Amps and fan noise

[JimmyM]

And before you cry "but recording?!?" I promise you that all your favorite recordings were a noisey affair to make.

That's for sure! Those isolated bass tracks you hear on Youtube are often quite noisy. The tape noise you'd get was always noisier than the fans, so nobody really cared. A lot of McCartney's Beatles stuff sounds like the bass was recorded with a cellphone mic. And guitar amp noise is always in the mix because they almost always mic guitar amps or they're using dirt pedals that get noisy.

 

[Goatrope]

Would A GK MB Fusion 800 be quieter than the TH500 in terms of fan noise? Anyone?

I never heard the Tone Hammer under bedroom/home conditions, so I can't offer a direct comparison. I will just share my experience with the MBF800.

My MBF800 has the loudest set of fans on any of my gear. I was quite surprised when I first got mine and heard those suckers (blowers) come on at home.

Would I replace them? No way. I looked into it, but once I took it out into the world I totally forgot about the "noise".

At my gigging, or even practice volume, the fans are impossible to hear. I actually thought they weren't working at first, and I would put my hand over the exhaust to feel them running.

My only reminder of this issue are these threads.

 

[Pimmsley]

I've played in a lot of small-room situations where I'm the only amplified instrument.
Especially if there are condenser mics, and there's no drumkit/cymbals, fan noise is noticeable.
Even if I'm not annoyed by it other musicians are.
I love the tone of the Mesa Walkabout but find the fan too noisy for the situations I'd use it in.

Hey Winston, If that's in a live situation, I would turn the gain on the mics down and turn up your amps vol... You shouldn't be catching so much ambient noise in a live performance situation IMO/IME. Assuming the cab is close mic'd...

Edit: unless the mics are hanging over the back of the amp

 

[Kustom_Thunder]

My warwick profit 5.2 has the loudest fan I've had in a amp but my svt 7pro's fan is inaudible but then agen that one poped so I guess I have nothing to add

 

[Schlyder]

I use a Trace Elliot GP12smx head. It has a fan that is not loud, but is also not quiet... and at home it can be heard, if playing at neighbourly level.
Sometimes it would get annoying, so I came up with a solution....

Find a preamp version of the T.E. GP12smx (which are not easy to find) or do what I did....

I found a dead, identical amp head for cheap, had the power and output section removed, had a smaller power transformer swapped in, and rewired as a preamp.
It is now silent running. I use this for practice and recording at home. Bass > GP12smx > interface > Yamaha HS80M
The fan does not run in the new preamp wired configuration. So, I get everything I want now.
Tone control exactly the same as my amp head, but dead quiet for when at home and wanting no extra noise.

 

[CL400Peavey]

Why not just return a defective unit?

 

[Pimmsley]

I never heard the Tone Hammer under bedroom/home conditions, so I can't offer a direct comparison. I will just share my experience with the MBF800.

My MBF800 has the loudest set of fans on any of my gear. I was quite surprised when I first got mine and heard those suckers (blowers) come on at home.

Would I replace them? No way. I looked into it, but once I took it out into the world I totally forgot about the "noise".

At my gigging, or even practice volume, the fans are impossible to hear. I actually thought they weren't working at first, and I would put my hand over the exhaust to feel them running.

My only reminder of this issue are these threads.

Great post...
I really don't understand all the fan talk, unless of course it's faulty...
If you gig the amp, you'll never hear it, when recording you can always run a longer speaker cable for isolation, for headphone practice the cans block out the noise and if I want a practice amp I buy one without a fan...
These amps are designed predominantly with gigging in mind, using them for quiet practice is not the main design goal unless I'm misunderstand the use of a 300w plus amp for practice...

It just doesn't make sense... I have a 20 watt fan-less practice amp (Warwick BC-20) for late night noodling... I wouldn't dream of using a 300-900w to practice with and expecting it to be silent... Having said that, my GK400RB has no fan, and my TH-350 and GB Shuttle 9.2 are both quiet enough to practice at low levels with without hearing their fans... I don't think I'm the only one, surely...

Edit: pro studios spend a $hi* ton of money on silent air conditioning solutions, bringing a fan/s into one is asking for trouble... at least with grumpy engineers that need more sleep

 

[BassmanPaul]

If it doesn't, it can be looked up by doing a search on the fan's make and model number. Other specs besides the CFM spec (amount of airflow, expressed in Cubic Feet per Minute) that should be strictly adhered to are:

• the voltage rating, and whether it uses AC or DC.
• the current rating, in amps or watts (excessive current draw can put a strain on the power supply.)
• The fan must be mounted with the correct orientation so the original direction of airflow is retained.

Sometimes the noise level spec of the fan is also provided, expressed in dBA, with the lowest number obviously being the most desirable. But do not trade off airflow (CFM) for a lower dBA rating, or you run the risk of the amp possibly overheating, with the related consequenses.

much better post than mine.

 

[figuredbass]

much better post than mine.

Thanks - I just figured I'd let people know that replacing a fan isn't as straightforward as some might think and that they need to be careful!

 

[xk49w]

My fans. They aren't noisy. I wish they were.

 

[dannybuoy]

Reasons I might not have noticed the fan in my everything ever: hard hitting drummers, tinnitus, turning the amp up until the guitards aren't blowing me out of the water, turning up in general, using big inefficient cabs, liking the sound of pre amps and power sections breaking up, and the sound of a big cab being pushed.

If the fan bugs you maybe focus on what you're playing a bit more or turn up instead of "mod-ing" a perfectly good amp? Or get a good combo? Or DI? Or headphone amp?

And before you cry "but recording?!?" I promise you that all your favorite recordings were a noisey affair to make. If you have to record in absolute silence why aren't you going direct? Anyone one using something called a tone HAMMER or orange TERROR for a nice quiet recording is ridiculous.

Why should I settle for a poorly designed cooling system that means I cannot use the amp as a practice amp? Your suggestions of buying a separate practice amp or whacking up the volume to mask it isn't really a sensible solution to the problem. Imagine if a new top of the range hi-fi system came out that had a noisy fan that ruined everyone's enjoyment of their music, and you told everyone on the hi-fi forum to quit complaining and turn it up, or buy an iPod! I don't think that discussion would end well. Why should a bass amp be any different?

Yes a bass amp obviously has to deal with the fact it will be pumping out a lot more volume, and therefore heat, at a gig. But a gig is not the only time people use their amps. The fact is most fans are a lot louder than they need to be at practice volume due to under-engineering. Yet it's possible to design them, by using better quality silent fans and more intelligent speed control so that it so that it stays pretty much silent at low volume and only blares at full when the amp warms up to gigging volume. The hope is that threads like this can make manufacturers think more about this aspect when designing their amps, especially when they figure out they might be losing sales because of it, like Aguilar unfortunately just did with me.

Why not just return a defective unit?

I did return it, but for a refund because it wasn't defective. Aguilar replied to say that the fans kicking in at high level after 20 minutes of play was standard on this amp. It was an awesome sounding amp though, and I can see myself maybe picking one up again in future if I join a regularly gigging band again, but right now I am mainly practicing at home with the occasional high volume jam session with friends.

 

[vin*tone]

...

If the fan bugs you maybe focus on what you're playing a bit more or turn up instead of "mod-ing" a perfectly good amp? Or get a good combo? Or DI? Or headphone amp?

...

Eh.

I now have a perfectly silent Walkabout - better than it came off the factory floor. Why bother putting up with a noisy amp? Why bother buying a separate headphone amp? Why bother with a DI running through other outboard gear? Why bother having to move your amp into another room to record? Replacing the fan in my WA was a no-brainer.

But hey - thanks for the advice.

 

[DethByDoom]

No problem man. Enjoy playing large amps as a quietly as possible.

 

[CL400Peavey]

Eh.

I now have a perfectly silent Walkabout - better than it came off the factory floor. Why bother putting up with a noisy amp? Why bother buying a separate headphone amp? Why bother with a DI running through other outboard gear? Why bother having to move your amp into another room to record? Replacing the fan in my WA was a no-brainer.

But hey - thanks for the advice.

Right tools for the job man.

No reason to modify a corvette so you can fit 5 kids in it.

 

[Rob22315]

My peavey databass' fan is quite noisy. Sometimes it sounds like it's getting into the circuitry and I can hear it in the speaker. I'm gonna try to fix this somehow.

Call Peavey and get a new fan. Prices are cheap. I had some fan noise on an old BAM and a new fan from Peavey solved it. You might try cleaning the pots too, I have had extraneous noise in my signal from a dirty pot. That noise came from the compressor LEDs, not the fan though.

 

[MrLenny1]

Eden 400, noisy fan when driving the amp hard.
Never noticed on a gig or quiet rehearsals.
Make sure you're modification is adequate.
Aguilar may disagree.

 

[dannybuoy]

No problem man. Enjoy playing large amps as a quietly as possible.

I get it, you only like your amps cranked, and as a result you are now too deaf to hear fan noise!

Right tools for the job man.

No reason to modify a corvette so you can fit 5 kids in it.

My Orange Terror Bass is now silent in operation, I can use it in my bedroom, or blow the doors off in a rehearsal or gig and carry it anywhere. Why have separate tools?

If Corvette made a car that could not be driven under 30mph, would you fix it, buy something else, or just call everyone pussies for driving too slow?

 

[Pimmsley]

Pussies...

 

[CL400Peavey]

I get it, you only like your amps cranked, and as a result you are now too deaf to hear fan noise!



My Orange Terror Bass is now silent in operation, I can use it in my bedroom, or blow the doors off in a rehearsal or gig and carry it anywhere. Why have separate tools?

If Corvette made a car that could not be driven under 30mph, would you fix it, buy something else, or just call everyone pussies for driving too slow?

Would you modify a hammer to become an oscilloscope?

Pussies...

+10,000,000

 

[Pimmsley]

When did musicians stop being musicians ?
I never got that memo