My LSS makes mo fuzz of hiss sound, as some complain about

[Jared Purdy]

I actually posted this earlier today on a previous thread, and then I realized that given that that thread is a little past it's prime, it might not get read. And in the interest of trying to understand this, I figured I'd put it up as a fresh post.

Try as I might, I cannot hear this fuzz or hiss or what ever it is, as it has been variously described. I have a new LSS, bought from the shop two weeks ago today, and I play on average an hour or two a day, mostly blues and bluesy rock. I tried various combinations with and without the solo engaged, hard-bypassed, etc.

On Ch 1, my settings are: Gain @ 12 o'clock; Treble same; Mid 9 o'clock; bass 12 o'clock; presence 10'clock; master 12 o'clock. On Ch. 2: Drive engaged, and at 10 o'clock; Gain betwteen 12 and 1 o'clock; Treble between 12 and 1:30; Mid about 10:30, Presence, same; Master 10-10:30. While I generally keep it on the 5 watt setting, I use the same tone settings for all of the controls in the 15 and 30 watt settings. The "crunch" toggle is set to "normal". The couple of times that I played with the solo function, I engaged the FX loop, set the Send Level at 12, the Output at 12 and Solo at 12. While the sound is a bit diifferent, and obviously a bit louder, there was no fuzz or hiss on that setting either.

And I certainly don't hear any farty bass with my controls set the way they are either. I definately know what a farty bass sounds like. I have a Fender PRRI, which I did a number of mods to to get rid of the notorius farty sound that happens in that amp when the volume is around 12 and the bass is at 12. I too have read quite a bit about those reeder mods, but I don't hear anythng coming out of that speaker other that what I would expect.

Having the option to switch back and forth between my 6V6 driven PRRI, and my EL84 driven LSS is fun, and an interesting experiment. Channel 1 on the LSS can be made to sound VERY close to the PRRI, and in fact my daugfhter and I both agree that the LSS is cleaner, and warmer sounding, possibly partly due to the cab and speaker size in the LSS. However, if I crank the PRRI a bit and hit the strings hard, like on a power chord, the Celestion G10 Gold alNico that I put in it sounds almost identicle to the LSS in Channel 2 when I do the same. Crunchy, raw and biting. But definately no hiss or fuzz. Just EL84s doin' their thing. Am I missing something here, or are you guys playing earlier versions that had that issue??

 

[screamingdaisy]

I think it's a matter of expectations.

Myself, I find a DRRI has a horribly farty bottom end, but it's not the right kind of amp for how I like to play. My expectations are different than someone who's been on a DRRI for his whole life, who'd likely feel there's nothing wrong with the amp, or a PRRI player, who'd likely feel the DRRI was much tighter than he was used to.

Further, people who like EL84s like them for their early breakup and the bit of 'hair' the add to the overdrive, however it can be a bit of an adjustment if you're used to the headroom and clearer breakup of EL34s or 6L6s.

 

[Jared Purdy]

I think it's a matter of expectations.

Myself, I find a DRRI has a horribly farty bottom end, but it's not the right kind of amp for how I like to play. My expectations are different than someone who's been on a DRRI for his whole life, who'd likely feel there's nothing wrong with the amp, or a PRRI player, who'd likely feel the DRRI was much tighter than he was used to.

Further, people who like EL84s like them for their early breakup and the bit of 'hair' the add to the overdrive, however it can be a bit of an adjustment if you're used to the headroom and clearer breakup of EL34s or 6L6s.

Indeed, I bought the PRRI because I thought the DDRI sounded close to horrid. Flat, too mid-rangey, , boxy, empty. It was quite the disappointment because I had Steve's bring one in from Montreal, and when they unpacked it and I plugged in my guitar, I couldn't believe how disappointed I was. The PRRI won hands down, but I soon found out that it suffered from some issues, which I have since corrected. In hindsight, I could have saved myself a lot of grief, and maybe some money if I had know about the hand wired PR clones out there, and there are many! Next amp: a Tone King Imperial.

I had a Peavy C30 for a while, so I Knew what to excpect from the EL84's in the LSS. Maybe that's it, if you are use to 6V6s, 6L6s, or EL34s, then the EL84 sound might be a bit un-nerving. Personally, I love it, as much as I like the clean & tight sound of the 6V6. After a short while, like maybe a week of playing the PRRI, I knew something wasn't right, and set out find out wat it was. After 2 weeks of the LSS, I can't think of a single thing that I would change, not even the speaker or the tubes.

 

[Vogelsong]

I've been thinking about this myself. It's interesting you metion being used to 6L6's. In the past all I have had to referance is vintage fenders with 6L6's. The only one I have now is my pap's 59 bandmaster. That thing is just a dream to play through, and of course it got 6L6's.

I have also wondered if it isn't a genetic thing (Don't laugh). But things like hearing certain frequencies could be genetic similar to people's sense of taste. In the latter, some people think liver tastes great and others don't. The fact of the matter is it boils down to genetics; there is a chemical in liver that some people can or can't taste. The ones that can taste it think liver tastes great. I for one when trying to taste the chemical on a test strip in a biology class could not taste it and I can't stand the taste of liver. The students that could taste it all confirmed they enjoy the taste of liver.

I wonder if the same could be with our hearing certain frequencies.

 

[Vogelsong]

I think it's a matter of expectations.

Myself, I find a DRRI has a horribly farty bottom end, but it's not the right kind of amp for how I like to play. My expectations are different than someone who's been on a DRRI for his whole life, who'd likely feel there's nothing wrong with the amp, or a PRRI player, who'd likely feel the DRRI was much tighter than he was used to.

Further, people who like EL84s like them for their early breakup and the bit of 'hair' the add to the overdrive, however it can be a bit of an adjustment if you're used to the headroom and clearer breakup of EL34s or 6L6s.

Indeed, I bought the PRRI because I thought the DDRI sounded close to horrid. Flat, too mid-rangey, , boxy, empty. It was quite the disappointment because I had Steve's bring one in from Montreal, and when they unpacked it and I plugged in my guitar, I couldn't believe how disappointed I was. The PRRI won hands down, but I soon found out that it suffered from some issues, which I have since corrected. In hindsight, I could have saved myself a lot of grief, and maybe some money if I had know about the hand wired PR clones out there, and there are many! Next amp: a Tone King Imperial.

I had a Peavy C30 for a while, so I Knew what to excpect from the EL84's in the LSS. Maybe that's it, if you are use to 6V6s, 6L6s, or EL34s, then the EL84 sound might be a bit un-nerving. Personally, I love it, as much as I like the clean & tight sound of the 6V6. After a short while, like maybe a week of playing the PRRI, I knew something wasn't right, and set out find out wat it was. After 2 weeks of the LSS, I can't think of a single thing that I would change, not even the speaker or the tubes.

Jared, just so ya know I hear this primarily when playing full chords on channel 2. I mentioned this in my first thread but I don't know if I have mentioned it since. It is not as bad with 2 or 3 string pwr chords. The worst is an open E attacking the strings hard.

 

[ja22y]

Jared, just so ya know I hear this primarily when playing full chords on channel 2. I mentioned this in my first thread but I don't know if I have mentioned it since. It is not as bad with 2 or 3 string pwr chords. The worst is an open E attacking the strings hard.

It's always a difficult thing to describe sound in words but anyway, the LS(S) tone stack is copied from a Fender blackface. It has a peak at 2.5k and scoop mid from 600-1.5k, and bass peak at 30hz. To me when play with higher gain, that 2.5k just pierces my ears and has this nasty ringing, specially with single coil. Since you mentioned that it is more pronounced at the open high E. I strongly suggest that you put and EQ in the FX loop and try to dial the freq around 2.5k to help reduce this. Also vintage tube like RCA is very balanced and doesn't accentuate the high freq like modern tubes, put one in v1.

 

[Jared Purdy]

Jared, just so ya know I hear this primarily when playing full chords on channel 2. I mentioned this in my first thread but I don't know if I have mentioned it since. It is not as bad with 2 or 3 string pwr chords. The worst is an open E attacking the strings hard.

It's always a difficult thing to describe sound in words but anyway, the LS(S) tone stack is copied from a Fender blackface. It has a peak at 2.5k and scoop mid from 600-1.5k, and bass peak at 30hz. To me when play with higher gain, that 2.5k just pierces my ears and has this nasty ringing, specially with single coil. Since you mentioned that it is more pronounced at the open high E. I strongly suggest that you put and EQ in the FX loop and try to dial the freq around 2.5k to help reduce this. Also vintage tube like RCA is very balanced and doesn't accentuate the high freq like modern tubes, put one in v1.

Do you have any idea how a mullard or tung sol would compare?

 

[djw]

I've been thinking about this myself. It's interesting you metion being used to 6L6's. In the past all I have had to referance is vintage fenders with 6L6's. The only one I have now is my pap's 59 bandmaster. That thing is just a dream to play through, and of course it got 6L6's.

I have also wondered if it isn't a genetic thing (Don't laugh). But things like hearing certain frequencies could be genetic similar to people's sense of taste. In the latter, some people think liver tastes great and others don't. The fact of the matter is it boils down to genetics; there is a chemical in liver that some people can or can't taste. The ones that can taste it think liver tastes great. I for one when trying to taste the chemical on a test strip in a biology class could not taste it and I can't stand the taste of liver. The students that could taste it all confirmed they enjoy the taste of liver.

I wonder if the same could be with our hearing certain frequencies.

I do not think this is crazy.

 

[ja22y]

Jared, just so ya know I hear this primarily when playing full chords on channel 2. I mentioned this in my first thread but I don't know if I have mentioned it since. It is not as bad with 2 or 3 string pwr chords. The worst is an open E attacking the strings hard.

It's always a difficult thing to describe sound in words but anyway, the LS(S) tone stack is copied from a Fender blackface. It has a peak at 2.5k and scoop mid from 600-1.5k, and bass peak at 30hz. To me when play with higher gain, that 2.5k just pierces my ears and has this nasty ringing, specially with single coil. Since you mentioned that it is more pronounced at the open high E. I strongly suggest that you put and EQ in the FX loop and try to dial the freq around 2.5k to help reduce this. Also vintage tube like RCA is very balanced and doesn't accentuate the high freq like modern tubes, put one in v1.

Do you have any idea how a mullard or tung sol would compare?

I'm talking about 12ax7, just want to be clear. Don't know about Tung Sol, but I've used vintage Mullard in many amps. IMO the Mullards has the creamiest OD of all the tubes I've tried and it's also very warm. The Amperex has a similar OD as the Mul and it's a little brighter. These two are by far my favorites. The RCA is balanced, just a perfect tube in any situation really, but it won't OD as nice. Any of these will blow away the Russian/China and JJ. However I found that in the LSS, the Mul although nice, is a little too warm so I use an Amperex in V1 instead. Also the drive is using one half of V1 so I want the best tube for OD in there.

 

[Vogelsong]

Jared, just so ya know I hear this primarily when playing full chords on channel 2. I mentioned this in my first thread but I don't know if I have mentioned it since. It is not as bad with 2 or 3 string pwr chords. The worst is an open E attacking the strings hard.

It's always a difficult thing to describe sound in words but anyway, the LS(S) tone stack is copied from a Fender blackface. It has a peak at 2.5k and scoop mid from 600-1.5k, and bass peak at 30hz. To me when play with higher gain, that 2.5k just pierces my ears and has this nasty ringing, specially with single coil. Since you mentioned that it is more pronounced at the open high E. I strongly suggest that you put and EQ in the FX loop and try to dial the freq around 2.5k to help reduce this. Also vintage tube like RCA is very balanced and doesn't accentuate the high freq like modern tubes, put one in v1.

Jazzy,

I have 2 eq's, Im not running them currently. I took the last one out after I did the mod as I felt I didn't need it. And for me the less in the chain the better. Now I was running it up front when I had it in, not through the loop. I have one of each, an EH graphic fuzz, and a parametric eq. I like the parametric better, I was thinking about trying it in the loop but really wasn't worried about since doing the pot swap mod. Now you have me kind of rethinking it again.

So tell me why in the loop, eq's are not really my strongest suite.

 

[ja22y]

I use EQ to help my tweaking. When I hear too much/less of some freq, I try to cut/boost to see where the offending freq is and that in turn help me 'tune' the amp. Why in the loop? When you use it in front of the amp your are basically shaping your guitar pickup. In the fx loop you are shaping the amp's pre section before going to the power section. Both are good use of EQ.
Also if you have access to a spectral analyzer it's pretty cool to see the tone graphically as you tweak the EQ. This is how I was able to validate the peaks and valleys of the amp freq response.

 

[Vogelsong]

I use EQ to help my tweaking. When I hear too much/less of some freq, I try to cut/boost to see where the offending freq is and that in turn help me 'tune' the amp. Why in the loop? When you use it in front of the amp your are basically shaping your guitar pickup. In the fx loop you are shaping the amp's pre section before going to the power section. Both are good use of EQ.
Also if you have access to a spectral analyzer it's pretty cool to see the tone graphically as you tweak the EQ. This is how I was able to validate the peaks and valleys of the amp freq response.

Sounds like I have some tinkering to do.