How Much Hiss is Reasonable? Mesa/Markbass

[Charlie Tuna]

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.

Did you try to reseat the tube? It may have moved a bit during shipping or not been installed fully during production.

 

[Tommy Sparks]

Pre amp tube? I know you just got it new but if you have the same tube laying around try it out. Over the years I’ve saw tubes do some crazy things.
Although I can’t remember if I ran across a hissing noise from a tube or not.
Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[ChrisB2]

All of my amps hiss. Even when they're unplugged. The cabinets hiss just sitting here. Heck, the kitchen table hisses. My pillow hisses.

Is it just me?

 

[jmattbassplaya]

Thanks everyone! I was able to return the amp last night without issue and ended up using some of the money I got back to take the missus out for dinner, which she appreciated

I didn’t try reseating the tube, but I also didn’t want to mess with the amp and potentially damage it by accident. Not sure if that may have been the underlying issue or not, but I guess we will never know.

 

[paskisti]

One thing comes to my mind about this case and GK 800 legacy hiss topic some weeks ago. Maybe both of these quality amps have nothing wrong, but manufacturers were forced to use alternative components here and there to continue production, and accept minor hiss. That may have been the only way to continue production and to avoid line stoppage. Now if you asked customer service if minor hiss is normal or not, answer would be "normal".

I don't know about these manufacturers but just guessing knowing the difficult times in past 2 years for electronics industry.

 

[1coil]

I was hearing a hiss when I played, but I traced it to this:

but seriously ( if possible ) I have the MB vintage amp same same and it doesn’t hiss. If you turn down the master to 0 and it still hisses at the same volume it’s coming from the power amp not the pre amp so it’s not the tube. Good call to return it.

 

[paskisti]

I was hearing a hiss when I played, but I traced it to this:

View attachment 5006327

but seriously ( if possible ) I have the MB vintage amp same same and it doesn’t hiss. If you turn down the master to 0 and it still hisses at the same volume it’s coming from the power amp not the pre amp so it’s not the tube. Good call to return it.

Did you have tweeter on? This can make difference too. And you are right source of hiss must be after the master volume control in this case.

 

[seamonkey]

All of my amps hiss. Even when they're unplugged. The cabinets hiss just sitting here. Heck, the kitchen table hisses. My pillow hisses.

Is it just me?

You probably got there from exposure to loud sounds
If your iPhone, iPad, or Macb, had anything to do with it.
Settings > Sounds & Haptics > Headphone Safety > Reduce Loud Sounds and pick a safe level

To mask the hiss
Settings > Accessibility > Audio/Visual > Background Sounds
Turn it on and pick a nice Rain or Ocean sound, and it'll mask out the hiss

 

[slagheap]

FWIW my D800 is dead quiet at all settings except for the more or less imperceptible fan noise.

 

[Midas]

A thing that I noticed with many Class D amps is that they do "digital sounds" from time to time. Trying out Markbass amp in the shop they do a "beep-beep" in a very high pitched sound sometimers. I always wonder, what is producing those things, surely it does not sound like anything that an amp should do, but as it seems to be a common thing on digital amps, I think you have to take them as they are..

 

[Geri O]

This is the most simple basic hiss-check one could ever do, yet it seems it’s never thought of when diagnosing noise issues….

Simply unplug everything from the amplifier and listen for noise. If it’s quiet, it’s not in the amp and in the signal chain.

Many years ago, we had a popular regional band come through with a Full Sail know-it-all grad for a FOH guy who insisted that our $65,000 Soundcraft mixing console had a noisy channel. A guitar channel. I simply went to the back of the desk (you had to walk around those things, there’s no reaching the back of it from the front) and unplugged the XLR from the guitar input channel. Instant dead quiet. I wish I could have grabbed a pic of his face. I said “now go up there and fix your guitar player’s noisy s**t”. He hesitated, so I said “come on, I’ll help”. All it took was changing one 1/4” cable on the guitar pedalboard, which I gave to the player, no charge. At least, the engineer has the decency to say “now I feel bad for blessing all all the PA guys before today over that!”

Trouble-shooting issues is sooooo easy with some common sense.

 

[Geri O]

A thing that I noticed with many Class D amps is that they do "digital sounds" from time to time. Trying out Markbass amp in the shop they do a "beep-beep" in a very high pitched sound sometimers. I always wonder, what is producing those things, surely it does not sound like anything that an amp should do, but as it seems to be a common thing on digital amps, I think you have to take them as they are..

I’ve had Ampeg SVT7Pros (really good amps) and Mesa WD800 amplifiers (favorite of all time for me) for several years now.

I play most every weekend.

Never. Ever. Have I heard any such noise from that or any Class D amp I’ve come across in backline use or production.

That noise might be particular to MarkBass, which wouldn’t surprise me at all.

 

[Phaidrus]

A thing that I noticed with many Class D amps is that they do "digital sounds" from time to time. Trying out Markbass amp in the shop they do a "beep-beep" in a very high pitched sound sometimers. I always wonder, what is producing those things, surely it does not sound like anything that an amp should do, but as it seems to be a common thing on digital amps, I think you have to take them as they are..

Never noticed any such odd "digital sounds" coming out of my Markbass Little Mark Vintage amp. And I play a couple of hours every day, pretty much.

 

[Phaidrus]

That noise might be particular to MarkBass, which wouldn’t surprise me at all.

There's no such noise "particular to MarkBass". Occasionally there's Markbass bashing, it seems.

 

[Cave Puppy]

One thing comes to my mind about this case and GK 800 legacy hiss topic some weeks ago. Maybe both of these quality amps have nothing wrong, but manufacturers were forced to use alternative components here and there to continue production, and accept minor hiss. That may have been the only way to continue production and to avoid line stoppage. Now if you asked customer service if minor hiss is normal or not, answer would be "normal".

I don't know about these manufacturers but just guessing knowing the difficult times in past 2 years for electronics industry.

I quickly returned a GK combo amp for its bad hiss heard in headphones (my primary use case for it). I heard no hiss from the speaker but I wanted to use it primarily with headphones.

 

[agedhorse]

A thing that I noticed with many Class D amps is that they do "digital sounds" from time to time. Trying out Markbass amp in the shop they do a "beep-beep" in a very high pitched sound sometimers. I always wonder, what is producing those things, surely it does not sound like anything that an amp should do, but as it seems to be a common thing on digital amps, I think you have to take them as they are..

First of all, class D amps are NOT digital amps.

Second, I have been working with and designing with class D technology for almost 20 years and have never heard what you describe from one.

 

[Geri O]

There's no such noise "particular to MarkBass". Occasionally there's Markbass bashing, it seems.

Can't argue with that. Especially the bashing.

 

[Phaidrus]

Can't argue with that. Especially the bashing.

Looks like a traumatic experience from the past that hasn't healed.

 

[Geri O]

Looks like a traumatic experience from the past that hasn't healed.

In my case, thank goodness for Medi-Care….

 

[Phaidrus]

In my case, thank goodness for Medi-Care….