Clicking when turning knobs

Hello,

I'm new to H&K and just bought a used Grandmeister 36 off of Reverb. The amp sounds great.

When I turn any of the knobs I get a soft clicking sound while turning them. This is normal? Unique to H&K or other amps as well? I've only used Fender Twins and Marshall JTM45s, 2203s, etc.

Sounds obvious, I just wanted to ask.

Thx,

Bill

RoadShow wrote:Hello,

I'm new to H&K and just bought a used Grandmeister 36 off of Reverb.  The amp sounds great.

When I turn any of the knobs I get a soft clicking sound while turning them.  This is normal?  Unique to H&K or other amps as well?  I've only used Fender Twins and Marshall JTM45s, 2203s, etc.

Sounds obvious, I just wanted to ask.

Thx,

Bill

OK, guilty of asking and then RTFM, found this in manual:

Heads Up: You may hear a soft background noise when twisting knobs.
This sound is made by the Programmable Resistor Network (PRN), as
it switches its 256 resistors: Each of these rotary controls consists of 256
individual resistors in serial array, 256 switches, and a memory with the
ability to save and recall every switch's position.

Spot on there RoadShow, good catch! The knobs on the GM36 are digipots. They aren't at all like the pots in a Marshall or Fender. They are controlled by digital signals which only select a particular value from a list of set ones, they are not smooth and continuous. And before any grumbling about modern digital stuff sucking tone or otherwise ruining the "valve" sound, they are literally only a resistor value to the signal, and what's more, they have no way of getting scratchy like the older types do!

As the manual says, you are just hearing the amp responding to the switch stepping from one resistor to the next with a slight jump. It will be slightly audible if things are quiet and your levels are up but it shouldn't be anything like intrusive when you are playing. If it gets to be loud then it means something is wrong somewhere. By the way, it's worth knowing that the Master Volume, Presence and Resonance are not digipots!