Hey everyone! I just received a new Ampeg BA-210 amp. They are apparently known for their hissing/buzzing, and I had some interesting insights/questions.
Why would an amp hiss with the gain turned all the way down? This hiss is not the same kind of hiss that one would hear when turning up the treble (telltale "whoosh".) This is sounds more similar to a kind of high frequency arcing - imagine a transformer hum but in a much much higher frequency, or maybe an old lightbulb.
Through the headphone output, the hum is reduced when the "auxiliary input" knob is turned UP, and the noise reduction Increases the further I increase the gain on the auxiliary input. This seems kind of contradictory to what one would assume.
The buzzing is not affected, it seems, by the gain knob of the amp, which controls the instrument volume.
The buzz is not affected by any of the tone controls.
My mixer has a 3 band EQ with a 10Khz treble, Reducing treble levels 9DB noticeably reduces hum volume to more acceptable levels. This is via the Direct Out on the amp.
As stated above, The buzz makes its way through the Direct output into my mixer/DAW as well. Unlike the headphone output, adjusting the AUX input gain does not affect the hiss coming through the Direct XLR out. However, unplugging/plugging in a pair of headphones into the combo significantly effects the nature of the hiss/buzz (as it pertains to the XLR output). When headphones are connected, the buzz is more constant. With headphones Disconnected, the buzz can be heard at a much higher frequency, and is seemingly a lot less stable.
Here is another interesting find. With an instrument cable fully plugged into the FX return jack, if I plug in/remove the other end of the cable into the FX Send jack (kind of halfway in, halfway out, the buzz becomes barely audible.
Here is my thought - the Auxiliary Level Pot, the Auxiliary input, XLR Output, Headphone Jack, and FX Send/Return are all directly next to each other in terms of layout. Think there might be some kind of defect with the control/preamp section of the amp. Perhaps a stray bit of solder or a bad trace that is causing some kind of noise issue or grounding issue. I'm definitely interested in everyone thoughts.
Thanks,
Jake
Why would an amp hiss with the gain turned all the way down? This hiss is not the same kind of hiss that one would hear when turning up the treble (telltale "whoosh".) This is sounds more similar to a kind of high frequency arcing - imagine a transformer hum but in a much much higher frequency, or maybe an old lightbulb.
Through the headphone output, the hum is reduced when the "auxiliary input" knob is turned UP, and the noise reduction Increases the further I increase the gain on the auxiliary input. This seems kind of contradictory to what one would assume.
The buzzing is not affected, it seems, by the gain knob of the amp, which controls the instrument volume.
The buzz is not affected by any of the tone controls.
My mixer has a 3 band EQ with a 10Khz treble, Reducing treble levels 9DB noticeably reduces hum volume to more acceptable levels. This is via the Direct Out on the amp.
As stated above, The buzz makes its way through the Direct output into my mixer/DAW as well. Unlike the headphone output, adjusting the AUX input gain does not affect the hiss coming through the Direct XLR out. However, unplugging/plugging in a pair of headphones into the combo significantly effects the nature of the hiss/buzz (as it pertains to the XLR output). When headphones are connected, the buzz is more constant. With headphones Disconnected, the buzz can be heard at a much higher frequency, and is seemingly a lot less stable.
Here is another interesting find. With an instrument cable fully plugged into the FX return jack, if I plug in/remove the other end of the cable into the FX Send jack (kind of halfway in, halfway out, the buzz becomes barely audible.
Here is my thought - the Auxiliary Level Pot, the Auxiliary input, XLR Output, Headphone Jack, and FX Send/Return are all directly next to each other in terms of layout. Think there might be some kind of defect with the control/preamp section of the amp. Perhaps a stray bit of solder or a bad trace that is causing some kind of noise issue or grounding issue. I'm definitely interested in everyone thoughts.
Thanks,
Jake
