clivea Posted April 11, 2020 Share Posted April 11, 2020 I am starting a new preset and I have inserted an amp. I am getting terrible 'hissing' through my PA. It happens with all the amps. Anyone any ideas how to rectify this? Cheers. Clive AC15 HISS SCN SHOT.pdf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silverhead Posted April 11, 2020 Share Posted April 11, 2020 There can be many reasons for this. One of the most common is that the signal level reaching your PA speakers is too low and increasing it introduces and/or amplifies ‘noise’ in the signal, which is heard as hissing. To address this, work backwards from the speakers. Turn them down and increase the signal/volume level of the mixer/PA output. Proceed backwards in the signal path again, increasing the mixer/PA channel level output, then the channel input trim, then the Helix master volume level. Check that the Helix output jack levels are set appropriately for the receiving device (Line level vs. Instrument level; check for this compatibility first). Since it happens with all amps you probably don’t have to look any further within Helix (e.g. amp channel volume) but consider the signal chain before it reaches Helix. Is your guitar volume loud enough? Are there other pedals or devices before Helix with a low volume level? EDIT: This whole concept is called ‘gain staging’. In designing tones you need to consider the signal level as it proceeds from one component in the chain to the next. Each step can involve a mismatch where a too-low or too-high level can introduce undesirable effects. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qwerty42 Posted April 12, 2020 Share Posted April 12, 2020 Also, you're probably aware, but hissing noise is normal to an extent, especially for high-gain amps, and single-coil pickups will add to that even more because they're more sensitive to r/f interference from everything else in the room. You can use the noise gate in the input section of the Helix to quiet it down, after you've looked at the things silverhead mentioned. Also, keep things like mobile phones away from your cables... they emit tons of noisy R/F and can definitely be heard when they're transmitting. Even laptops, computer monitors etc. can inject a lot of noise in close proximity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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