrato and not electrical interference? Just asking as I've never heard of that problem before but it is summer in the northern hemisphere so I guess the fans are back in use.

 

[shooter]

yes mechanical, mine sounds like a chevy 350 outside idling, been to the window 12 times no Chevy! 

[PRR]

Big blades are acoustic reflectors. Sometimes they reflect to your ear, sometimes away from your ear. Ceiling fan speed is right in the tremolo register.

[kagliostro]

And we spent time and $ to modify our amp's if they didn't have the feature 


Franco

[Greg]

Luckily, this amp didn't have a built-in tremolo circuit. It is not hard to imagine somebody like myself butchering an amp only to discover the fan problem after a 3-pages-long troubleshooting thread.

[brewdude]

The other frustratingly simple noise rabbit hole I was almost sucked into…


A rattling sound that turned out to be a bowl of loose change.

[mresistor]

The other frustratingly simple noise rabbit hole I was almost sucked into…
A rattling sound that turned out to be a bowl of loose change.

I went through similar situation,, strange metallic rattling, spent a good amount of time trying to find something wrong with the amp, then the cab only to find it was pots and pans vibrating in the pantry..

[brewdude]

Snare drum?

[Lectroid]

Another:  I spent hours tracing down why my scope showed such dirty spikes and trash on a freak generator signal.  Then I discovered it was the power supply for the LEDs around my magnifying lens...