Volume pot reduced brings up hum/buzz

[strathead1]

Hi Guitar Nuts,

I have a problem that I hope some one can diagnose for me. I have an AmSe Strat with Hot Noiseless pus installed. I have shielded it with copper tape and have star-grounded it as per Guitar Nuts site instructions.
It's hum free except for when I turn the volume down to 5-6 when some hum/buzz is heard. Going below this setting the hum/buzz decreases.
This isn't major hum/buzz, but annoying nonetheless as I often turn down to clean up overdrive etc.
Any ideas?

Thanks in advance,

Regards,

Strathead_1

[UnklMickey]

hi Strathead_1,

Welcome to GuitarNuts2.


i think the reason i'm the first to answer your post, is you might already be at the limit of how good it gets.

since you are hum-free with the guitar volume at 10, the shielding and grounding treatments are probably just fine.

when you adjust your guitar volume near the middle, the impedance at that end of the cable is at it's maximum.

at "10" the pickup(s) cause(s) the resistance to be about 5~10 k.

at "0" the volume control causes the resistance to be 0.

somewhere in the middle the resistance will be about 130 k.


i believe the hum/buzz you hear is getting in through the cable.

try auditioning some different cables.

you might find a better one, that reduces the noise.


good luck,


unk

[strathead1]

Hi unklmickey,

Thank you for replying.
You might be right on that.
I'll try different cables and see if the effect goes away/varies.

Once again, thank you for your time.
Regards,
Strathead_1

[UnklMickey]

strathead1 said:

...You might be right on that...

exactly, and that is spelled with a capital MIGHT.

troubleshooting by remote control is a bit dicey at best.

for all we know, you may have a great cable now, and all the ones you audition might be worse.

one thing is fairly certain. with the volume pot near the middle you will be able to hear a difference between a good cable, and a mediocre one.



if you have time to visit after you've tryed a few, we'd be glad to hear the results.


thanks,

unk

[strathead1]

Hi Unk,

I just read your reply and luck would have it, today I'm on leave, the neighbours are on holiday and I've got the house to myself.

My normal setup is an Amse Strat with Hot Noiseless pups into a Tonelab Se then into the clean channel of a Laney LC30 tube combo. I play in a rock/pop covers band and need a number of standard classic tones which the set up gives me.

The problem exists (or is more evident) when slight to medium overdrive is applied to any amp/speaker model. As I said before, it's more of an annoyance then anything else, still I wanted it gone.

Anyway, recently I purchased a Barber Direct Drive on e-bay and decided to use it straight into the clean channel of the LC30. No matter how I set the controls I could not get the annoying hum/buzz when turning down; even running the dimed Direct Drive into the drive channel of the LC30 did not produce the hum/buzz when turning down.

I disconnected the DD and reconnected the Tonelab Se and bang! annoying hum back again when using overdrive.

Consequently the test above vindicates my guitar, leads and amp - the annoyance is caused by the Tonelab Se.

I'll have to see if I can work around the problem on the Tonelab.

Thank you Unk for your advice.

Best Regards,

Strathead_1