Mesa Mark V Hissing problems in Channel 3

[scubasteve319]

Hey everyone! This is my first post on the boogie board and everyone seems to have a solution for everyones problem so i thought I'd give it a go also

I bought my Mark V not more than 2 weeks ago and it was used from a guy who had his hands crushed in a car accident. Sad but beneficial to me. Anyways when I play on the third channel I get a rediculous amount of hiss from the amp when i have my guitar muted. I have a Schecter C-1 Hellraiser (main jammer) with EMG 81-85 config. I only have my gain set to about 3 oclock which is plenty of gain for my metal purposes. I cannot seem to even defeat the hiss by reducing the gain down to 12 oclock or lower (which becomes too choppy for metal music).

I do own a Boss NS-2 Suppressor in which I have had no problems with on my previous amp. I have tried a couple different configurations with my Mark V such as:
Guitar > NS-2 > Amp Input
Guitar > Amp Input > FX Send > NS-2 Input > NS - 2 Output > FX Return
And the "X" Method of the NS-2


I have been wondering if my Pre-Amp tubes are ok or not because I have heard that the Mark V should not be hissy at all if everything is in proper order... I'm not sure where to turn because I don't want to dump a bunch of money into new tubes/suppressor if not needed...

Thanks again for your help and I look forward to hearing replies!
Steve

 

[BostonRedSox]

The Mark V I played at GC and at a local music shop was hissy if I used the Extreme mode.

 

[KH Guitar Freak]

Gain at 3 o'clock is quite high though. Have you tried bringing up the treble to give you more gain than just having the gain up by itself???

 

[MusicManJP6]

Hmmm, no hiss AT ALL with mine at any gain setting.

 

[scubasteve319]

Thank you all for the fast replies, I am still very new to the mark v and will try the increase in treble. I am searching for the lamb of god sound with my v and it's been an adventure haha! Adam claims that his mark v has no hiss at all and I've read similar online and I wanted to make sure it wasn't a preamplifier tube or something else, I am also having a problem wiring my boss ns2 suppressor through the effects loop... Anyone know if the boss ns2 is anygood on the mark v?? It is dramatically decreasing my volume and I can't seem to get it working well.

Thanks again everyone!
Cheers, Steve

 

[KH Guitar Freak]

Thank you all for the fast replies, I am still very new to the mark v and will try the increase in treble. I am searching for the lamb of god sound with my v and it's been an adventure haha! Adam claims that his mark v has no hiss at all and I've read similar online and I wanted to make sure it wasn't a preamplifier tube or something else, I am also having a problem wiring my boss ns2 suppressor through the effects loop... Anyone know if the boss ns2 is anygood on the mark v?? It is dramatically decreasing my volume and I can't seem to get it working well.

Thanks again everyone!
Cheers, Steve

Have you tried using a different power outlet, or even perhaps run your amp through a power conditioner???

 

[scubasteve319]

Have you tried using a different power outlet, or even perhaps run your amp through a power conditioner???

I have not tried a different outlet but the room I have my amp in was just recently finished (basement) so I am in a new room with new outlets... but I will try another outlet and compare the results!

As far as the power conditioner goes I'm not 100% sure what one is or where to get one. I assume it helps produce a pure 120v outlet like a power supply or somesort.

Thanks again guys hope to hear from more of you,
Steven

 

[MusicManJP6]

You don't need an increase in treble. Sounds like you need a decrease. Play with the last two sliders of the GEQ. Keep them fairly low as well as presence. More volume = less treble and gain.

 

[Chester]

Hmmm, no hiss AT ALL with mine at any gain setting.

Same here

Sounds like a preamp tube issue to me

 

[BostonRedSox]

I'm surprised some of you have gotten zero noise when using Extreme mode at high volumes and with a decent amount of gain. That mode is noisy every time I've played it. Mesa's own video of that mode is also hissy/noisy as well.

http://mesaboogie.com/Product_Info/Mark_Series/mark5/mark5.html#gpm1_4

 

[shytfayse]

Assuming the hiss noise is high frquency content, like your amp is trying to pick up a radio station that is not there, the most common cause of hiss in high gain amps is the use of carbon comp resistors in the front end of the preamp. I have not looked into the guts of a MV yet so I don't really know if this amp uses them. When the highly popular 5150 came out some years ago this was a major complaint. The 5150 has crazy high gain. This amp sounded like it was scanning the universe for aliens. I thought this amp was indorsed by SETI. The quick fix was to run a gate in the effects loop. All high gain amps have hiss IMO, thanks to the big bang, some more than others, and it could be reduced with some careful engineering. Replacing a preamp tube is easy enough to at least try it out as a sollution if the noise does not sound like empty space on the radio dial. - Pat.

 

[scubasteve319]

Hey guys. I also noted another problem when I was playing with the settings today... I realized when I switch from the MK IV mode to the EXTREME mode I notice a loss of gain... and this I dont think should be the actual sound... I'm not sure if there is something wrong with my V because It seems like my MK IV mode and Extreme Mode are gain dry... I have to crank the gain up to 3 oclock to get the Lamb of God gain I want and then I get alot of amp fuzz coming through my speakers... Any solutions???

Thanks again,
Steve

 

[scubasteve319]

Hey guys, so i've done some fidgeting with the amp and I've killed alot of the hiss with a boss NS-2 noise suppressor. Unfortunately I was unable to run it through the effects loop because it would kill my tone and the amp would become super muffled and quiet. I hooked up the noise gate via front end of the amp and ive taken care of alot of the noise. I have been playing with alot of the settings such as treble to get more gain and with the noise gate I think i have found the tone I was looking for!

Hopefully when I start to crank it things will all go well

Thanks again for the advice,
Steve

 

[MusicManJP6]

Sounds like your guitar was the cause of your noise if placing the NS-2 in FRONT of the amp killed the noise.

I notice lower gain in Extreme mode too.

 

[scubasteve319]

I Like the Extreme tone but I think I prefer the Mark IV tone because of the gain and it being a little more bright sounding and more clear. I play mainly thrash metal (lamb of god style) so I need clarity for my notes. It definately has potential for really heavy chords however!

I play a Schecter C-1 Hellraiser with EMG 81-85 pickup config. They are really noisy

Cheers,
Steve