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How Much Hiss is Reasonable? Mesa/Markbass

jmattbassplaya

jmattbassplaya

Supporting Member
Jan 13, 2008
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#1
Video added in post #4.

I’m currently the owner of two bass amplifiers: a Mesa Subway D800 and a Markbass Little Mark Vintage.

I picked up the Markbass just yesterday from Guitar Center. Overall, I’m loving the compact size, the EQ, the look, and the quick dial settings it comes with. What I don’t care for is the constant hiss it produces.

When running my Mesa through my cab (Markbass 104 Pure), the only noise you hear in the room is the fan of the amp. You have to start cranking either the master or the treble pretty high to start introducing hiss to the signal.

By comparison, the Markbass produces hiss even when the master volume or gain is completely off, and when you start to crank either the treble or the master it gets escalated rather quickly.

My Marshall DSL40 (guitar combo) hums a bit as well, but it’s also an all tube amp so I kind of expect that. The Markbass is a hybrid with a single tube preamp. A few questions:

1. Is this normal/reasonable or might it hint towards a potential issue? If it is normal, any thoughts on how much hiss reasonable?

2. Are certain designs more prone to hiss/hum (tube vs solid state)? Is it fair to assume better designs should be able to mostly eliminate hiss or hum, or is it the nature of the game?

Full transparency, I’ve been out of the game of amps and cabs for awhile now and was looking to get something new as a little motivation towards getting back in a band and gigging. I really don’t remember how normal this is, but the comparison between the Mesa and the Markbass stood out to me.
 
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#2
It's not the tube. There should be no hiss at all. I had a LM Vintage that I just sold last week. It's a great amp for deep vintage and MarkBass tones. It should not be hissing at all. That was a dead quiet amp. The only time I ever noticed a hiss was when I added a noisy compressor. There must be a problem somewhere in the amp. I would take it back and ask them to fix it or get a refund and look for a replacement. Also, FWIW, I have a Mesa TT-800. Another dead-quiet amp; no hiss.
 
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#3
75Ric said:
It's not the tube. There should be no hiss at all. I had a LM Vintage that I just sold last week. It's a great amp for deep vintage and MarkBass tones. It should not be hissing at all. That was a dead quiet amp. The only time I ever noticed a hiss was when I added a noisy compressor. There must be a problem somewhere in the amp. I would take it back and ask them to fix it or get a refund and look for a replacement. Also, FWIW, I have a Mesa TT-800. Another dead-quiet amp; no hiss.
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Good to hear from a previous owner. I may try the amp through another outlet or two in the house just to see if that may have something to do with it. Then again, the Mesa is dead quiet at the same volumes and going through the same power.
 
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#4
Took a video to help show off the differences between the two heads. Both heads set to flat EQs:



149C6279-D15F-4E8D-8C69-EBBE80D26589.jpeg
 
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#6
arbiterusa said:
I've had both a Markbass 800 and a Big Bang and they were absolutely dead silent. I'd return it.
Click to expand...

I had two different LMIII heads, and both were very quiet as well from what I can recall. Wasn’t sure if the tube pre added something to the mix, but it sounds like 75ric had no issues with his.

Ugh - guess I need to plan a trip back to GC to return this one. It’s a shame because I do like the amp, but I’m also swamped with family issues to the point where I don’t think it’s worth the hassle of trying to get them to repair it.
 
#8
Tubes are, by their nature, a bit more hissy than the best solid state devices when it comes to preamps - particularly in the first amplification stage. That said, they can be very good, and if it's just one tube in a preamp that's otherwise solid state, you can put a bit of gain from a carefully designed solid state stage before the tube, and make the hiss of the tube stage a complete non issue.

Tubes gear doesn't need to hum itself either - the ways that hum gets into tube gear are things that you can design out of them, if you spend the time doing things right. On a lot of of old Fender amps, if you take the ground wires, and connect them in a star configuration to the right place (often the power transformer's shield connection), you can banish the hum from the amp to the point where it just isn't audible.
 
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#12
Thumpin6string said:
If you bought the amp new, I'd exchange it. If you bought it used, you can try a patch cable between the effects send and return. If it goes away, it's just dirty jacks. If not, you have an issue somewhere else in the amp.
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I’ll give that a shot. I did buy it new so returning it shouldn’t be an issue. I picked it up just yesterday and didn’t notice any hissing at GC, but that’s also not the quietest place to try out gear. It’s possible it was hissing there and I just didn’t notice it.
 
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#13
Bass heads aren't designed for quiet rooms. And some people hear hiss more than other people. If, at playing level, they don't sound excessively distorted, they are probably fine.

Bring an air purifier or box fan into the room to mask the hiss.

Try taking them back. Take it into one of the sound booths if you guitar center has them.
 
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#20
DrThumpenstein said:
You should see what happens when they get into a few magnums of the communion wine!
View attachment 5005599
I had a Markbass Big Bang, and it was dead quiet. Very clean, transparent, loud amp. With those comments about other Markbass heads, it sounds like it might be worth returning.
Click to expand...

Yikes! :roflmao:

I’ll be returning the head today. I appreciate everyone chiming in and helping!
 
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