Do PRS amps have a reputation for being noisy?

[caldera]

Hi there,

I recently acquired a Sonzera 20 and I like the tone a lot. However, the clean channel suffered from some white noise so I wanted to have an amp tech take a look at it.

The first guy I asked declined the job, because he said he hasn't had any luck fixing these amps. The second person said that all the tubes were noisy so he re-tubed and rebiased it, and the noise is reduced but some is still present. He said the amp is now fairly quiet, "especially for a PRS amp". Normally I would chalk this up to unfamiliarity with a smaller maker in the world of amps, but this person is very well regarded as the top guy in a major city.

Do PRS amps have a reputation for being noisy? Does this apply just to the Sonzera series, or to all of them? Any idea where the noise floor is coming from in these amps, especially in the clean channel?

 

[bodia]

In my experience, this is not the case. I have/had 4 PRS amps. I currently have a 50w Archon head, and an MT-15. Previously, I've had a 30w HXDA combo and a 2 Channel Custom 50. I did not experience excessive noise on any of them. Initially, I thought I had a problem with the MT-15, but traced that down to a bad patch cable on my pedal board.

 

[elvis]

I think it's easy to blame an amp when you don't make much progress with it.

Mine have been quiet.

 

[veinbuster]

I agree. None of the ones I’ve hung out with have been noisy.

 

[László]

I’ve got a DG30 and an HXDA and had each one from new for 4-5 years. I also had a higher power HXDA (50 Watt version) at one point.

They’re utterly, dead quiet. I use them in my ad soundtrack recording work.

But they’re USA amps, not Chinese-made Sonzeras. I have no experience with those. Still, you should be aware that the old classic amps back in the day used to make tons of noise!

I’d suggest unplugging guitar and pedalboard, and turning the amp on and slowly bringing up the volume. This eliminates cabling, pedals and guitar from the equation. If there isn’t noise, it’s not the amp.

If there is hissing, it’s still probably tubes - tube noise varies like ya wouldn’t believe, and that’s especially the case for the Chinese tubes most tube importers use, and sometimes with Russian tubes as well.

If there’s more noise than you’d like, and it’s white noise as you describe and not a hum or buzzing, I’d still suspect the tubes, simply because the noise was reduced by installing the new set, and even new tubes vary in noise specs.

The best solution (that’s also the most expensive) is to go with New Old Stock tubes from the 50s, 60s, and 70s. Back then, tubes were used for everything from TVs to aircraft to amps and audio equipment to military. Noise mattered, and tube manufacturers took care when making them. Now, they cut corners - examine the anode plates in a new tube and compare the construction to old stock ones, you can even see it; crimped instead of welded, lousy looking getters, etc. The result is noise.

Also, new tubes are with few exceptions made on very old equipment that overseas tube makers bought cheap when the US and Western Europe got out of the tube business. Old machine tools and equipment don’t have the same tolerances as new ones, even when corners aren’t being cut, but of course, corners ARE being cut with modern tubes. And the experts who designed these machines and created the manufacturing processes are no longer in the industry.

 

[AP515]

I own 3. Two are dead quiet and one is noisy. I'm sending the noisy one to the PTC to have them check it out soon.

 

[Boogie]

I’ve made a sh@t-ton of noise with mine. But if you take me out of the equation, it’s dead quiet.

 

[Rider1260]

My Boogie MKV makes less noise than my H , the H is about the same as any Marshall I have ever played

 

[dmatthews]

I have a Custom 50 combo, and a H combo. Both are quiet.
I have not tried a Sonzera, so unfortunately cannot comment on that specific product.

 

[caldera]

Thanks for the feedback, everyone! It's really not a big deal, re-tubing the amp made a big difference, but the noise I was hearing was like a white noise or a static that was present at the same volume no matter where the amp volume was, and even if no guitar cable or anything were plugged into the amp.

I got it used for a great deal, so even if I could only use the gain channel (which didn't have the problem) it was still a very nice deal. Love this amp's tone anyway!

 

[elvis]

Why would you run the amp volume all the way down?

Incidentally, tube amps are notorious for feedthrough at low volume. The preamp tubes have a lot of internal crosstalk, as each one is two amp stages.

 

[László]

Why would you reply to a question not posed to you with a silly question?
Why would I expect an amp Volume pot to perform the way it's SUPPOSED TO?? The way ALL my amps over my 45 years of playing have???
And it doesn't just produce sound at "zero"....the pot has NO EFFECT for the first 1/8 of a turn from "zero' up.
And the INTENTION of my question was to see if this is a common thing with this particular amp, since PRS support suggested that it may be a bad Pot.
Now if you would kindly let the OP respond, we can all be happy.

Seriously?

Elvis is an awesome, helpful guy, and he’s asked a fair question:

Why on Earth would you turn the volume on a guitar amp all the way down, when its job is to, you know, make things louder?

He’s perfectly right about tubes and also some volume pots go bad, as PRS support suggested.

Since PRS actually designed the amp, and services them, why the post here after they told you what was probably wrong with it?

Meantime, how in hell are we supposed to know (or care) about how long you’ve been playing guitar, Mr. Indignant, none of whose amps have ever done this in 45 years? It seems they installed a bad pot on this one somewhere in China where the amp was made and the parts were sourced. Get over it, have it fixed and use the very strong warranty it came with. It’s certainly not a big issue, and PRS takes care of their customers extremely well.

 

[elvis]

Thanks Les!

Why would you reply to a question not posed to you with a silly question?
Why would I expect an amp Volume pot to perform the way it's SUPPOSED TO?? The way ALL my amps over my 45 years of playing have???
And it doesn't just produce sound at "zero"....the pot has NO EFFECT for the first 1/8 of a turn from "zero' up.
And the INTENTION of my question was to see if this is a common thing with this particular amp, since PRS support suggested that it may be a bad Pot.
Now if you would kindly let the OP respond, we can all be happy.

Jeffree, not sure what the animosity is about. It's pretty standard here to respond tongue-in-cheek, as it is more entertaining than a strictly factual forum. I did actually add information, though it's more likely the pot.

And I stand by my sentiment that the volume should be welded to 11 and the knob thrown away.

Opinions. We have them.

Shall we start again?

 

[veinbuster]

Shall we start again?

Apparently not.
Good thing there are other threads we can comment on.

 

[bodia]

And who asked you?

Wow, you're warm and fuzzy. Yet still, you get good responses and suggestions.

 

[Wakester]

Boys and girls let's keep this civil before Shawn has to get involved and take away our membership cards or something.

 

[veinbuster]

Boys and girls let's keep this civil before Shawn has to get involved and take away our membership cards or something.

Somebody has cleaned out a few posts, so there is hope.

 

[László]

Somebody has cleaned out a few posts, so there is hope.

Seems I missed out on the flying feathers! Or is that flying fur?

I have a hard time remembering that stuff.

 

[Deleted member 5962]

What did I miss?

For the record, every PRS amp I've had, has been noisy as heck. They make a HECK of a racket! In fact, my wife just said last night "would you PLEASE turn that noise down?"

 

[bodia]

What did I miss?

For the record, every PRS amp I've had, has been noisy as heck. They make a HECK of a racket! In fact, my wife just said last night "would you PLEASE turn that noise down?"

Giggle!