TA-30 Head -- Channel Switching "Pop" and Reverb Hiss

[Undecided]

Just got a TA-30 head. Really great tones from both channels on this amp, and it packs a punch for such a small size head! However, I've noticed a couple things about the amp that's different from dozens of other Mesa amps I've owned.

Channel 1 with the effects/reverb loop switch engaged has a constant hissing noise. And, switching from Channel 1 to 2 results in a pretty good "pop" sound regardless of wattage toggle settings. Wondering if any other TA-30 owners experienced these things or have found good solutions to work around them. I found a few threads from a year or two ago on both of these, but nothing recent, and nothing conclusive as to dealing with either.

I'm thinking maybe a noise gate in the loop would tame the hissing on Channel 1. Or, some folks have suggested turning the reverb tank around 180 degrees to re-position the reverb's transducer from the transformer. Others suggest using shielded RCA cables to and from the reverb tank. Anyone have luck with these strategies with the TA-30 head? General consensus seems to be that the preamp tubes have nothing to do with this noise. Tried swapping them around myself, and nothing changed.

The popping during channel switching doesn't seem to get louder with the Master volume, so maybe it isn't as big of a deal when using it live. I haven't tried it in that situation yet. It sounds like TA-15 owners and some Roadster owners have experienced this too. The manual clearly states that there's a "pop" during switching, so maybe it is what it is, and you deal with it.

Just checking with other TA-30 owners out there. It's a great sounding amp, but would love to figure out a couple of workarounds to these things.

 

[kguitars]

Hi, my TA-30 combo has been hissing from day one. I had it checked by an authorized dealer but they found nothing wrong with the amp. Unfortunately, I think that is just the way this amp is really. I use a reverb pedal instead without the effect/reverb switch engaged. I tried everything I could to reduce the amount of hiss but so far I haven't been so sccessful. Noise gate in the loop didn't do much. It is most likely the reverb circuit that is responsible for the noise. You will get used to it very soon, I did! It sounds great regardless!

 

[Undecided]

Thanks for chiming in on this. Good to hear that you tried the noise gate experiment, but bummer that it didn't help much. I'm going to give that a shot next week. The hiss doesn't bother me too much, but hoping that someone can share their experience with the cable swap strategy or the reverb tank flip. Are you also experiencing the channel switching "pop" noise with yours?

As with you, I have a Lonestar (classic and special) and am accustomed to silence on the channels. So, this is kind of a new thing with the TA-30.

 

[kguitars]

I took the tank out of the amp and moved it around. It did tame the hiss down but very subtle. I haven't tried the cable swap method yet but I doubt that it would do anything. That is what I was told by a tech at the service center. I might still give it a shot. Yes all my other mesa amps are very quiet regardles of channels, modes and fx switch. The hiss thing still bothers me a bit especially when the cut is engaged, it is unbearably noisy, totally unusable. I haven't really noticed the pop noise since I always set both channels at 40W. Do you constantly get the pop noise whenever switching channels? Thank you,

 

[Undecided]

Experimented more with various settings on the TA-30... I found that on Channel 1 when using the MASTER mode (pull out CUT knob), the hiss noise goes away. Problem solved. That's how I prefer to use this channel clean for live work anyways, so the whole loop noise thing is no longer an issue for me. Seems obvious now having read the manual again! :mrgreen:

 

[kguitars]

Great! I hardly ever use the cut and fx/reverb features. It stays very quiet this way. The hiss on either channel is not an issue once I crank up the volume to about 50% even with the reverb engaged. I am very happy with the amp otherwise and hope you enjoy it as much as I do. Take care,