Breaking in Mesa 2x12

[Hyacinth]

I just bought a 5150 III and a used Mesa 2x12 but I'm noticing a lot of hiss on the lead channel. I was thinking that the V30s in the cab just aren't broken in yet, but I'm not sure. Is that hiss just a characteristic of a high gain amp that I just need to get used to or what?

 

[Dead-Pan]

Probably just the amp. Noise gate would most likely eliminate it.

Mesa V30 break in is the mid range. Kinda stiff woody sounding at first.

The Chinese V30 is very different, it is extremely harsh in the high end until broken in.

The Mesa break in is much more tolerable that the Chinese. It is my belief that the Chinese break in is what causes many to hate V30's and understandably so. It is painful but after this 30 or so hours of use they really sound great. I just play music trough them constantly for a few days and they are good to go.

 

[pow404]

This is interesting, never really heard of breaking in cabs and considering I'm getting in a 2x12 with the Chinese v30's this information will be rather useful (y)

 

[cardinal]

Speakers definitely break in and get warmer sounding over time. Just an hour or two of really loud playing makes a difference IME/IMHO.

But hiss probably is the amp and not the cab.

 

[TheWarAgainstTime]

The hiss is likely just amp noise. A gate would take care of it.

Just playing through the cab at a fairly loud volume for 12-24 hours will make it sound a little warmer/less harsh.

 

[Hyacinth]

The hiss is part of the tone I'm getting, it's not just when the amp is idling or anything like that. I'm thinking it's just an inherent part of a high gain amp that I need to deal with. I'm coming from using an Axe Fx for years, and there was some hiss to those high gain tones too, but there were more parameters to tame it.

 

[TRENCHLORD]

Sounds like you're talking about what's more commonly known as fizz.
Many/most amps geared for high-gain have it when the gain is up past noon or higher with some amps.
I love having a bit of fizz on top of some treble cut, but too much and it tends to wash out the cut and often over-soften the mids and lows.
You can dial back the lows to relieve some mush, but if the treble cut goes you'll just have to reduce the gain usually.


Maybe that's why they factory-paired it with the greenback speakers instead of V30s.
That's something I've always liked about the rectifiers, they have a presence control in the preamp so that you can run the gain high and then dial back the presence and reduce fizz/hiss without removing so much of the treble-cut.

 

[viesczy]

High gain amps all have some fizz/hiss to them, just the nature of the beast, and then when you factor in the character of an amp and the character of the speaker it can be a recipe for .

Finger the 5150 series (have the 5153 50) does lean on the mids and the Vin30 is a brittle sounding speaker in most cabs, might be something you always "hear". Thankfully you have Mesa cab, I find Mesa is the only company whose Vin30s cabs actually sound worth their money. There is just more everything in the Mesa Vin30 cabs compared to the other Vin30 cabs I have owned/used. After a few hours of good use, the sound will round/warm up.

Derek