Almarro has poping sound, please help


Recently, my Almarro 318B develop a loud "poop" sound. It is not very frequent. It is intermittent, usually have it after 15 mins or so after it is started. What should I do? I bought the unit used, and I have no history of the unit.
Should I take it to service, or should I try replacing the tube? Is there a way to find out if a tube gone bad? If I am to try replacing the tube, which one should I try first?
gte357s

Showing 1 response by plangco

Consider not only the possiblity of a bad tube, or a bad tube pin holder, but a bad solder joint. If you are careful (very careful, high voltage) you can take the bottom off and have the amp laying on its side and running and connected to your speakers, and carefully wiggle (without touching anything else) the wires, particularly those going to the tube pin holders to try and find the bad solder joint.

Or for a shotgun approach, with amp off and disconnected, you can take a soldering iron to all the tube pin connections or others and see if that cures the problem.