200man
Power User
Jeepers…just asking because the mystery of the preamp design, speaker and tweeter are now common knowledge.
…this makes this FRFR platform, highly modifiable.
Jeepers…just asking because the mystery of the preamp design, speaker and tweeter are now common knowledge.
I just received mine from Fender.com It has a slight audible hiss that's not overbearing.
I guess all I was saying was that getting the updated preamp makes sense to me, not only because of the hiss but the V2 Gold has sonic and functional improvements as well.
What "working" products are you referring to?
Not a lot of people know that back in 1975, AC/DC released a track predicting the announcement of the V2 waitlist......
This is going in the manual
Interesting. I hadn't noticed it before, as I've got a hiss free FR12 and been using XLR cable the entire time, but I just tried it out with a 1/4" and sure as sh*t that low level hum is there. Not extremely noticeable before the 12 noon position on volume but it's there and once you take it past that it becomes really noticeable. Do you think there might be a way to fix the ground issue by soldering the input ground to a different place without affecting anything else and without having to replace the input board? I'm just curious as I don't ever plan on using 1/4" to the FR12. My dilemma though is that I would like the ability to take the signal from my TMP and switch between the FR12s (two) and divert it to one or two of my other amps and or have signal going from my TMP to both FR12 and another amp at the same time. Normally I would accomplish this with an AB/Y switch using 1/4" and I know that there is a XLR AB/Y switch available from Hotshot. But after a Google search I'm not seeing an AB/Y switch that does both 1/4" and XLR outs. The TMP has two groups of outputs that I think (but not sure) you can have all active at the same time. First group labeled Output 1 has two balanced XLR outputs and two balanced 1/4" line outputs and Output 2 has dual assignable 1/4" stereo outputs independent of Output 1. I'm assuming that while running both my XLR outputs I can run the left 1/4" outputs on Output 1 and Output 2 as mono to one or two other amps and have them all going at the same time but I'm not sure I can switch between them with a tap of a foot button. Although it does say "assignable" on Output 2. I know I can hook all of this up and just try it, but before I do has anybody on this forum already tried this and know if that's possible with a TMP?
My latest stock FR-10 with the 3 ICs swapped for the half a$$ed hiss fix sounds pretty nasty. It starts clipping at 9:00 with the FM9 at 3:00 like a harsh overdrive. (the last preamp amp stage is an actual tube screamer 4558 IC) . And the 5-7k highs have been knocked down a lot
It still has a small bit of hiss from the horn at the highest and most irritating frequencies.
The V2 lifts the blanket off ..and the clipping is tamed down a ton. And the hiss from the horn is gone. The hiss is pretty much entirely gone...unless you run the eq wide open. Don't do that. This isn't VanHalen level amplification.
There is an unresolved issue with the FRs though. If you plug in a 1/4 jack for input it will have a low level hum. Balanced, unbalanced, whatever. It has a small ground loop hum using the 1/4 input. It will do this on a stock pre or a V2.
Use a balanced XLR input. It sounds awesome. I don't care what the manual says. The FRs have a floating chassis ground independent from the 0v preamp ground. There is a major design flaw in the input board.
It is what it is. Don't use 1/4" inputs into the FR balanced or otherwise (not even humbuster) . I didn't build the input board or power supply. We are all still dealing with some stupid outside of the preamp circuit.
You can build a dummy 1/4" plug with the tip grounded to the sleeve ..plug it in and it will hum. Any 1/4 plug really. No wires needed. Insert it and hummm. Try it, it's great
Full galvanic transformer isolation won't even fix it. More really dumb $#!+ . Just don't use a 1/4" input. Act like it's not even there.
And my personal thanks to @Patzag and @lscottk for helping me work out all possible causes of hum in the V2
and to @LolainNB for the reminder that we can still bring some hiss back by diming out all of the cascaded EQ gain stages. Which is not cool at all.
I really appreciate the feedback from everyone that got in on the first batch of handmade V2s. You helped make hundreds of the next V2s sound amazing.
I have not found a workaround yet. You can eliminate the floating chassis ground completely by pulling the green/yellow ground off the power supply. But I don't want to run it without a safety ground.
Yes it is crazy! The other thing I thought of was the possible placement of the input circuit board in relation to the other components within the cab. Maybe if moved to a different location within the cab it would eliminate the hum. Kind of like when audio cables run parallel to power cables and you gain noise in the line and when you run them perpendicular noise is eliminated. Just a thought while brainstorming this issue in my head.
