How much hiss are we expecting to hear from one of these things fully cranked up to 10?
i'd say it's almost talking level on my amp, it's all deffo from V1 so i guess trying a few different tubes might help, the lead dress is as good as it's going to get in this amp as i've built it into a carlsbro chassis.
How much hiss to expect from a trainwreck build?
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JamesHealey
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geetarpicker
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Re: How much hiss to expect from a trainwreck build?
I'll be honest to say that usually you never need full gain on these amps, usually more like 12 to 2pm on the volume is enough. But I guess that depends on potentiometer taper where "half way" actually is. I play old 4 input Marshalls often, and especially did back in the 80s before getting my original TW. Along time ago in the studio I compared the noise of my '68 plexi 100 (split cathode) with all the knobs dimed to my wreck set at similar gain (basically all it's knobs about half). With both amps set for similar gain the Marshall was definately the noiser of the two. Still in the studio If I'm going for really clean tones with minimal noise I sometimes swap out preamp tubes for lower gain types like AU7 and/or AY7s.
Lead dress though is critical on these amps, and I've heard many folks complain specifically when they built the circuit onto an exisiting chassis and radically altered the layout.
Here is a video youtube where I played my TW with it set at my typically medium/high gain setting of all knobs on 1/2 with the bright switch in the full position. On this video however I always keep the guitar down and it's a delicate track so it's a good one to judge the noise. The amp mic is muted until I hit the first note, but then it's on from then onwards.
You mentioned the noise level is "talking" level. Well that might not be that bad a noise level compared to full playing volume which maybe over 110db.
Recently I also compared my original Wreck to a lead spec circuit 4 input Marshall 50. Yes, that amp is also noisier than a wreck when specifically set at similar gain. Yes the TW is noisier if dimed. But to get that kind of gain with say an old Marshall you would need to dime that amp PLUS add a boost pedal of some sort. By that point I'd truly be the Marshall would be way noiser than the wreck even with the wreck dimed. So simply I think the TW circuit if done properly has reasonably low noise issues CONSIDERING how much gain it has.
GK
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-U36UxwiHaI
Lead dress though is critical on these amps, and I've heard many folks complain specifically when they built the circuit onto an exisiting chassis and radically altered the layout.
Here is a video youtube where I played my TW with it set at my typically medium/high gain setting of all knobs on 1/2 with the bright switch in the full position. On this video however I always keep the guitar down and it's a delicate track so it's a good one to judge the noise. The amp mic is muted until I hit the first note, but then it's on from then onwards.
You mentioned the noise level is "talking" level. Well that might not be that bad a noise level compared to full playing volume which maybe over 110db.
Recently I also compared my original Wreck to a lead spec circuit 4 input Marshall 50. Yes, that amp is also noisier than a wreck when specifically set at similar gain. Yes the TW is noisier if dimed. But to get that kind of gain with say an old Marshall you would need to dime that amp PLUS add a boost pedal of some sort. By that point I'd truly be the Marshall would be way noiser than the wreck even with the wreck dimed. So simply I think the TW circuit if done properly has reasonably low noise issues CONSIDERING how much gain it has.
GK
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-U36UxwiHaI
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JamesHealey
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Re: How much hiss to expect from a trainwreck build?
yea the noise is very much managable at half volume it's hiss not hum, I've been designing amps for some time so the lead dress is very well thought out and theres some extra shielding where appropriate It's just compared to my 18w Marshall it's noisy lol but saying that it's x3 louder so it's not an issue I guess.