Whats the best way to clean up hiss on High Gain amps like Marshalls

rockinangus

rockinangus

New member
I have a marshall tsl 100 with a 1960vintage bottom with vintage 30s, and i run a pedal board with my boss tuner, barber tone compressor, 535Q wah, ce-3 boss chorus, and bbe boosta grande. I get just a little more hiss on my lead channel when I'm not playing but i'd like to stay on the lead channel on some tunes, so when I have to rip a riff all I gotta do is turn my volume knob up, but I don't want to sit there with a bunch of hiss running through my PA. What's the best thing to use to clean up hiss and to gain more clean smooth, wet sounding tone. ( I think a delay would fix the wet tone, whats the best delay?)
 
Re: Whats the best way to clean up hiss on High Gain amps like Marshalls

Adding effects won't do a thing for the hiss...

Doe sthe hiss in questions exict if you plug straight in??

If is does then maybe a lower noise tube in the preamp will help but don;t expect night and day.

If the hiss goes away with no effects pedals in line then the hiss is comming from your pedal chain...look into the power supply first then check out all your patch cords.

I hate to say it but those TSLs are know for a lot of things and hiss is one of them...

If you want to add a delay then go for it but it won't do anything for the hiss except add to it.

Whicyh delay is best...it all depends on what you really want and need as well as what's in your price range...delay units come in all kinds of flavors and can range in price from $75 to over a grand...
 
Re: Whats the best way to clean up hiss on High Gain amps like Marshalls

thank you very much for the input and suggestions!
 
Re: Whats the best way to clean up hiss on High Gain amps like Marshalls

There is usually hiss associated with having a fairly FX chain before the amp. A noise suppressor of some kind at the end will fix it up.
 
Re: Whats the best way to clean up hiss on High Gain amps like Marshalls

Noise gate. Either at end of effects or in loop. Wasn't that easy! Get a good one.
 
Re: Whats the best way to clean up hiss on High Gain amps like Marshalls

No matter what the deal is a noise gate is only going to stop the hiss when you're not playing and in doing so it's really gonna choke off the tone as well...noise gate is a bad idea IMO.
 
Re: Whats the best way to clean up hiss on High Gain amps like Marshalls

I use a HUSH in the FX loop with my delay AFTER it so it doesn't get cut off......hiss is the nature of the beast in the high gain world.
 
Re: Whats the best way to clean up hiss on High Gain amps like Marshalls

yea I was thinking about a hush, I hate noise gates not a big fan of those, I wanted to know if there was a pedal of some sort, like the hush. It's only when im in the lead channel and not playing it has mor his, but I agree with the post above, its the nature of the beast
 
Re: Whats the best way to clean up hiss on High Gain amps like Marshalls

The key is to find the point at which the hiss begins, gate immediately afterwards, and, use sparingly.

But as was said - hiss is the nature of the high gain beast. Just like hum is the deal with single coils. If you are more focussed on the noise than the music, I'd say play better music.

As with all effects, it's how you use it. Lot's of dudes try to cut all the hiss - which is a) impossible and b) sounds like crap.

But you can definitely reduce the hiss while maintaining tone/sound.
 
Re: Whats the best way to clean up hiss on High Gain amps like Marshalls

Most any high gain will have hiss, some worse then others. With my 30+ year affinity for Marshall's I just have learned to deal with it. As stated previously, special low noise preamp tubes help but are not the end all. Noise gates are not really designed to deal with inherent amp noise

I will say the quietest amp I have ever owned is my new Framus Dragon, hiss is barely noticeable even at full volume unless I am in the lead channel with the gain and volume levels pinned. In any event, it still is quieter then my 900 SL-X's by a country mile. My 800 is also noisey when the volume is up, more so then the 900s

You get the good with the bad :naughty:
 
Re: Whats the best way to clean up hiss on High Gain amps like Marshalls

You could use a high pass filter. A parametric EQ can do it, just set the Q wide enough to cover the frequency range for the noise and then attenuate those frequencies.

I have an old Yamaha GEP-50 that I use the parametric EQ setting for that purpose since it has high/mid/low and low/hi pass filters.
 
Re: Whats the best way to clean up hiss on High Gain amps like Marshalls

Just learn to love the noise because there really isn't anything you can do about it. Some amps are noisier than others and noise gates simply aren't a cure-all. They'll help, but over time, I've found not worrying about it works the best (I've found noise gates to often cause more headaches than they're worth). YMMV.
 
Re: Whats the best way to clean up hiss on High Gain amps like Marshalls

idsnowdog said:
You could use a high pass filter. A parametric EQ can do it, just set the Q wide enough to cover the frequency range for the noise and then attenuate those frequencies.

I have an old Yamaha GEP-50 that I use the parametric EQ setting for that purpose since it has high/mid/low and low/hi pass filters.
Click to expand...

Actually, to attenuate higher frequencies like hiss, you would need a low pass filter.


Cheers..................................... wahwah
 
Re: Whats the best way to clean up hiss on High Gain amps like Marshalls

Laughing Kookaburra said:
Just a thought, do you think the audience even hears the hiss?
Click to expand...

Well crank up a high gain amp, play some stop start riffs, not only are people gonna hear hiss, but the feedback and squealing between each stop is going to make them cringe every time.
 
Re: Whats the best way to clean up hiss on High Gain amps like Marshalls

HughesJB4 said:
Well crank up a high gain amp, play some stop start riffs, not only are people gonna hear hiss, but the feedback and squealing between each stop is going to make them cringe every time.
Click to expand...

The white noise you get from a high gain amp is not that noticeable when playing shows.

If feedback and squealing is a problem then you might have a microphonic tube or have the gain set at a ridiculous level. If the amp absolutely needs to be set this way then you need a noise gate. I didn't like the NS-2 with my 5150 (tone coloring) but it does not affect the tone with my ENGL. Or you can get an ISP decimator which I hear is an excellent pedal.

Some amps are noisier than others but in my experience a noise gate will not remove hiss.
 
Re: Whats the best way to clean up hiss on High Gain amps like Marshalls

Well the hiss is not redicuously horrible, it's just in the lead channel like I said, and theres no feedback cause I just don't let that happen, unless im sustaining a note and getting feedback from a note. Just like if you go to a concert, the band just finished a song and theres no music being played, you NORMALLY don't hear the amps hiss at all.

Now heres a question..Through all my stuff I have I was looking through some snakes, splitters and mic cables that I had in my road case with my mics and I found an old whirlwind Direct Box, Now what do the Direct Box's do? I know they are used in to the studio to DI the bass, and I've seen bass players DI their bass live going through the board and out their rig. What is the function of the DI box supposed to do?
 
Re: Whats the best way to clean up hiss on High Gain amps like Marshalls

Noise gates suck if you are into subtle nuances in your playing. There are numerous ways to reduce hiss in an amp but it requires internal mods and *will* affect your tone. A lot has to do with the component quality in the amp itself and overall circuit design in the preamp stages. If you cram a bunch of pedals in front of your amp (as mentioned several times) you're definitely gonna add hiss and other crap to the signal if your gain stages are hot. What I have found is that amp designs that get all their gain in two or three stages end up having much more hiss than those that spread the gain over 4 or 5 stages. Keeping your fist stages in an amp mild in terms of gain with decent quality tubes and shielded grid connections (for tube amps) cuts the hiss a lot. Solid state amps with tons of hiss are due to component quality. The noise floor on most common transistors and op-amps is very high - so when a manufacturer uses those to cut costs, they also compromise the signal path.
That being said, you're probably not going to change the design of your amp so cutting back on some of your amp gain and using a quiet preamp pedal when you need the crunch may help.
 
Re: Whats the best way to clean up hiss on High Gain amps like Marshalls

thank you very much with the suggestions everyone! I don't use a lot of pedals, just a compressor and a boost once in awhile if I need it. Everything was helpful
 
Re: Whats the best way to clean up hiss on High Gain amps like Marshalls

Hey bro,

I'm using a Boss NS2 with my TSL602 and it works very well at eliminating that hiss. Once set correctly, my Boss doesn't rob any tone at all. The NS2 really helps recude the hiss to a more tolerable level. While some hiss is still present, its hardly noticeable now. I say a noise pedal is a must, especially if you play loud.
 
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