low humming noise from Mark I and IIC+

[jonathanccwong]

hey all, I was wondering if you guys have the same thing:

mark 1: when i turn on the power button, there is a low humming (with or without a guitar in it), when i flip the standby switch the humming gets louder

mark 2: when i flip the standby switch, the hum gets louder and turning the pots will increase the noise/hum

mark 5: more or less dead silent

 

[dodger916]

Have you tried switching the ground switch on the rear of the amp?

 

[jonathanccwong]

yes, in both of these cases it doesn't seem to prevent the humming,

but judging from your reply, this is not 'normal'

 

[dodger916]

Mine don't hum. I'm sure there are members here who will chime in with something useful.

 

[Boogiebabies]

Transformer hum and signal to noise / RF interference when on.Pretty normal, but some are quieter than others.
Make sure the foil in the top of the cap is there and the ground wire from the SUS mount is connected to one of the washers.

 

[Markedman]

Do you use a power conditioner?

 

[jonathanccwong]

only on gigs, at home i plug directly to the wall.

sorry for the vague description, perhaps i should upload a short video clip and show what i mean by hum..

 

[Boogiebabies]

only on gigs, at home i plug directly to the wall.

sorry for the vague description, perhaps i should upload a short video clip and show what i mean by hum..

Please make sure you and your guitar are at least 10 feet away from the amp and not near a lamp.

There is hum initially from the power transformer, then there is some white noise with no instrument plugged in.
With an instrument plugged in you will have some noise with the guitar volume down.

Also, for a 30-40 year old amp that has 50 yards of wiring is going to have more noise than a new Boogie amp with less than 1 yard of wiring. IIC's wiring technique varied from person to person upon construction, thus some are quieter than others. Keeping the pots and jacks clean and making sure the FX jacks are in good order goes a long way toward keeping the amp as quiet as possible.

This may sound contrite, but read the manual. It's on the Mesa website. If I see another worried video of IIC buyer freaked out by some white noise I may just go run around a field in a deer costume. Don't let the drama creep into your head. These amps are absolutely ferocious in the reliability department.

 

[jonathanccwong]

thanks for the info, I understand that older amps would be more susceptible to noise compared to a newer amp, just that I've never had an amp that is older than 10 years old (before the Mk 1 and 2) so I'm curious whether this is common.

but you are right, the C+ is a brilliant amp and honestly i don't think that i'll be having any reliability issues with it

 

[Boogiebabies]

MK V also has an aluminum chassis. Quiet as it can get and a ferrite bead after the input to ward off evil radio frequencies.

Just plug in and grin, but don't forget the glorious mid gain tones those amps can get.