Mark IV Volume level + Hearing loss!

[Nick_cor]

Hey, I think I might be suffering hearing loss! When I first got the amp the first thing that amazed me was the tone and the volume level.

I would never dare to turn it up past volume 3 unless people weren't at home, but now it seems I have to turn it up to 5 - 7 on the master volume to get the same level of volume that I once recalled. My volume settings have been low for each channel, but they are similar to the settings I had on the amp before I noticed the volume decrease.

I can come up with 3 solutions,

1. I have suffered hearing loss - somewhat doubt that, I've always listened to music real low before I goto sleep and I can still hear at that same level today. Maybe i'm losing my hearing in the sense that, certain frequeinces are harder to hear to my ear.

2. New power tubes?

3. I've gotten used to how loud the amp is.

Any thoughts on this would be really appreciated, If the case is I'm losing my hearing then I would not want to worsen the condition, the last thing I wanna do is end up with a kick butt amp and not be able to appreciate it!

 

[SeasonOfPain]

I'm assuming you wear ear plugs when you play loudly?

I didn't notice a time span mentioned. How long have you had the amp and how many hours a day have you been playing/cranking it? I'd suspect 2 before the others; hearing loss is usually in the upper frequency, not in the mid-regions that a guitar amp typically reproduces, and while the Mark's volume increase flattens out after you increase the main past a certain point, the difference between 5-7 and 3 is still pretty major.

I haven't noticed anything like this on my 18-month-old Mark IV, but I re-tubed with Eurotubes high-gain kit about six months ago.

 

[Nick_cor]

Hey, I think I've had this amp for about 2 months. I don't wear earplugs, though that's a good idea and I normally play for 1 - 2 hours a day WITH the amp and at band band rehersals when we play for 5hr + that's when I really crank it, which is once a week, and sometimes i'll crank it on a sunday if i'm lucky.

 

[t0aj15]

Hey, I think I might be suffering hearing loss! When I first got the amp the first thing that amazed me was the tone and the volume level. I would never dare to turn it up past volume 3 unless people weren't at home, but now it seems I have to turn it up to 5 - 7 on the master volume to get the same level of volume that I once recalled. My volume settings have been low for each channel, but they are similar to the settings I had on the amp before I noticed the volume decrease.
I can come up with 3 solutions,
1. I have suffered hearing loss - somewhat doubt that, I've always listened to music real low before I goto sleep and I can still hear at that same level today. Maybe i'm losing my hearing in the sense that, certain frequeinces are harder to hear to my ear.
2. New power tubes?
3. I've gotten used to how loud the amp is.
Any thoughts on this would be really appreciated, If the case is I'm losing my hearing then I would not want to worsen the condition, the last thing I wanna do is end up with a kick butt amp and not be able to appreciate it!

4. All the above. :lol:

 

[Nick_cor]

.....thanks

 

[jamme61]

make sure all the power tubes are lit and make sure you didn't switch it to class A power or tweed power. Maybe two of your power tubes gave it up. Also you could change the phase inverter preamp tube(V5 ) it's the lone 12ax7 closest to you when you look at the back of the amp. Don't forget to check your guitar out and cables.

 

[Nick_cor]

make sure all the power tubes are lit and make sure you didn't switch it to class A power or tweed power. Maybe two of your power tubes gave it up. Also you could change the phase inverter preamp tube(V5 ) it's the lone 12ax7 closest to you when you look at the back of the amp. Don't forget to check your guitar out and cables.

Thank you for your tip, I know all the powertubes are lit and when I switch to tweed power or full power I don't hear difference.
Same with the class A and simu-class ,which is really weird because when i first changed these I noticed a huge volume increase on full power and i noticed a huge tone change in simuclass, :?

 

[verity38]

it could be powerloss from the amp also..keep that in mind.

 

[Nick_cor]

it could be powerloss from the amp also..keep that in mind.

What do you mean by powerloss from the amp? how would i fix this problem?

 

[newtomesa]

you should PROBABLY wear earplugs

New power tubes sounds like a good idea, even if all the tubes light up, this doesn't mean one or more of them aren't working 100%. Good luck!

 

[Xqzdust]

My ears ring all the time! if this happens to you, you have hearing damage. another sympton is problems hearing human speech when you have background noise. Hearing loss due to exposure to loud noises of any kind will manifest itself in losses in the frequency range of human speech(around 1k to 2k). If you notice problems understanding people on the phone you should be concerned. If you notice a ringing in your ears after a gig you are damaging your hearing and should take steps to protect it. You cannot fix it after it's gone.
Yeah I know I sound a little preachy but I have experienced tinnitus and you really don't want it.

 

[highroller]

I'm also experiencing a major power loss with my mark IV. Also, the presence pull-shift does not have any effect anymore. I tried a new set of tubes and connected a preamp directly into my fx return without any success.

I crank the amp to 10 and the sound is very low. I can see a small difference when switching Tweed/Full power vs Simul/Class A but still have very low sound.

Someone suggested that it may be an effect-loop problem so I will have to investigate further in that direction.

My post here : http://forum.grailtone.com/viewtopic.php?t=7918

Dom
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[rippingrudy]

Nick,

It's Chris - I sold you the G-flex.

I have suffered major hearing loss over the years and I'm still relatively young. When I was your age I never wore ear plugs and played hundreds of gigs without them. I would give my left nut right now to go back in time and wear earplugs at every rehearsal and gig I did.

You can invest some money and get professional earplugs that make the sound quieter without losing the high end.

BTW, it's the drummer's cymbals and snare that do the most damage - Also the vocals if they are pumped through the monitor.

Bottom line - Wear earplugs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rant over. haha :evil:

 

[Nick_cor]

Hey Chris, good to hear from you man, yeah, i think the next thing to do is buy some earplugs, what's the point in having such sweeet stuff if you can't really appreciate it, heh IT'S ALL BECAUSE OF YOUR G FLEX, jks! anyways if your ever doing in around , send me a email, we'll jam with our cool new mesas! i just picked up a Studio pre btw!

 

[rtdmusic]

Is there any help for this kind of hearing damage. My ears have ringing all the time for the past 15 years. Is it reversable

 

[Nick_cor]

yeah, you can wear earplugs , that's what I started to do.

 

[ursinus]

The rest of the guys used to make fun of me because I always wore earplugs, but 15 years later, I can still hear things they can't. My old drummer has trouble sleeping because of tinnitis (his ears ring all the time). Protect yourself from now on.... You want to be able to hear beautiful amp tones when you are old, trust me...