I found that the TA-15 on channel 1 is quite noisy, and called mesa to ask if this was an indication of a faulty unit, and was told that the design of that channel is a bit noisy, but that was the tradeoff for getting that tone. Keep in mind, when you are in cut mode, it is the same thing as having the volume turned all the way up, so any noise in the system will be super loud no matter what. I find cut mode to be almost unusable because of this for playing live unless you are aiming for an overdriven tone and your volume is just perfect at whatever wattage selection you're on. For recording it works well, though.