dillon
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Post by dillon on Apr 29, 2006 22:00:16 GMT -5
Hi everyone. As you can tell, I'm new here, but I've been browsing through this forum for a while now, and I'll probably be sticking around. Anyhow, I have a question that I can hopefully get some help with. I've been having a problem with a ridiculous amount of noise through my amps, no matter which of my guitars I use. It's a kind of low humming, like you might hear if the guitar was near a TV or other similar device. The only way to get rid of it is to turn the volume down. From past experiences, I'd say it's just a bad ground somewhere in my guitars, but I've looked through the wiring of each guitar and can't find anything wrong. The noise isn't too bad when clean, but with even a bit of distortion it's horribly loud. I gig with a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe, and play with quite a bit of gain, so this problem has become more than just an annoyance. I have to turn the volume down whenever I'm not playing. My guitars consist of a Telecaster copy that I did the wiring on, an Ibanez Roadstar II with EMGs in it (85 in the bridge, SA in neck and middle) that I also did the wiring on, a stock MIJ Fender Jaguar reissue except for the pickups, and a completely stock Ibanez RG570. Maybe I've just done something wrong with all my guitars, but I find that hard to believe. I even tried following the guide for shielding a tele that's at Guitar Nuts, but it didn't help much. So, what could be wrong here? I'm really looking forward to effectively eliminating this hum. I think I might have to install a cut switch in my guitars if I can't.
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Post by sumgai on Apr 30, 2006 6:14:36 GMT -5
dillon, Hi, and to the forum! Hmmmm, three guitars, one amp, and probably the same cord.... lotsa hum. Check. A few questions for you: Have a buddy bring his guitar and amp over to your place. 1) Does his guitar hum through his amp? Through your amp? How about your guitar through his amp? (Change input cords as needed to make sure that isn't the problem.) 2) Take all your stuff over to his place, and repeat the above. Any differences? Now, you should have noted a pattern of what produced the most hum, and what gave you the least hum. Report your findings here, and we'll have some potential solutions for you to try out. sumgai
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dillon
Rookie Solder Flinger
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Post by dillon on Apr 30, 2006 18:54:34 GMT -5
Unfortunately I don't know anyone else who plays guitar here. I've tried all my chords, and none seem to reduce the hum. However, they are pretty old, so I'm not ruling that out. One is at least ten years old, the other I bought in '98. And the others are all short-length chords that are also at least ten years old. The hum isn't too bad while playing clean, but when I give it gain it gets to be pretty obtrusive. I use a Boss OD-2 which I also wired up myself. (I'm seeing a chain here. ) However, it's just as noisy using my amp's overdrive channel, and I haven't touched it except for changing the preamp tubes out. Could it be that there's a bad ground somewhere in the amp? On second thought, using the neck/bridge combo in my tele greatly diminishes the hum, which leads me to believe that maybe it is a guitar problem after all.
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Post by sumgai on Apr 30, 2006 21:45:49 GMT -5
dillon, I smell a shielding rant coming on.... Have you read this article yet? Quieting the Beast. Let us know if you think that this might help. And it can't hurt. Where are you located such that there are no other guitar players anywhere within driving distance of you? I thought unklmickey fixed that, there's supposed to be at least one picker in every 2 square miles in this country! ;D unklmickey = Hope all that helped! sumgai
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dillon
Rookie Solder Flinger
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Post by dillon on Apr 30, 2006 23:57:11 GMT -5
Yeah, I attempted to do that shielding guide on my tele. However, I was using aluminum foil and spray adhesive because I was too cheap to buy the stew-mac tape. I don't think it helped very much, understandably. Even so, my jaguar came from the factory with brass shielding plates, and the pickguard's shielded too. Yet it hums just as bad. Also, it's not that there aren't any guitar players in my area, just that I don't know any...
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