How much difference does a choke actually make?

[ZEEGLER]

So from what I understand, the main purpose of a choke is to reduce noise from the power section of an amp. I have noticed that my Rhino Beast does not have a choke and also happens to be particularly noisy. There are a couple of other minor issues with the amp, but in general it sounds fantastic and easily hangs with the big boys. I'm considering getting the amp modded and adding a choke and getting the other small issues taken care of.

The other issues with the amp is that it does not work in any sag mode other than "none", and the loop is also noisy.

It would be great to have the amp 100% functional with no issues. I would definitely use it more often.

Have any of you guys had a choke added to an amp and noticed a huge improvement in the noise level??

[NinjaRaf]

I watched a video from the guitologist on YouTube and he explains what a choke does extremely well.

[EndTime]

I’m sure that vid is informative but I don’t have patience for 27 minutes right now! Lol.

I’ll just spurt out my unscientific experience. As for hum , also the reason I installed a choke. Maybe it did a cunt hair change for the better, but the hum I was experience wasn’t coming from the power so if one is hoping for some magic hum fix, I’d say it’ll only do a tiny bit.

As for tone. I do feel I heard a change in how the amp responds thru-out it’s volume. Meaning I think as o got louder the choke seemed to keep the amp more linear . Like I turned up without changing a ton until I was really saturating the power tubes, transformer etc.. simply put, it seemed to hold together the tone a bit more and a bit more consistent as the volume is turned up. For the $50 or whatver it was, I consider it money decently spent. Better value than installing a new transformer which also made small changes but not worth $350!!

[GuitarBilly]

As for tone. I do feel I heard a change in how the amp responds thru-out it’s volume. Meaning I think as o got louder the choke seemed to keep the amp more linear .

That's pretty much it. It improves the filtering so there's almost no voltage drop (aka sag) when you increase the output resulting in a more linear sound across all volume levels.

It also tightens the low end although that's more noticeable on vintage amps since modern amps have plenty of filtering already.

[Zozobra]

A choke isn't necessarily the magic bullet for cleaning up noise. Depending on the source of the noise it could actually be worse with a choke as they are less effective at filtering at some frequencies than a standard RC filter.

Is it hiss or hum? First sanity check is to pull all the preamp tubes except for the PI. If the noise goes away then a choke probably isn't going to help any.

[ZEEGLER]

A choke isn't necessarily the magic bullet for cleaning up noise. Depending on the source of the noise it could actually be worse with a choke as they are less effective at filtering at some frequencies than a standard RC filter.

Is it hiss or hum? First sanity check is to pull all the preamp tubes except for the PI. If the noise goes away then a choke probably isn't going to help any.

It's hum. I've tried swapping preamp tubes, and that didn't help. Whatever is causing it may also be responsible for the sag settings not working. I'll likely get it checked out at some point.

[Zozobra]

There is a post on hcaf complaining about the same fault with the sag switch

https://www.harmonycentral.com/forums/t ... t-part-ii/

[GuitarBilly]

I just read the op again and noticed you're asking about the Rhino amp. I *think* these amps had an issue with the DC heaters so that could be the problem

[Devin]

Probably best to get the amp 100% functional before you start modding it IMO

One of those issues could be also causing the noise

[primeholy]

Idk about a choke, but

[BroSlinger]

[Devin]

Idk about a choke, but