carter bbd 2 barrel hissing noise

The engine starting then instantly stopping is a classic symptom of a bad ballast resistor. Just sayin.....
A carb hisses when idling with the air cleaner removed.
I got the car to fire up without doing anything, but every once in awile it wont start at all or it tries and dies after I release the key again. someone told me if the ballast resistor was bad it wouldn't start at all, is this true? is there anything else it could be? Thanks!