Unwanted Hiss

[lucky]

My Girlfriend has bought me an Ampeg BA-115 combo for Christmas,so on Saturday i was trying one out getting ready for when i get mine and the hiss on the amp was annoying.When i get mine is it possible to disconnect the 1" speaker without affecting the sound of the combo.

Also does anyone have some ideas on settings for a Squire-ish or good Ric sound.

[doctorwho]

Hmmm ... I have a BA-115 that we use at practice with a non-RIC bass, and I don't recall any hiss ... and I have taken a Rick to practice at times and don't remember there being a hiss problem then, too. Maybe I'll take one of my Ricks with me to practice tomorrow and see whether I can reproduce the problem. Do you remember what settings you were using on it?

[lucky]

Yes doctorwho,i was using the settings that Elys on the Chris Squire/Yes section said that Chris used on his Sunn amps so this is what i tried to replicate:

Vol = 6
Bass = 4
Mid = 5
treb = 10
Style selector = 4

Now i know that Chris used Valve amps & 4x12 cabs etc,and mine is a 1x15 combo but i would like to get a good Ric sound.I have just read some reviews on Musicians Friend about this combo & the hiss is mentioned.

[jps]

treb = 10

Maybe that is your problem.

[lucky]

Hello Jeff,any other time i would agree but even at lower levels there was still a hiss.I have been looking at reviews people have written about the BA115,and a few have mentioned this hissing problem.Maybe it's one of those things with this combo,but either way i'm looking forward to getting it.

[wints]

Hiss is a factor on most of these amps. Mine has a little of it and it's fairly well known and documented.

[jps]

Does the hiss go away when you turn the treble down? If so, you are just emphasising the electronic hiss of the amp when the treble is cranked up. Most amps with tweeters tend to highlight this, which is one of the reasons I see no place for a tweeter or horn in a bass amp.

[cheyenne]

Im not a big fan of horns or tweeters in my bass cabs, at least in any applications that I have encountered.

There is usually an attenuator on the back where you can adjust, or just turn off the horn / tweeter.

I agree with Jeff, treble on 10 will definately tend to be a little "hissy," although I'm not experienced with this particular amp.

Try backing off the treble some on your amp, and then roll back the neck pickup volume on your Rick just a bit. This may give you your desired tone with less "hiss".

[lucky]

Morning Gentlemen,The BA115 does seem to have a history of hiss going by what i have read from various websites.I think that when i get mine i will disconnect the 1" speaker,having the treble up so high on a combo is also maybe not the best thing to do.

I was trying to get a good Squire-ish sound and still am,so any advice would be great as even though these amps are now made outside the USA,it still sounds good and i'm glad that my girlfriend has bought me one for Christmas.

Now if i can just talk her into getting me a V63 or CS for Valentines day.

[jps]

Get the CS, you might not sound like him but you will look like...

[lucky]

Yes the CS would be the one i'd want,i guess i could say that as i use the same Herco picks and the same Rotosound strings as Mr.Squire, that it would only be right to have the same bass to complete the effect.

YEAH RIGHT who am i kidding,i don't think i could be that lucky.

[teb]

I use the horn on my bass cab all the time (Traynor YBX1510)....It has the cleanest, brightest, most sparkling, knock-your-sox-off tone of any amp I've ever seen... for my Rickenbacker twelve-strings! When I plug a bass into the same amp, the horn seems totally worthless and I usually roll it all the way off. As far as I can hear, all it adds is finger noise, fret noise and hiss. I have no clue why the manufacturers think a horn that boosts the frequency response up into the 15,000-20,000 Hz range is needed on a bass cab when most of their regular guitar speakers and cabinets only go up about half that far. I'm actually toying with the idea of adding a similar horn to a couple of my guitar amps so that they'll sound better with the twelves, but on a bass amp I suspect that if you can safely disconnect the horn, you'll never miss it.

[jps]

Chris Squire didn't need a horn to get his sound.

[rickenbrother]

I've never liked horns or tweeters in bass cabs either. I always have them off in my cabs that have them. Speaker cab manufacturers should have an option for a cab to have a tweeter or not. It would save a few bucks for the bassist who doesn't want them. Aguilar makes cabs with the NT (no tweeter option).

[rickboy88]

Scott (I think it was Scott) was on the right track I think. Try and do as much as you can with the bass sound at the bass itself, then as a 2nd step adjust the amp equalization. I may be odd, but I'll have the bridge pickup full on with max treble, then change the sound by adjusting the neck pickup volume to bring in more or less low end. I always use both pickups with the 4001 series basses, but usually use only one of them on the 2030.

I have lots of bass roll-off though on my early 80's 4001S and '98 4003 bridge pickups, as my 4001S is stock with one .0047 uF capacitor (great sounding "crystaline" bridge pickup!) and the 4003 has two series .0047 uF caps, for half the total capacitance - although I might tweak this down the line. I've always thought that the 4000 series has more tonal adjustment with the "vintage tone" cap installed.

To summarize, I blend the sound more on the bass than the amp with only slight tweaks off zero on the amp.

I'm not writing "do as I do", but more just throwing this out as technique to try.