Yes Hikari, the noise is independent of the volume settings so does this suggest to you that the gainclone (an audiosector deluxe version, built to the recommended plan) is the more likely issue or how it is working with the ba3 pre. I am wondering now about the earthing. In testing the connection between ba3 and gainclone the hiss starts as soon as the earth connects on the interconnects i.e. before the hot or signal connect is made. I see that hiss from gainclones is not uncommon and various solutions are mentioned including reducing gain and paying extra attention to the earth layout. I have only ever used the gainclone with passive pres, for several years now, and it has always been dead quiet (which is why I had initially wondered about the ba3, as it was the ne link in the chain). I tried your suggestion regarding a ground breaker (CL60) on the ba3 and it made no difference at all to the hiss. I wonder if I should look at a ground breaker on the gainclone or revisit my grounding on the ba3. I am going to start on my f6 amp soon but would like to at least be able to use the gainclone in the meantime. Using the attenuator before the gainclone does help with the, admittedly low level, noise but does take something away from the sound quality, although it is still a long way ahead of just having the attenuator. Regards Nigel.
