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Post by c0rtland on Oct 3, 2017 9:46:20 GMT -6
Hey guys. I've been getting a lot of noise from my guitars. I just had a master electrician out and we ran a clean line with isolated ground to all my outlets in the studio. The problem is still there. I also have the issue withanything that has a pickup, particularly single coils. I'm having the power company come out to investigate the issue later, but I was wondering if any one here has dealt with the same issue and resolved the problem.
The noise I'm referring to is the type that changes depending on where you are in the room. It's worse when the pickups are on a horizontal plane, slide, lap-steel. better when a guitar is shoulder strapped but still very bad.
I've tried humx units, power conditioners, lifting ground etc. I'm at a loss.
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Post by mulmany on Oct 3, 2017 10:15:02 GMT -6
Is it still there if you turn off all your equipment and lights in the room?
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Post by svart on Oct 3, 2017 10:26:47 GMT -6
LED lights, florescents, anything with a coil, motor or transformer.
Use the guitar as an antenna and see if you can find the source.
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Post by indiehouse on Oct 3, 2017 11:12:01 GMT -6
I'm dealing with the same issue. Even my humbuckers have hum. I've got to find the sweet spot and not move when tracking.
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Post by c0rtland on Oct 3, 2017 11:49:48 GMT -6
Power company is here currently. Happens even with all breakers off except the newly installed isolated ground breaker. Nothing on except the amp.
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Post by johneppstein on Oct 3, 2017 17:36:11 GMT -6
What kind of neighborhood are you in? Any industrial stuff around?
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Post by keymod on Oct 3, 2017 17:54:42 GMT -6
Isolated ground , done properly, is way more than a special receptacle with an insulated conductor used as ground. A separate ground bus, isolated from the existing grounding conductors of the service is used, as well as it's own grounding electrodes. And that's a very simple explanation.
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ericn
Temp
Balance Engineer
Posts: 14,978 
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Post by ericn on Oct 3, 2017 18:45:22 GMT -6
Hey guys. I've been getting a lot of noise from my guitars. I just had a master electrician out and we ran a clean line with isolated ground to all my outlets in the studio. The problem is still there. I also have the issue withanything that has a pickup, particularly single coils. I'm having the power company come out to investigate the issue later, but I was wondering if any one here has dealt with the same issue and resolved the problem. The noise I'm referring to is the type that changes depending on where you are in the room. It's worse when the pickups are on a horizontal plane, slide, lap-steel. better when a guitar is shoulder strapped but still very bad. I've tried humx units, power conditioners, lifting ground etc. I'm at a loss. Describe the noise humm, hash? Sizzle? |
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Post by c0rtland on Oct 3, 2017 18:49:39 GMT -6
Hash and hum. Not pleasant. It's the common sound we all know from single coils when they are picking up some interference. The thing is, it's just SO loud.
I'm not in an industrial area. The power company came out today and checked some connections. Poked around. The gentleman said he was sending his radio dept. over. He said they have encountered this before and have been able to get positive results. He said they had a guy complain about a similar issue that was a ham radio enthusiast. They were able to fix that situation apparently.
I am honestly just happy that they actually care and are willing to try and fix the issue. If it had been att or Verizon I probably wouldn't have even called.
I'll update here after they come out again and work on shielding / replacing some transformers or whatever they are gonna do. Wish them luck!
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Post by johneppstein on Oct 3, 2017 19:58:25 GMT -6
Hash and hum. Not pleasant. It's the common sound we all know from single coils when they are picking up some interference. The thing is, it's just SO loud. I'm not in an industrial area. The power company came out today and checked some connections. Poked around. The gentleman said he was sending his radio dept. over. He said they have encountered this before and have been able to get positive results. He said they had a guy complain about a similar issue that was a ham radio enthusiast. They were able to fix that situation apparently. I am honestly just happy that they actually care and are willing to try and fix the issue. If it had been att or Verizon I probably wouldn't have even called. I'll update here after they come out again and work on shielding / replacing some transformers or whatever they are gonna do. Wish them luck! If you have access to an oscilloscope you might take a look at the waveform on your power line. |
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Post by lcr on Oct 4, 2017 7:03:42 GMT -6
I have the cheese grater mac under the desk and even with humbucker guitars I have to swivel 180 degrees to reduce the hum. I always thought this is because of the mac? I would love to get rid of this noise, would a isolated ground breaker do the trick?
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Post by adamjbrass on Oct 4, 2017 8:09:44 GMT -6
you might have to build a Faraday cage around your place, if its radiating from outside.
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Post by jazzcabbage on Oct 4, 2017 8:45:35 GMT -6
The noise I'm referring to is the type that changes depending on where you are in the room. Funny this topic came up recently in regards to ribbon mics. I have a few old beast ribbon mics that love to act as antennas for this kind of EMI noise you're talking about. At this last place I worked out of it apparently was really bad. We didn't go through the trouble of redoing the electrical. I tried everything else though. One thing I came across was Ferrite choke clamps and those did the trick. You put one at the end of the cable right before the cable plugs into the preamp or in this case the amp. I'm not sure how great they would work with electric guitar? I've never used them like that but I'd be interested in testing. They create an inductor based LPF supposedly only eliminating that noise frequency range. With those old ribbon mics all that was missed was that annoying EMI noise. I really could not hear a difference on any of the sources I tested with or without them. I'm not sure how much loss you'd hear if any with an electric guitar? I never bothered as I've always had the guitarist move around the room and find a place and angle that rejects it the most. The ribbon mics were just unbearable and a lot of those tracks just could not be buried in a mix. You have to take a caliper to find the outer dimension of your cables and find the appropriate inner dimension clamp. They run about $1 on fleabay not a big loss to test. Let us know if they work for you. An exampleen.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferrite_bead |
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Post by johneppstein on Oct 4, 2017 12:15:10 GMT -6
you might have to build a Faraday cage around your place, if its radiating from outside. I was going to suggest that. Lining the room with (grounded) chicken wire should do the trick. |
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Post by c0rtland on Oct 4, 2017 12:43:08 GMT -6
The noise I'm referring to is the type that changes depending on where you are in the room. Funny this topic came up recently in regards to ribbon mics. I have a few old beast ribbon mics that love to act as antennas for this kind of EMI noise you're talking about. At this last place I worked out of it apparently was really bad. We didn't go through the trouble of redoing the electrical. I tried everything else though. One thing I came across was Ferrite choke clamps and those did the trick. You put one at the end of the cable right before the cable plugs into the preamp or in this case the amp. I'm not sure how great they would work with electric guitar? I've never used them like that but I'd be interested in testing. They create an inductor based LPF supposedly only eliminating that noise frequency range. With those old ribbon mics all that was missed was that annoying EMI noise. I really could not hear a difference on any of the sources I tested with or without them. I'm not sure how much loss you'd hear if any with an electric guitar? I never bothered as I've always had the guitarist move around the room and find a place and angle that rejects it the most. The ribbon mics were just unbearable and a lot of those tracks just could not be buried in a mix. You have to take a caliper to find the outer dimension of your cables and find the appropriate inner dimension clamp. They run about $1 on fleabay not a big loss to test. Let us know if they work for you. An exampleen.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferrite_bead Very nice suggestion! |
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