noise ..noise..noise..

okie guys, i ve been going crazy with this hiss problem the past few days,yesterday i just try using the BAT vk5i pre with the amp,and now it is dead silence and sound fantastic.i just cant figure it out.the amp alone is noisy,amp plus my pre-amp doesnt change anything,still noisy,but with the BAT pre-amp(loaner) is dead silence.what is it about this bat pre-amp that can cure the problem..i am hopping if i can fix this problem without purchasing another pre-amp.thanks

Gmood1...

1...While the power capability (watts) of the amp has no direct relationship to its noise level, it does affect how the noise level is spec'd. Noise is spec'd relative to full power output. So a 60 watt amp rated at -100dB will be quieter at idle than a 600 watt amp with the same noise spec.

2...An AC powered dc supply can be as quiet as the designer cares to make it. And battery voltage has some noise on it when you draw current. The chemicals are "cooking off" to release the electrons. However, in practice battery power is a foolproof approach if the device doesn't require much power.

The noise generated by an ac supply is easily evaluated. Just pull the plug so the amp is running on the capacitors and see if the noise level changes. Make sure that you aren't hearing ground loop hum.

Would the Granite Audio ground zero device help here? Its the only component of its kind I am aware of, seems pretty flexible. If I ever freak about my systems background noise I'd probably try it.

have you had any problems with the bass bottoming out? How about the bass amps clipping? bob