White Noise through Hartke LH500 - HELP?

[ScottB.]

So I finally got my new head today, which means no more playing through my brothers Behringer combo

I absolutely love it, but one thing I have noticed is that I get quite a bit of grainy white-noise coming through as well. Ive tried two different basses as well as a guitar, and a different cable. And I'm still getting the noise.

Is there any way I can fix it? Do I need a noise gate?

 

[ScottB.]

bump

 

[David1234]

Noise gates don't do all that much if the noise is coming in the amp.

This might not fix your problem but try adjusting your gain (input volume) up a lot and the output volume (or master volume) down by an equal amount. You should get the same amount of musical loudness out of the amp but with reduced hiss. This is normal practice. The only down side is if you go too far and start to get distortion - if that happens back off very slightly.

good luck!

PS - have your bass's volume on full, too.

 

[ScottB.]

The amp only has one volume, ie no gain control

 

[David1234]

Well that's gonna make things harder!

Is the noise a level that's acceptable for a 500 watt amp turned up but not for a 500 watt amp turned down?

 

[David1234]

(you could simulate a master volume by putting something with a volume control in the fx loop, but that's a bit of a dodge)

 

[MingusBass]

That's not normal, call your dealer.

 

[roflol]

Noise gates don't do all that much if the noise is coming in the amp.

This might not fix your problem but try adjusting your gain (input volume) up a lot and the output volume (or master volume) down by an equal amount. You should get the same amount of musical loudness out of the amp but with reduced hiss. This is normal practice. The only down side is if you go too far and start to get distortion - if that happens back off very slightly.

good luck!

PS - have your bass's volume on full, too.

you wanna turn the master up and the gain down to get rid of hiss

 

[David1234]

you wanna turn the master up and the gain down to get rid of hiss

... Nup. Not if the hiss comes from the preamp you don't. If you're trying to reduce distortion then gain down master up, if you're trying to reduce noise then gain up master down.