White noise from a idle 5e3 clone

flatpickinfool · May 14th, 2008, 05:34 PM

Just received the the amp today,don't have a guitar to play yet

It's a hissy,white noise that comes thru V 3&4. Just past the 2 on the volume and it really stars to get noisy. V 1&2 also have it but at a lower level. I tried loading it down with an old Acoustic guitar stick on pickup and still have noise. This builder is highly respected and so I'm sure the building of the amp was fine. Could it be that this is a normal part of having tubes? If so I'm not sure I can live with the noise. Thanks in advance.

DrewB · May 14th, 2008, 08:13 PM

This is a brand-new amp? I wonder if it wouldn't benefit from some shielded wire to the grids of the preamp tubes. My other guess would be a flaky electrolytic...

JohnnyCrash · May 14th, 2008, 11:22 PM

"V 3&4"? What is that?

If you're meaning the inputs, two of them will be lower sensitivity, so that may explain the less noise there.

As far as the noise itself, it could be normal operating noise, but it would help if you could plug a guitar into it and describe the loudness and character of the noise a bit more.

Scott S · May 15th, 2008, 02:12 AM

My guess is that once you have a guitar plugged in, you'll be surprised at how much signal there is when the volume knob is on "2". I thought my 5E7 was hissy when I first powered it on, but it fills a room at "1" and is pretty loud by "2"!

- Scott

May 14th, 2008, 05:34 PM	#1 (permalink)
flatpickinfool TDPRI Member Join Date: May 2008 Location: cape cod Age: 55 Posts: 13	White noise from a idle 5e3 clone Just received the the amp today,don't have a guitar to play yet It's a hissy,white noise that comes thru V 3&4. Just past the 2 on the volume and it really stars to get noisy. V 1&2 also have it but at a lower level. I tried loading it down with an old Acoustic guitar stick on pickup and still have noise. This builder is highly respected and so I'm sure the building of the amp was fine. Could it be that this is a normal part of having tubes? If so I'm not sure I can live with the noise. Thanks in advance.

May 14th, 2008, 08:13 PM	#2 (permalink)
DrewB Tele-Holic Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Independence, MO Posts: 856	This is a brand-new amp? I wonder if it wouldn't benefit from some shielded wire to the grids of the preamp tubes. My other guess would be a flaky electrolytic... __________________ There is no substitute for Sound Pressure Level

May 14th, 2008, 11:22 PM	#3 (permalink)
JohnnyCrash Poster Extraordinaire Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Lost Angeles and Orange County Posts: 6,976 39 Photos	"V 3&4"? What is that? If you're meaning the inputs, two of them will be lower sensitivity, so that may explain the less noise there. As far as the noise itself, it could be normal operating noise, but it would help if you could plug a guitar into it and describe the loudness and character of the noise a bit more.

May 15th, 2008, 02:12 AM	#4 (permalink)
Scott S Tele-Afflicted Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: SW CR IA US NA PE Age: 27 Posts: 1,162	My guess is that once you have a guitar plugged in, you'll be surprised at how much signal there is when the volume knob is on "2". I thought my 5E7 was hissy when I first powered it on, but it fills a room at "1" and is pretty loud by "2"! - Scott