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Any HH Scott 130 owners out there? -need some input

Posted by mr9iron (A) on March 24, 2022 at 14:12:45

(should I be worried that the last post in here was my thread?)

Hey all, this is my second go around with a Scott 130 pre-amp.

Are there any HH Scott 130 owners out there that can help me verify something? -either a restored or non- resorted unit that functions?

Is it natural for this pre- amp to hiss at idle? Is this just the way this unit acts due to its design??- A hiss that is detectable from the listening position using moderate sensitive speakers..

This is going to get lengthy but this is my 3rd go around with a Scott 130 pre- amp. The first unit was a friend's that I did a complete restoration on, I decided I liked the sound of it. I do not recall after the restore if there was any significant hiss at idle, at least I do not recall. A few years later I picked one up for myself. The unit did not work at all when I got it so I could not do a pre-restore/post-restore comparison.

I did a thorough restoration, PS and all coupling caps replaced, all out of spec resistors were replaced, voltages dead on, used metal film resistors on the grids, cleaned the snot out of all the switches, dials, sockets and RCAs, everything running perfect within spec...but this thing had a hiss that would not go away. In fact there is an old thread on here if you search it where I was asking how to trace it down. I tried LPS 12AX7s, you name it, I tried it and the hiss would not go away. I eventually gave up and moved on from it.

I had a Scott LC21 I restored - dead quiet, I heard that it's a stripped down version of the 130 but not sure if that's right, it was dead quiet anyway. I currently run two Scott 121 mono preamps- also dead quiet.

So why am I posting about the Scott 130 again? Well, just on a lark an all original, working 130 came up at a decent price. Out of curiosity, I thought I'd pick it up just to see if in an all original state 130 behaved like the restored one I had.....Of course it did just that! -an audible hiss loud enough to hear from a listening position.

On this unit I thoroughly cleaned several times over all the switches and tube sockets, all the connection points. I tested all the tubes (all seemingly original Tele's all good) De-oxed every contact point (which there are a lot on this unit, cleaned several times over) there is no other noise other than the hiss, not even any hum (surprising since it's not restored) I also tried some LPS 12ax7's in V3 and V103, also tried some lower gain 12at7's - no change. The hiss does not increase or decrease with volume, but it's again a bit too pronounced to be tolerable- at least for me. Hard to accept when my other Scott pre- amps are dead quiet.

Which all this just leads me to believe, maybe this is just the way these are? Can any Scott 130 owners chime in or verify?

I don't want to put the massive restoration effort into this if this is not solvable or if this is just the way it is.. I'd probably just move it along. I regret selling my LC21 now -lol.

any help or input appreciated.

Edits: 03/25/22 03/25/22 03/25/22

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