Pickmaster,

Thanks.  Maybe I am just being uptight for no reason.  I compared it to another amp I have, an AC15, and they both make the same kind of background noise as I turn them up.  I think the OTS is just louder because, well, it is louder.

Thanks, I will double check the FET wiring but what I was getting at is that it only happens at higher volumes. 

Are you saying your amp is dead quiet with nothing plugged into either input and the volume and master volume turned up all the way?  I guess what I'm asking is how much noise is reasonable. 

I have a question and was wondering if anyone could give me some feedback to help me understand if the amp is behaving normally....  bear with the long-winded nature of my post, please...

I can easily set the amp at 8 or 9 on the volume control and 1 or 2 on the master volume, turn on the distortion channel, and have a very nice distortion sound with no background noise from the amp.  I can also turn the master volume up high and put the volume on 1 or 2 and get great cleans on the normal channel without any background noise from the amp.  No hum or anything when I'm not strumming or picking notes.  It's just dead quiet.

However, when I  turn both the master volume and volume up to say, 5, the amp starts producing noise.  It's not hum, it's more like, well, background white noise.  When I play you can't hear the noise, just if you let the amp sit there.  (Also, I can unplug the guitar input and it makes no difference on the noise).  If I turn the MV and V up to max the background noise is louder.  It's not obnoxiously loud, but it's there.

is this normal?

Thanks!