Noise Suppression pedal

[AdamBilz]

OK, I have a pretty big hiss coming from my amp (Mesa F-100) as soon as the distroted channel goes on, and it sucks big time for recording. Would a noise suppression pedal help? Do you guys know of anything else that would help? Thanks!
~Adam

[darren wilson]

Are you getting noise when you're playing, or is it just the hiss when you're not playing that's bothering you? If it's the former, you might have a shielding or grounding problem. If it's the latter, just use a noise gate.

[Drew]

another way to check- plug your cable into the amp, but not nto your gutiar. with the cable not touching anything, do you still ehar the same amount of hiss as when your guitar is plugged in? If so, the problem's in the cable or in the amp. If not, it's probably a grounding problem with the guitar.

You can try to unplug the cable from the amp, too, to see if it's the cable, but a lot of amps (my Marshall amongst them) mute the preamp when a cable's removed.

A certian amount of background noise is a given with a haigh-gain amplifier, though. Don't expect dead silence.

-D

[AdamBilz]

Thanks guys, I'll go hook 'er up and check these things out. If it is a ground issue, do I just need different cables?

[Drew]

no, a ground issue would be either in the guitar (pickups not properly grounded) or int he amp (amp not properly grounded). Of the two, the former is far more likely.

It's also possible the problem's in your preamp tubes, or in an inadequately shielded pickup cavity...

-D

[power freak]

Hiss could be a number of things. Including outside objects like flurescant lights, dimmer switchs on lighting, wall electricity e.t.c.

I would check the guitars shielding and cables first. Then gie the amp to somebody who knows what they are doing. Also if possible borrow a 'noise sniffer' whic you plug into the mains and shows a visible amount of noise that the wall is 'giving' out. There are also products that you can plug your amp into to improve noise (and any mains supply with nothing plugged in they produce noise too!!

Also internally in the amp come of the foil capacitors may be connected with the outer foil to somewhere of really high impedance . This is quite a pain to do (well for a tech!!!) and they might say it won't change anything, but it is a trick many 'audiophiles' have been using for many years.

Also check that sheilded wire is used for any long cable runs to pots e.t.c. And if the tubes are chassis mounted (not directly connected to a PCB directly) check that filament wires are twisted to ruduce any hum.

Freak

[Al M]

Hiss can be a problem with all high gain amps especially when recording. When im engineering in the studio i often just try and use a mild gate on the guitar, adn it usually sorts the prolem out as dar as the recording is concerned!