Fender amp sanity check question...

[Threesaddle]

I have a very specific but impractical question that's bugging me, would appreciate if anyone with more experience could chime in. Without anything plugged in, and volume set loud but still clean, can you hear any kind of noise from your amp from 5 feet away? If so, is this typical of tube amps?

I ask because with my super reverb at 4, I can hear a faint "shhh" from across my living room when things are quiet (I know, why does that matter? I wish I knew...) and wonder if it needs to get checked out by a tech. Thanks all for your knowledge and help!

 

[Ronno25]

Hiss is completely normal. I wouldn't think twice about this. All my tube amps have some hiss. The vintage ones have A LOT of hiss.

 

[corliss1]

Each person has their own tolerance for hiss and noise. I HATE it. I'm going to disagree with the above poster and say that most (most, not all, most, see that word there, most) vintage Fenders should be able to be pretty darn hiss-free after they've been gone through by a decent tech. I find some of the black/silverface Bassman's to be generally noisier since there is a lot more gain there, but any _____ Reverb amp can be pretty much silent.

A faint whooshing noise with the volume on 4 is no big deal. 4 is still quite a bit of volume from a Super Reverb.

 

[39martind18]

Hiss is completely normal. I wouldn't think twice about this. All my tube amps have some hiss. The vintage ones have A LOT of hiss.

And all this time I thought it was my audiences hissing at my playing!

 

[Threesaddle]

Hiss is completely normal. I wouldn't think twice about this. All my tube amps have some hiss. The vintage ones have A LOT of hiss.

Awesome. Gonna sleep well tonight haha (partially kidding). Thanks!

 

[Threesaddle]

Each person has their own tolerance for hiss and noise. I HATE it. I'm going to disagree with the above poster and say that most (most, not all, most, see that word there, most) vintage Fenders should be able to be pretty darn hiss-free after they've been gone through by a decent tech. I find some of the black/silverface Bassman's to be generally noisier since there is a lot more gain there, but any _____ Reverb amp can be pretty much silent.

A faint whooshing noise with the volume on 4 is no big deal. 4 is still quite a bit of volume from a Super Reverb.

Also love to hear this side of things. I also get sensitive about hiss, as evident by posting this thread. So to clarify.. since you wouldn't consider the faint whoosh at 4 to be an issue, i'm guessing the hiss you mention in the first part of your post refers to something more obnoxious/serious?

 

[Ronno25]

I should mention that I play most of my amps on 10. The higher the volume the louder the hiss. At 1-2 volume you wouldn't hear much if any hiss. At 4 you would hear a bit. Once you get cooking at 6 or 7 you're getting a fair amount. At 10 it's hiss madness. If your amp has carbon composition resistors you will get considerably more than if your amp uses metal film resistors.

 

[uriah1]

I have so much tinnituts I couldnt tell if all my amps were on or off.

 

[corliss1]

@Threesaddle - if the amp is on, and volume control is down, and there's still hiss, that tells me something could be up. What you're describing is likely very normal.