I have had mine for a few years and absolutely agree! Take the noise away and it is absolutely amazing. Hence the reason for a Kemper :) An EQ in the loop really tightens it up as well!
I just saw another video of this matter, it can be almost fixed with swapping out the 5th tube to a 12au7. Its the last tube to the left in the line of 5 tubes close to the transformer.
@robertolsen9721 your losing a lot of gain with a 12au7. I'm going to try it, but if it affects my tone in a negative way, I'll deal with the noise. I'll be getting a boogie soon, so this will just be for backup.
Hiss is always acceptable, but this amp sounds like its tubes are going/blown, from the start. That’s the only time I have had that type of noise, is when the tubes need replacing. I would prefer a Friedman be, or a Bogner Uber.
I played amps like the 5150 that had CRAZY noise as well... even when I made a custom patch on Helix it still needed a gate. I always figured that it's just the price to pay for such sweet tone. The MT15 was on my radar initially but instead I got into digital solutions since they have more control of the final product imo. Both Helix and Kemper have great gates and I don't miss the daily battle. Great video btw! I love to see the joy that springs to your face the second you start playing! It inspires me to pick up my guitar too.
Hey, that makes me happy! Thank you so much! I need both in my life. For recording at home I mainly use my Kemper but every now and and then I want to crank a good tube amp. 🤘🙂
I bought mine from music store 2 years ago. When it arrived i was badly surprised with that weird interference/emi noise like you demonstrated at 4:10.. sent the amp back for replacement, the new one is perfectly silent ! So this actually is a defect !
The amp sounds great, however, yes, the noise is excessive - I feel you. I had some frustrating experience with brand new Engl Ironball (line out was not working properly) and a Marshall JCM-800 mini (very noisy effects loop). Keep rocking 🤘
On all demos this amp has a high noise floor. Sounds great as long as you're playing😊 I had a 5150 combo before that had to be used with a gate. Now I have a Fireball 100 and the gate collecting dust.
If I recall correctly there is a guy that came up with a fix. You need a new tube somewhere in the chain to get rid of that noise. Granted you may still have some noise with super high gain but less.
I’ve been gigging my prs mt15 since 2020. I have no noise issues. I have had those issues before. I changed started to change my patch cables in the pedalboard and as I changed more and more of the cheap ones to good quality, the noise decreased. I have none now. We mostly none. You will get a little noise in the high gain but nothing unexpected. Same you get from every designed for metal channel. I hope you gift he issue out. Such a great amp to gig with.
I bought one when they were out for about 6 months,,, mine is very quiet. A bit of lite hiss with the gain at 2-3 oclock but a $3000 marshall does the same. Its a great amp for the $$ and I would crank this next to any amp on the market.
i picked mine up as part of the first run with 6l6's and haven't had any issues with noise BUT i have to say I've never even come close to the tone you've got going here. you're getting tones that make me miss my Framus Cobra!!!...... I still have it but its way too loud to use in my garage and I'm not 20 anymore so having the neighbors call the cops isn't funny anymore lol
@@THEZ0DIACSPEAKS That‘s why I‘m having such a hard time with the amp. The Karen inside me says the noise is unacceptable but the rest of my body says dang the amp sounds great!
4:15 this amp reaches max saturation at about 9:00 on the gain knob and a lot of times this type of noise is tubes. The gain knob never needs to be at 2 o'clock and will be surely noisy pushing that kind of signal through the preamp. You don't need advice, you know what you're doing, but if it was mine I'd find the noisy 12ax7, replace it, and put the gain down a bit. It's sheer brutality at 9 o'clock on these amps.
My Archon started making noise at one point but that turned out to just be a bad tube though. I personally haven’t enjoyed any amp at all that isn’t my Archon going all the way back to 2016. The Archon 100 is simply just the one for me. Too bad it was discontinued…
Some amps are just noisy unfortunately. A good noise gate is an amazing investment. Then the noise from PRS amp, could be piss pour grounding and or wiring job from the factory.
From all MT15s i had in hand and that were alot (including my own) - they all had the same crackle problem which always got back to flakey preamp tubes. If JJ put PRS in charge to sort them before delivering the amps or if JJ delivered poor quality to the actual amp manufacturer - we will never know. Fact is, at that time the quality control apparently wasnt that great on either side. Alot of MT15 customers told me that they had no issues whatsoever with tubes. But they all bought the amps from the earlier product range stuffed with 6L6 Output. Anyway this is fixable of course but it should be charge of PRS especially while under warranty. New set of tubes will cost you at least 120 Euros (Only preamp). Hope you got that sorted by now and the amp works fine
I've had 2 of these and yes there are noise issues. Oddly, when it's on standby. It's a great gigging amp but I use a noise gate. I love the amp but I'm planning on getting a meas 25...or 35. I had one and should have never sold it. Great tone, no noise. To bad this amp does sound great but I gig alot and I can't deal with it .
I sent two of these amps back for the exact same reason! They are built in China and QC is crap! I ended up sending it back and getting my money back, BUT.... since I am an idiot (and the amp sounds ridiculously good when it works) I bought a third one but in second hand and half the price. Then replaced all the valves and re-soldered the wires and dry joints and the problem went away. It's usually one of the pre-amp valves.
Oh yeah, I feel you. I won't send this one back. I can control the noise with a noise gate in the loop. Like you said the amp sounds so good! It's a shame that QC is crap. Maybe I will bring it to a tech to eliminate the noise.
Idk about the amp being noisy, but I do know one thing: this guy has a great voice and sings very well. I had to rewind to make sure it wasn’t some kind of trickery. Dayum bro.
@@CarstenStepanowicz you should seriously try to showcase your voice more in your videos. Ive been in the music business for many, many years, in 1 aspect or another. Recording studio, rehearsal rooms, and I used to book bands to play in a club I was managing. So, no, I wasn’t some big shot record producer/A+R guy for a record label, but I’ve been in this game long enough to know talent when I hear it. You have a great singing voice. 20 million guitar players putting out RU-vid content makes it easy to get lost in a sea of great (and not so great) players. You have an advantage most of them don’t have: you sing, and you sing well. You can also play very well, but there are so many great players. Most of them can’t sing well. You can. You have an opportunity to separate yourself and stand out above the norm.
I was just watching, and thought much the same thing. I said to myself, " Dude is a hell of a guitar playee, but what band does he sing for?" For real. A good classic metal voice. I would like to hear it. I bought a PRS MT-15 today. Fingers crossed it wont be a noisy mess!!!
Before thinking about refund you should bring the amp to a tecnician that can test the tubes. The problem could be as simple as a bad tube, a weird bias value or even a wire close to the power transfomer.
Thanks! I live with it - a noise gate does the trick. The thing that bugs me is that some of the amps are fine and some of the amps are crap. You read plenty of issues regarding the noise floor of the amp. Shouldn’t happen with a huge brand like PRS.
I haven’t played through my MT15 for a while. I’ll crank it up. I know there’s some hiss, but not that crunch sound…from what I remember. Also, I run a Xotic boost in front of the amp and wow, it provides more body to the guitar sound in both clean and overdrive modes on the amp.
My Mt-15 died yesterday. Stone dead. Lights out. No sound. Wtf? And the effects loop was loud garbage since I bought it. I bought mine in March and played it MAYBE 10 times. Kick ass sounding amp when it worked. Hope its an easy diagnosis/ fix.
Awesome! I‘m super happy for you! The amp is killer if quiet! 😅🤝 Maybe they didn‘t have the 5881 available in the factory when the amp was built. There will be experts out there telling you there‘s a huge difference between 5881 and 6l6 powertubes but it‘s really not worth mentioning. Enjoy the amp Bruno! 🤘❤️
I had this amp for about 2 years now, 0 problems with noise, I have an ISP noise decimator in my rig that I barely use. The problem might be with the amount of gain you're using, that amp as an insane amount of gain, much much more than anybody would probably need, I keep the gain knob at maybe 3/10 and I use a Maxon OD808 as a boost with drive at 0/10, level at 7/10 and tone at noon in front of the amp, by doing so I have a very nice rythm sound with relatively low noise. (I play death metal, for reference)
If you want a U.S. sounding heavy metal amp, get the MT-15. Otherwise get the DSL-20. Extremely pedal friendly amp! It‘s a tough decision bro, I feel you! 🫶
Thanks man! Been on the fence about these two as they both sound incredible! I have been off tube amps for a while and playing solid states old Peaveys and such but looking for a tube amp with good gain that’s not gonna kill my neighbours..👍 Thanks so much for the content you put out, extremely useful info from a European perspective, plus your playing is amazing!🤘
I was going to buy one from a friend last year. It sounded great...but it also had an excessive hum without a gate. I was going to live with it until I hooked it up to an A/B box with my triple rectifier. The hum was at least twice as bad. The gate wouldn't cover it. That was the end of that deal. Amp was way too noisy.
If both amps are on the same ground you will always get crazy noise from one. I have a similar setup. 5150 & mt15 using a radial aby. Get a Morley humno or a hum eliminator. I prefer the hum eliminator. Probably will be gone. Don’t need to run both thru it. Just one amp.
@@acdover there is an easy fix if you’re up to the task. Most the issue is the wiring inside. They need to be moved and secured. Similar to having a noisy power supply on a pedalboard. It needs to be moved due to magnetic interference and noise bleed. That’s why some people have the issue with this amp and others don’t. The wires aren’t secured and some just move to an area that allows noise bleed. Simple but not fast fix. A lot of open, move, test. Move test. Move test. Till you find a spot to place them without the bleed. Friend of mine had that issue and we both opened it and did the moves. Personally I feel the $30 for the hum eliminator is a better option over taking a chance.
I had a similar issues, I sended it back and I got a new one. Same issues. But maybe less noisy than yours. After some research, I have decided to swap 2 tubes (in the preamp section). The phase inverter by an 12AT7/ECC81 and le loop by an 12AU7/ECC82 and all the noise are gone. I use this amp at home and on stage and it is now completely usable. It's very curious that not any amp have this kind of issues. 🧐 I don't understand but this is the way I fixed mine.
@@FilipeReishandmade Ho just a bit, it's not noticeable 🙂 It still have plenty of gain, and I play extreme music It worked for me, I just shared my experience
@@ederiel yes, this circuit have plenty of gain ! So even when you lower using pre amp tubes with less gain its still have a lot. Im not complaining or ranting on you comment by the way...
Tried it at home and at my rehearsal space. All my other amps are quiet. If you bring this thing live, you can't change the venue because the amp is picky with the power. ✌️
I just bought one brand new from guitar center the other day. It makes the exact noise, its my first tube amp so i thought it was the power at my house perhaps. Evil-plan wait till the 1 yr warranty is almost up then request a new one...lol
Thanks! The first one I had was super quiet for the first couple of months and then started to make noise like a vacuum cleaner from 1980. The one right now was noisy since day 1 but can be tamed with a noise gate. I guess it's a bit hit and miss with these amps. 🙂 They do sound fantastic though! 🤘
Amp sounds great ,but ya , the noise is a little much and if you put a boost 😳. Is V1 preamp tube have a shield, maybe a higher grade tube in V1. Marshall cab with 75’s my favorite. I indulge in too many cappuccino🤪. Great video’s my friend 🤘🏻🎸😎
You can never have too much cappuccino! 😁🙌 Right now, I'm taming the noise beast with a noise gate and it works ok. If I have time and money, I'll take it to a tech.🤘
My blackstar has that same rustling sound, never figured out what causes it? I’ve tried new valves which made no difference. Weirdly it’s only there when playing through a cab but it’s not there when I use it through my load box and ir’s
@@matt926uk1 I can't find a schematic for this amp but the sound of the unwanted noise sounds like a bad transistor breaking down. I know this is a tube amp but it possible there is transistors used in the effects loop.
I feel like I got lucky with my 5881 loaded example. It's no noisier than any other cascading circuit high gain tube amp. And it definitely does not exibit any noise like your example. That is strange. I wonder if it's a problem in the power filtering. I heard originally that the issue was with cable routing near the power section. But it seems like a simple cable reroute would have improved that. It's too bad. That's the only thing that held the MT15 back from being the king.
I have got one from the 1st series, I never had any noise problem and it always work like a charm... I think there is real QC problem in their chinese factory because the amp is a pure gem when it's assembled correctly!!
Try a Morley Humno Noise Eliminator. I have tried all different kinds of things to solve this issue but from my experience with my MT15 it comes from a cycle hum that the circuit is producing. It’s not always as pronounced but given the amount of gain this circuit provides it’s a common issue found in most high gain amps. As some have mentioned even the infamous 5150 suffers with this.
That is caused by power supply issues usually. I typically plug into a cyberpower voktage regulator ups that cleans power really well compared to my furman
@schorschharrison it means your power is dirty and needs to be filtered. Nothing to do with the amp itself. It's like a cake; if you use bad ingredients, the cakes gonna suck. It's not the ovens fault it sucks.
@schorschharrison MT15 is pretty high gain circuitry like the 5150. They both amplify dirty power signals tenfold. A power conditioner is needed to get the cleanest signal possible and even then some Furman type units don't cut it.
@@CarstenStepanowicz my experience with prs amps has been very good, we'd be interested to see what the issue is when you discover it because I really want you to enjoy the MT15 bro.
Sounds just like a bad tube. Swap in a fresh preamp tube for the lead channel and report back. I’ve had this same noise happen due to faulty/noisy preamp tubes in an Archon.
@@CarstenStepanowicz Definitely could be. That windy sound is usually a tube. Modern tubes can be hit and miss. Golden rule for tube amps is to make sure you have a backup set of tubes.
I have always thought that most of these high-gain amplifiers need a noise gate. If this works to make the amplifier silent, then I don’t know what the real problem would be.
I absolutely agree with you. Some amps are noisier than others, no doubt about that. But if it sounds like a gang of mice slug out an MMA fight inside the amp even at bedroom level, it's not what I'd expect when it has a PRS label on it.
Oh, I thought they would fix that on the 100. 😕 I need to get my hands on one of those and try it out! Did you like the sound/character of the amp apart from the noise of course?
I’ve had one for 3 years now. Mine doesn’t do that at all? I’m wondering if you need a ground lift or some kinda of current conditioning. It’s definitely something with your current. I don’t think it’s the amp.
@@CarstenStepanowicz if not than there might be a capacitor or some bad shielding. Take it to a real amp tech. Or get a hold of PRS. They stand by there products.
I have purchased red tube socket shields to maybe help but that's ganna be so hard to install :( need to get to other side of motherboard. I swapped the Fx loop tube and maybe helped abit. I think lots of things come into play with this amps noise. Power supply,location,guitar location,what's on in room when it's on lol. Perfect placement and conditions matter maybe try that. And bonus when it catches radio stations lol backing tracks ! Included lol
Hahaha, I always enjoy a good backing track from radio stations 😂 I'm happy with it at the moment. I'm running a noise gate in the loop and that does the trick. 🤘❤️
@@CarstenStepanowicz I guess a 15 watt with as much preamp tubes as a 100 watt and full size power amp tubes would create noise lol I think it was designed with intention of a noise gate to be used on lead channel lol maybe they should have said in manual a noise gate is needed.
Mine has no noise and ive had it for about 3-4 years id really just try sending it back and getting it replaced because this amp is yhe one amp that im actually satisfied with and ive been through a fair number of them , in fact its also the only amp ive used that i like better than my massive pedal collection i think you just got a bad one and the company did nothing to actually repair the problem id bet that its actually something to do with the power going in to it perhaps its a mix up at the factory and you have one with parts designated for the u.s. models and its being over volted by the european power possibly
@schorschharrison oh dear , well all I can say it's worth trying to get one that works properly although since the 100 just dropped maybe just wait for that. It's a shame it's such a good little amp when it works as intended I'm so sorry this happened to you twice
@@joehertel8846 No worries. I'm happy for you that the one you have is working properly! Literally everybody I know who owns or owned an MT-15 has a story to tell about it. 😂 If it wasn't sounding so good, I hadn't kept it. When I use a gate in the fx loop it's quiet. I'm ok with it. Pretty hyped about the MT-100. It'll hit the shelves here in Germany late December hopefully. 🤘❤️
I have same problems with mine even worse with eq in the loop..can't turn it up past 3 on high gain...love the amp but it makes a heck of a swirling loud pitch with mxr 6 band in the loop...but not in front...crazy...loop plays my zakk chorus decent...I live in the country and love to crank it but it really only plays great with volume at 4 and lower
Not much happening after 4 volume wise. It could be easily one of the best toaster sized amps, if it wasn‘t noisy as hell! 😅 Many folks commented that changing the fx loop tube was their remedy. ✌️
Not good! At 4:19 ish that noise? I had that on my H&K GrandMeister Deluxe 40 before eventually it stopped working in any of the powersoak modes. I’ve only had it 18 months and really only been using it regularly since March this year. Thomann said valves/tubes only have a 6 month warranty so as im not able to work due to health issues im unable to afford to buy a matched pair of EL84 valves. Cest la vie Cheers from NZ 😎🎸🤘
@@CarstenStepanowicz no it’s a valve failure. It works it you deselect any of the powersoak modes and go into full 40W mode but yeah im in an apartment. I actually read the manual 🤣🍻 and it’s very informative and describes the problem. I liked johnny Cash at 13:12 hehe. Sounds like a decent amp. Local shop here in NZ has one but yeah buying food etc is my main priority atm 😎
@@CarstenStepanowicz do you have Solar guitars? I only just saw your channel tonight (subscribed) but haven’t checked your past vids yet. I’ve 5 Solar guitars all 1.6 various shapes etc. for me it’s the perfect neck. And so you like one style- say an E1.6 - and you already have a V-.6 etc ? Then you already know what the neck is gonna be like. I also like PRS. I have 1. Tremonti SE Standard single cut. Neck is similar to Solar necks. PRS call that one “pattern thin”. Played others at local PRS dealer yeah nah 🤣 the necks vary too much. So PRS with pattern thin necks but TBH I’ve got a list of 10 Solars I want coz why not ? 🤣😂😎🎸🤘
@@PeterMoore350 Thanks man, appreciate it. I've never played a Solar but met Ola at Guitar Summit this year. 🙌 PRS guitars have also never been on my radar too much. I like the super strat shape.
That noise is not normal ... bad tube? Sure sounds like it ... or there is a problem with the bias resistors, botched soldering job? This definetly comes from the power section, that is for sure.
@@CarstenStepanowicz honestly I just use a cheap Bugera PS-1. Some people complain about a loss of dynamics but for me I was able to bring so much more out of the amp without worrying about the hair-trigger Lead Master Volume knob blowing out my eardrums. Note: that particularly power soak eats more power when you turn the knob counter-clockwise, took me a week of disappointment until I experimented and figured that out
@@CarstenStepanowicz also I took my PRS MT15 head against the ones in a Guitar Center, I compared with original 6L6, newer 5881, and 6L6 swapped in for 5881…… the noise floor was the same for all, it’s tolerable with nothing plugged into the amp. I then stuck a simple 1/4” instrument cable Jack into the input socket and the noise exploded the same way for all of the amps. This is inherent to the design. I was using a Noise Filter on the input and the loop and wasn’t quite getting the result I wanted, but the power soak I think resolves all of the issues with this amp, and also let’s me drive the clean channel hard or use as a pedal platform. LOVE the amp now
The hum on the MT15s is from the power supply section being too close to the signal path of the preamp. It's kind of inevitable with how small the amp is and how much space the preamp board takes up. The MT100 is gonna be much larger so it shouldn't be an issue on that amp. Also, the crackling sound from the amp in this video is just a bad preamp tube
Dont think I've heard this through T75's before. I kinda like it better than mine going through a Vintage 30. I think it gets too fizzy and nasally in the upper mid range with the V30
You must be unlucky with the noise My mt15 has near to no noise and it’s 3 years old. Not the noise you are getting. Maybe could be your electricity point, eg interference other electronic devices.
A high gain amp makes noise. Oh the horror. 5150s evhs stuff mess they all make noise. Must be some super secret German amps that are silent but make Valhalla shake
@@RATTL3R186 ENGL 😂 Seriously though I have a 6505 which isn't noisy at all compared to my MT15. The first MT15 I had wasn't also this noisy, it started all of a sudden after a couple of months. Trust me I'm not picky when it comes to noisy amps but the MT15 without a noise gate is unusable.
I watched a video on youtube thst im sure is pretty easy to find where an amp repair dude fixed it by moving some of the wires around inside so who the fuck really knows. Its an awesome lunchbox amp simply because its got the 6l6s in there but at the same pricepoint and compact design as other lunchbox heads and i use a noise gate anyways. Im stuck between the 5150iiiLBXS and this bad boy and im at the fuck it stage or really close to it. The 6l6s just have way more of a punch than the el34s.
Oh Mann wie ärgerlich. Aber es gibt hier und da ein paar fähige Tüftler die den Amp toll modden. Der liebe @lukzriffs hat so einen. Der macht kein spinnefachs und läuft super ruhig . Aber so klingt der „kleine“ prs echt göttlich 👍🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻
Selbst bei dem neuen Ersatzverstärker ist diese ART des Geräusches nicht normal. Rauschen ja, ok - aber das klingt eher als ob da noch viel mehr im Argen ist.
Ich hab ein Gate im fx loop und das klappt soweit ganz gut. Du hast aber recht, da ist noch mehr im Argen 😂 PRS scheint damit ja gut Leben zu können. Die Kiste klingt halt obergeil. 🤷♀️
@@CarstenStepanowicz do you think the issues have been fixed since the first release of the amp ? Looking to get one next week !! Also !! Thank you for your videos !!!!!
