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Ampeg ba115 regrets??

Phenomoron

Phenomoron

Guest
Dec 29, 2013
66
9
46
Ireland
#1
So I bought my ba115 new and read all about the hiss from the tweeter.
I've been fooling around with sounds and tone,I have a jazz and I turned up both volumes and tone to the max (probably a bad idea).On the amp everything was flat but turned up the treble past noon and it buzzed and hissed at me like it was under pressure but once the treble was down it went away.Amp sounds great otherwise but I called the shop and the guy said it could be an earth wire issue (certain sockets can cause a buzzing)..but he said to give myself some headroom on the jazz and not to max out controls on the guitar?...thoughts?
 
#2
An open earth, (ground) wire may cause hum, (at 60 Hz), not hiss, (much higher frequency content, like "white noise".

Every BA series amp I have tried has some hiss.

It did not stop me from buying a BA110.

I live with it.
 
#5
I reconnected the tweeter later and wound up burning the tweeter out. After searching for the correct replacement (Ampeg has used a few different ones over the years...) I bought a better unit and didn't like it (the hiss came back). So now I am back to running it tweeter-less...
 
#7
Cabinets don't hiss. They reproduce what's fed to them. If they're fed hiss, and they have a speaker or tweeter that can reproduce that range, they do.

Jazz basses with single coils tend to buzz a bit, unless the two volumes are mostly paralleled.

I'm guessing your amp head is putting out some ugly high end that your tweeter is more than happy to reproduce.
 
#8
BurningSkies said:
Cabinets don't hiss. They reproduce what's fed to them. If they're fed hiss, and they have a speaker or tweeter that can reproduce that range, they do.

Jazz basses with single coils tend to buzz a bit, unless the two volumes are mostly paralleled.

I'm guessing your amp head is putting out some ugly high end that your tweeter is more than happy to reproduce.
Click to expand...

The OP's Jazz bass is absolutely contributing to the problem but the real issue is the BA115 (a combo amp) has a long history of the OP's complaint (hiss). The BA series were/are an inexpensive design and IMHO (I have played through many and own a BA 115)(I have tinkered in amp repair for 40 years now) the hiss is characteristic to the entire BA series of amps (and I love Ampeg). Many users never turn up the treble knob and never experience this issue, those who do hear the hiss either disconnect the tweeter or turn down the treble (or eventually blow the tweeter). I don't want to start a disagreement about Ampeg (I also own a 1975 SVT and an SVT 4 Pro) so not all Ampeg models will hiss when the treble is turned up but a quick look at the cost and the relative simplicity of the schematic will show the BA series amps are the econo line of Ampegs whether they call it by that name or not... forgive me but the BA series are "cheaper" Ampegs in many ways.

I am 56 and used tweeter-less rigs for years (decades) so going back to no tweeter was easy, I also use a predominately bright clean sound so the hiss was objectionable to me with tweeter but inaudible without it. This made the decision to disconnect the tweeter easier. Going back and listening to my (recorded) bass direct through my studio monitors (with really good tweeters) the treble sounds about the same as the tweeter-less BA 115 live (no big difference in brightness) so all the tweeter was doing in my BA 115 was showing off how poor a design the amp was.

If your sound requires the use of tweeters then the BA series is not for you IMO. Research this topic here on TB, many have just disconnected it because they found the sound of the tweeter to be objectionable.
 
#11
That helps guys,the ba115 has her first practice tonight so this is the deal breaker for me.
I had a loan of the Marshall mb 60 and sounded great so I'm wondering is the mb 150 better than the ba115 or do I just knock down the treble and live with the ba115?
My return to playing bass has been a turbulent one!
 
#13
Phenomoron said:
once the treble was down it went away.Amp sounds great otherwise he said to give myself some headroom on the jazz and not to max out controls on the guitar
Click to expand...

And that's the answer I've never played a combo that you could turn the treble up and not hear something? I know they may exist I've never played one. I think your combo is one of the best sounding I've ever heard when I go to Guitar Center it's the only one I plug into. It must have been a guitarist who decided cabs needed tweeters and amps,basses needed a treble control. :)
 
#15
I have a BA-115 from about 6 years ago. I have had nothing but problems with it. Super loud hissing and constant crackling and buzzing ever since I had the purple smoke come out of it. So then I bought a Markbass CMD-102p and never had a problem......Tell I had to sell it and go back to the demon ampeg. :(
 

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