Why do I hear people talking, like on an AM radio, when I turn up my Fender Sidekick 25 (SKX25R) really loud? The distortion is too loud for me to understand them. Also, I bought it used. How much was it new?
Without actually hearing the voices I would suggest you make the following checks: Make sure you’re using a good quality shielded cable intended for guitar. Screw off the cable ends and look for either the foil or braided “shield” which signifies a cable intended for this use. Check if the shield is soldered well to the plug. Do you have single-coil pickups? If so, that could be the problem right there. Single coils, especially if they’re of poor quality, pick up all sorts of radio crud. It’s possible that the amp itself is susceptible to RFI (radio frequency interference) because of poor shielding or just massive amounts of gain. RFI can sometimes be extreme in certain locales. Do you live near a radio station or Ham operator? Bring the amp to a friend’s house and see if it’s any better. Finally try and listen closely to the radio voices; are they speaking directly to you? Unt how long have you had this problems? The amp was $249.99 new.
I am an electronics tech. I had the same problem with a fender sidekick reverb 35. HERE IS THE FIX. IT DID WORK for me. Replace ALL the small electrolytic capacitors with (PANASONIC) low ESR caps. The second source is the reverb foot switch cable. You may have to experiment with this one. My solution was to wind a few loops of the cable (nearest the chassis) and put a wire tie on the loop. A ferrite core may work also, but I didn’t have time to expirament. Third cause: clean and SOLDER the input and output ground connectors on the reverb. NO MORE AM RADIO FOR ME. LET ME KNOW IF IT WORKS FOR YOU> THE CAPS ARE A MUST WITH THE AGE OF THIS AMP> Good luck! joe
Thanks for the update!