Vox Pathfinder 15 or white noise machine...

[Cmondefeatme]

Hello all, this is my first post here on this website.

Alright, so I joined this forum with high hopes of repairing my Vox Pathfinder 15. For some odd reason, my amp creates huge amounts of white noise. I've tried for some time to try and fix this but sadly, nothing has fixed it. I read online somewhere once that removing the red LED from my pathfinder might potentially solve the white noise problem but I don't think that it could possibly do too much. Thanks. 

[sluckey]

Does this look like your amp?

http://home.comcast.net/~seluckey/vox/v_13.jpg

[Cmondefeatme]

Yes, I think it is because my Pathfinder is the older version with no reverb, hence 6 knobs.

[sluckey]

You can have this one for the price of shipping. Probably $10.00 if in the continental US. I think it works but can't be sure. I bought the complete amp on eBay, gutted it and stuffed a tube amp in the cab. See it here...

http://home.comcast.net/~seluckey/vox/vox.htm

Let me know if you're interested. Then we'll exchange info via personal messaging thru the forum. Paypal is easy for me.

...Steve

[Cmondefeatme]

Sorry, I'm 16 years old and I'm a bit new to amps and all.. How will I know this can work? And what if it somehow gets damaged through shipping? =\

[sluckey]

It's a $10 gamble. 

[Cmondefeatme]

Sorry, I think breaking off the red LED could possibly be a cheaper and better gamble. Does anyone have a better fix that me trying to replace all the guts in my Pathfinder?

[sluckey]

That's OK. Just trying to help. Consider the offer withdrawn.

...Steve

[Cmondefeatme]

I hope I didn't offend you. It's a generous offer to practically give me the amp innards for free, it's just that I don't really trust myself too well with gutting my amp. Thanks though =].

[PRR]

Frankly, if you could score a known-good amp or amp-guts for a few bucks, it would be a lot easier. It is good to learn to fix; but all fixing is about playing, and a 10-buck 11-screw fix beats hours of frustration and possible damage.

Steve rescues orphan squirrels, and has shipped me a huge glass tube which arrived intact. He seems like a good and careful guy. But I agree that a teenager should not be dealing with strangers. And while it looks like an easy swap-out, I know (too well) that it is possible to foul-up "easy" swaps.

> huge amounts of white noise.

Pure HISSS? Not hum? Buzz? Whine? Throb?

Did it do it from new? From when you got it used? Did the hisss start recently?

Your guitar is good?

You have tried with no effects pedals in the path?

Do the controls have any effect? Which control? What effect?

What have you done to try to fix it?

Most hiss can be reduced. But sometimes it is NOT easy. I spent too much of my life on similar work. It is hard enough when you can touch and poke and measure, much harder to collaborate through cyberspace.

I'm dubious about the LED. Can you point to where you saw that suggestion?

A lot of questions; but this is what I'd want to know when a hissy amp was dropped on my bench.

[sluckey]

No offense taken. I withdrew the offer because another member wanted the amp. Good luck.

...Steve