What is the quietest high-gain amp?

[drew_drummer]

Curious if we can get a consensus on this; what is the quietest high-gain amp? My Laney is bloomin' loud when I'm not playing anything, and the distortion channel is on. Noise gate definitely required.

But are there any amps out there where you can get away without having a noise-gate?

Marshall JVM is bloody loud too!!

I know there is always going to be a certain amount of noise; but some of these amps are a lot noisier than they need to be, imo.

 

[Dylan S]

Any amp, as long as you're using an ISP decimator.

 

[Jind]

I can't imagine not having some sort of gate on any high gain amp - especially on a distorted channel.

 

[Kazrog]

Peavey XXX / 3120 has a built in noise gate that's pretty decent. I would still use a noise gate pedal even with it, though. I highly recommend the ISP Decimator or the Boss NS-2.

 

[Wolfeman]

Soldano did a great job with the SLO in keeping it quiet, even at high gain settings....

But it's the nature of the beast, in high gain amps there will always be noise/hissing/howling etc...

 

[John_C]

it's best to track the problem to the source, the reason the distorted channel is so noisy is that it compresses so heavily (raising the noise floor drastically) and adds harmonics (making the noise more noticable due to increased high freq.). If you're guitar and cables were perfectly shielded then there would be much less problem, at least in theory.

Using amp-sims is a good way to test this

 

[slashvanyoung]

The Krank Rev (Jr.) is the quietest high-gain tube amp I've played so far that hasn't some sort of built-in gate. It's quiet enough for me to not bring my NS-2 on the road usually.

My Fireball sounded like a starting airplane in comparison.

 

[Harry Hughes]

I can imagine if you want a quiet high gain amp, boutique/ultra high end manufacturers is the way to go.
I always hear a lot of Bogner owners talking about their amps being much quieter than your average Marshall JVM, 5150 or Recto.

 

[lolzgreg]

Rocktron Vendetta. No joke. I forget I'm even on the beastly distortion channel sometimes (even with a boost).

 

[ScootBaloo]

My amps are :

6505, Uberschall, JVM 410H

The Uberschall is the quietest by far, then the 6505, then the JVM.

I dont use a Noise gate with the Uberschall.

 

[Harry Hughes]

^Wow, interested to hear the JVM is more noisy than the 6505. Is that a stock 6505?

 

[53Crëw]

+1 on the Uberschall. Loads of gain and quiet considering the amount of gain.

 

[Fragle]

^Wow, interested to hear the JVM is more noisy than the 6505. Is that a stock 6505?

my thoughts exactly

i used to own a mesa DC-5 that was really damn quiet. my old framus cobra isn't exactly noisy either.

but then again, i don't quite care tbh.....in between songs i'll switch to clean anyways, and during short breaks i'll just turn down the volume pot to prevent feedback. nobody will hear any amp noise if e.g. the other guitar or the drums are playing.

i wonder why exactly so many of you seem to be really into using noisegates live? what's the advantage?

 

[ScootBaloo]

Petrovsk Mizinski,

I should have qualified that comment about the JVM, I was talking about the highest gain channel
which is called OD2 and on the "red" mode, mine is quite noisy.

And the 6505 is stock.

 

[Ola Englund]

ENGL has noisegates on most of their amps. Not my savage though

 

[drew_drummer]

Oh I do have an ISP Decimator; but I was just curious whether there were any renowned amps for quiet high-gain channels. I'm curious about the 6505/JVM comparison.

 

[motomoto]

Get a marshall KK.

Hit ''the beast''

Problem solved

 

[ScootBaloo]

Argh, so many people have mentioned a curiousness about the relative noisyness
between the 6505 and the JVM. How do I really compare, I was just stating my
recollection, I haven't done any actual measurements. I would say that I am
dissapointed with the high gain performance of the JVM because I cannot get a "distinct"
high gain sound from the JVM, it is always muddy.

 

[MetalJonesy]

The Krank Rev (Jr.) is the quietest high-gain tube amp I've played so far that hasn't some sort of built-in gate. It's quiet enough for me to not bring my NS-2 on the road usually.

My Fireball sounded like a starting airplane in comparison.

+1 on that, i went from the peavey XXL to the Rev JR and immediately had no need for a noise gate, now im back to the 6505 and it aint as bad as the XXL, live ill be using a noise gate still!

 

[drew_drummer]

Argh, so many people have mentioned a curiousness about the relative noisyness
between the 6505 and the JVM. How do I really compare, I was just stating my
recollection, I haven't done any actual measurements. I would say that I am
dissapointed with the high gain performance of the JVM because I cannot get a "distinct"
high gain sound from the JVM, it is always muddy.

I'd echo that sentiment. I play throught a JVM for a gig we did where my Laney was out of action; the JVM was only "okay" ... and for the money, I expected to be raped by sound and be begging for more by the end of it.