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Problem w/ Ampeg BA115

srxplayer

srxplayer

May 19, 2004
3,380
94
Highland, CA
#1
My wife got me one of these for my birthday yesterday. I pluged it in and it noticed that there is a lot of noise generated by this amp by the tweeter at zero volume. There is a lot of hiss comming from this thing. I turned down the gain, highs, and messed around with the EQ settings to get it to go away. It's really annoying. I know tweeters can do this but I have never heard one this bad.

I love the tone that these little combos produce and want to use it for jam sessions, practice and recording but I'm concerned about the noise. I never noticed the hiss on other BA115's that I have played but today I went to GC and played one and noticed the hiss this time. It doesn't seem as bad as mine but GC is a "mad house" right now so I couldn't tell how bad it was.

Is this normal on these little ampegs? Or did I just get a bad one.

I don't have this problem on my SWR Workingman 15 and even my cheap little Ibanez SW65 unless the volume is turned 1/2 way up..

Any insite would be appreciated.
 
#2
FWIW:

don't know about the Ampeg in particular but it's pretty typical for combo's to generate hiss with the tweeter on or high frequencies boosted. Not a problem when playing with a band but probably an issue with recording. There's been some good TB threads on tweeters and replacement options.
 
#5
You may have one w/ an issue. I have a BA-115 and I've never had a hiss problem at all. If you got it at Guitar Center my experience is they are great about returns. I'd pick a slow time like right when they open and take yours in and compare it to any others in stock. You'll know then. Excellent little amp by the way!
R
 
#11
I can deal with a little hiss. I know that is what tweeters do but this thing had other problems too so I took it back.

Speaker sounded horrible. Started distorting at low volume levels on the open E and it started cutting out. I must have got one built on Friday afternoon or a Monday morning. It happens so I'm not sweating it.

Funny thing is my cheapo Ibanez SW65 hardly hisses at all unless it it turned way up and my SWR does it just past 1/2 way.

The info is really appreciated though, and any other info or experiences that fellow TB'ers have on using this amp is welcome.
 
#12
I had a BA-115, and it hissed too. That annoyed me. I did some research (but too late!), and also checked some other of the same model at GC, and they all do that, like you can also see here. It seems that people either 'forget' about this, or don't like their amp, but the noise is always there.

I sold it after a few months.

I contacted Ampeg via E-mail, but never got any response. That pretty much discourage me of buying any of their product now.
 
#13
HotRoded said:
I contacted Ampeg via E-mail, but never got any response. That pretty much discourage me of buying any of their product now.
Click to expand...

Sorry to hear that......inquiries are supposed to get answered quickly.

You mentioned you "emailed Ampeg"?

Did you email at the info email address on the website, or elsewhere?

I understand there were some problems with the website email for a while, but I think they have been all sorted out now. You may have gotten caught in that.

If you emailed to me via the board, I don't recall it.
 
#14
Ampeg Insider said:
Sorry to hear that......inquiries are supposed to get answered quickly.

You mentioned you "emailed Ampeg"?

Did you email at the info email address on the website, or elsewhere?

I understand there were some problems with the website email for a while, but I think they have been all sorted out now. You may have gotten caught in that.

If you emailed to me via the board, I don't recall it.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your response Jerrold, I appreciate that.

To be honest, I don't remember how I emailed Ampeg/you, that was between one year and 18 months ago. I remember at the time, I checked on the forum you have on your web site about this hissing noise mentioned in this thread, and this is when I decided to contact you.

Thanks again.
 
#15
Sometimes my BA115SP hisses, but is usually turns out to be a setting or something. Maybe I've got the effects level jacked up WAY too high or something. Aside from the Volume, check the LEVEL setting...

I generally keep both Volume AND Level set around 5, & generally don't get any hiss.
 
#17
Can you tell what Ampeg's response is to the complaints about the BA115's hiss? Have they fixed it, plan to fix it ect? I think they would be a great seller other than that. Besides myself, two other people also returned BA115's at my local shop. I am sure that corners need to be cut to keep the prices down, but could they cut another corner?
 
#18
Well, there is a model with a tweeter attenuator. Obviously that allows control of the tweeter. With tweeters and wider bandwidth comes the potential for more noise. So it is a result of an added feature, not so much of cutting corners......

I have bugged people about the noise, but there probably would not be a "mod", or "fix". I understand that is more likely something that would happen at the same time as a full update of the unit to a revised model at some point.
 
#19
I have found many uses for mine. I suggest that anyone that has one of these, turn down the highs until the hiss is gone and that's your max setting.

If I had any input on a redesign it would be to add some handles. And find some way to stop it from rolling when I hit the brakes.
 

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