Jessica Monroe

If your tube amp hums, hisses, or buzzes when you’re not playing, you’re not alone. Almost every tube amplifier produces some background noise. The real question is whether what you’re hearing is the normal noise floor of a healthy tube amp or a buzz that signals a real issue. In this guide, our team breaks … Read more

Strange hum, crackling, or sudden silence from your tube amp almost always points to one culprit. Our team has spent years troubleshooting vintage and modern tube amplifiers, and we will walk you through exactly how to diagnose which tube is causing amp noise or failure without immediately running to a repair shop. If you have … Read more

You plug in, flip the power switch, and the pilot light glows. The tubes warm up, the front panel looks alive, but when you hit a chord, there is nothing. Total silence. If your guitar amp powers on but no sound comes through the speaker, the problem almost always lies somewhere along the signal path, … Read more

That crackle creeping through your favorite amp is enough to ruin any session. Whether it shows up at startup, gets worse the longer you play, or fires off random pops mid-solo, tube amp crackling and popping is one of the most common issues guitar players and audiophiles face. The good news: most causes are traceable, … Read more

That persistent hiss, hum, or buzz in your rig can drive anyone crazy, and the worst part is not knowing where it comes from. I have spent countless nights chasing noise on stage and in the studio, and I can tell you that the fastest path to silence is a calm, systematic process. This guide … Read more

I have been stacking overdrive pedals on stage and in the studio for over a decade. The first time I tried it, I ended up with a thick, undefined wall of fuzz that buried every note I played. My tone had turned to absolute mush. That disaster pushed me to actually understand what happens when … Read more

If you have ever plugged into your board, hit a chord, and thought “why does my fuzz sound thin and buzzy today?” the answer might be sitting right at the front of your signal chain. To put a fuzz pedal first with a buffered tuner, you need the fuzz placed directly after the guitar and … Read more

That warbling sound on your favorite cassette – is the deck failing or is the tape itself the problem? I have spent the last six months restoring vintage decks in our workshop at SK Records, and I want to share a diagnostic method that works even without a wow and flutter meter. Most guides jump … Read more

If your favorite tape suddenly sounds like it is underwater, the culprit is almost always a worn rubber belt. Cassette decks from the 70s, 80s, and 90s rely on rubber drive belts that dry out, stretch, and turn to goo over decades of use. Knowing how to tell if your cassette deck needs new belts … Read more

Nothing kills the mood faster than watching your Walkman or home deck chew up a mixtape you spent hours compiling. I have pulled countless tangled ribbons out of cassette mechanisms over the years, and almost every case of a cassette deck eating tapes traces back to two parts: the pinch roller and the capstan. Understanding … Read more