EVH 5150 15w Hiss

spev11 · August 2023

This is a tricky one, I bought a 5150 a little over a 2 months ago. Its great , the clean channel is fab and I really like it. Except now it has a bit of hiss. I've changed cables , taken everything out of the loop, gone straight in, turned it on and not connected anything and it has a low volume hiss.
The only change since I bought it is I've had some frequency specific hearing aids fitted (they boost all frequencies but the curve is pushed to boost everything from 1k upwards as thats where my hearing is severely lacking (along with tinitus). Has anybody else got one of these amps and has better hearing than me ? Does yours hiss? Should mine?
I expect it to be a bit noisy on channel 2 as its super filthy dirty, but its a bit disconcerting on the clean channel. Im in work at the moment but when I get home I'm gonna to check a few more things out, try it without my hearing aids and with again but its been doing it for about a fortnight ( just after I had the aids)

TL:DR my amp hisses is it me?

ecc83 · August 2023

It's you Spev! I have two aids and have been back to Audiology twice to get the HF turned down. At first just running a tap was painful!

I simply don't wear them when listening to music as they make it sound like "a bee in a tin" I also want to be blissfully unaware of the noise my amps make!

Dave.

spev11 · August 2023

Fair, its usually me to be honest but its nice that someone else other that the wife has told me

Its a shame I can't leave the buggers in though as they oddly keep the tinnitus under control, ah well you can't have everything (or sometimes anything)

Fez · August 2023

When I got my aids I realised rice crispies hadn't had the recipe changed I just couldn't hear them popping due to my hearing loss top (end also).

spev11 · August 2023

Yeah I'm noticing some weird things that I've never heard before. Back to the amp though, what is a little puzzling is the noise gate thats supposed to be operating on channel 2 (high gain channel) but doesn't seem to be. I have no point of reference as I've not heard another 5150 15w to know if its working or not (and I can see no way to disable it)

paulnb57 · August 2023

Im looking to buy one of the 5150, 15 watters and pretty much everything Ive seen says they hiss, It might be your new hearing aids ….

spev11 · August 2023

The aids have made it easier to detect but to get a second pair (of working) ears I've had the wife listen to it and it hisses, also I can't detect the noise gate cutting in at all, I have a NS2 that I you can easily detect when its cut signal. Might be the gate is set low, dunno. It sounds great and obviously not noticeable when playing but sometimes I get frustrated by little things

Modulus_Amps · August 2023

I don't think the gate in those amps is a proper gate as your NS2, from what I remember its just a couple of diodes that block very low level signal and it would only be on the lead channel.

Your hiss on the clean channel may be due to a lot of different things, besides the fact that these amps are known for hissing

Could be hissy pre-amp valve - easy checked by swapping out or around the valves.
Could be a mute relay not working
a failing plate resistor
etc etc

spev11 · August 2023

I'll have a look tonight, I'd hope its none of the above though as its only 3 months old. I can live with the hissing unless its not supposed to do it

noisepolluter · August 2023

spev11 said:

I'll have a look tonight, I'd hope its none of the above though as its only 3 months old.

Could just be they weren’t super choosy with the stock valves.

impmann · August 2023

Modulus_Amps said:

I don't think the gate in those amps is a proper gate as your NS2, from what I remember its just a couple of diodes that block very low level signal and it would only be on the lead channel.

Your hiss on the clean channel may be due to a lot of different things, besides the fact that these amps are known for hissing

Could be hissy pre-amp valve - easy checked by swapping out or around the valves.
Could be a mute relay not working
a failing plate resistor
etc etc

I wouldn't swap the preamp valves around on a 5150...

V1 (clean channel) is usually a JJ or TAD ECC83 chosen for its low noise floor
V2 (dirt) is a PS Vane ECC83 that can be a touch noisy in the clean position in these amps but is fine for da gainz

Sounds funny, I know... but I've had that from a horse's mouth. Can say no more. ;-)

They aren't overtly noisy (hiss) for a high gain amp, but equally they are far from silent.

Modulus_Amps · August 2023

impmann said:

Modulus_Amps said:

I don't think the gate in those amps is a proper gate as your NS2, from what I remember its just a couple of diodes that block very low level signal and it would only be on the lead channel.

Your hiss on the clean channel may be due to a lot of different things, besides the fact that these amps are known for hissing

Could be hissy pre-amp valve - easy checked by swapping out or around the valves.
Could be a mute relay not working
a failing plate resistor
etc etc

I wouldn't swap the preamp valves around on a 5150...

V1 (clean channel) is usually a JJ or TAD ECC83 chosen for its low noise floor
V2 (dirt) is a PS Vane ECC83 that can be a touch noisy in the clean position in these amps but is fine for da gainz

Sounds funny, I know... but I've had that from a horse's mouth. Can say no more. ;-)

They aren't overtly noisy (hiss) for a high gain amp, but equally they are far from silent.

No harm in trying any other 12ax7/ECC83 type valve in the V1 position, really you want a known good one, both JJ or Psvane would work there, might just find it is worse with the Psvane and not better.

impmann · August 2023

Modulus_Amps said:

impmann said:

Modulus_Amps said:

I don't think the gate in those amps is a proper gate as your NS2, from what I remember its just a couple of diodes that block very low level signal and it would only be on the lead channel.

Your hiss on the clean channel may be due to a lot of different things, besides the fact that these amps are known for hissing

Could be hissy pre-amp valve - easy checked by swapping out or around the valves.
Could be a mute relay not working
a failing plate resistor
etc etc

I wouldn't swap the preamp valves around on a 5150...

V1 (clean channel) is usually a JJ or TAD ECC83 chosen for its low noise floor
V2 (dirt) is a PS Vane ECC83 that can be a touch noisy in the clean position in these amps but is fine for da gainz

Sounds funny, I know... but I've had that from a horse's mouth. Can say no more. ;-)

They aren't overtly noisy (hiss) for a high gain amp, but equally they are far from silent.

No harm in trying any other 12ax7/ECC83 type valve in the V1 position, really you want a known good one, both JJ or Psvane would work there, might just find it is worse with the Psvane and not better.

That’s what was getting at - it’s likely (highly) to have greater background noise with the valves swapped on the clean channel (because of the level of gain, you won’t hear much difference on the dirty channel). There’s a reason Fender specc’d it like that - price, mainly.

If you’ve got another good quality ECC83, you could pop it in V1 to see if that improves things.

spev11 · August 2023

I've got no valves here sadly, I may investigate purchasing to see. Its that or my usual sell the amp and buy something else in an endless spiral of stupidity. Im trying to persevere in a cost and sanity saving exercise

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EVH 5150 15w Hiss

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