Guitar recording, distortion and buzz

I've subscribed to this forum specifically to try and solve this problem, which I've had since forever but never solved.

When I play or record guitars with ampsims with distortion and high gain I get a very nasty buzzing noise.
It's not normal feedback you would get when being close to the amp (it's even there if I use headphones, so feedback is out of the question).
I don't think it's 60hz hum, because it's there even if I use the in-between position in my pick-up selector.
The cable, the audio interface and the guitars' wiring are fine. I've changed audio interfaces and the problem was always there. I've had the guitar checked today: no problem when I've plugged it into a normal amp with high gain and distortion, although I wasn't at home, but in a guitars shop.
I've tried several different ampsims and no progress.

It's been suggested to me that the problem could be the room's electric wiring which could not have ground; but I've tried setting up everything in another room, using a socket which I know has ground connection, and the buzz was there nonetheless.

Before anyone asks, in the room I play and record in I have no CRT monitors, fluorescent lights or lights' dimmers, though I do have a wi-fi router and, obviously, a computer.

The guitar is a LTD Strat copy with 3 stock single coils.
I usually get by using a noise gate, the least possible gain and turning the treble down considerably in my ampsim, but it's hardly an ideal solution.

I'd like some advice to solve this annoying problem.
Furthermore, if all else fails, would active pickups be a solution?

Thanks a lot.
 
If you post a 10 second clip of the noise (JUST the noise, playing critique is another dept!) I can run it through Right Mark Audio analyser and find the actual frequency. Of course you could download the free app' and do the same.

Do you get the same noise when you DON'T us the amp sim? Can you run a clip of clean audio, ripped from a CD say, through the sim and see if that has the noise? Then, amp sims are legion, have you tried others?

Dave.
 
...I can run it through Right Mark Audio analyser and find the actual frequency.

Can't he just load an EQ in his DAW and visualize it? I used to do that all the time at the old house whenever I got a weird buzz or hum, especially on my bass g.
 
Here's a clip. I'm using two different FX chains here: the first emphasizes the problem, the second is the one I normally use.
In both cases I'm using the bridge pu, the gain isn't cranked and the treble is cut on the ampsim, and in both the two parts you can hear the noise before I put my hand, then me actually putting my hand on the fretboard and playing some notes and then turning the pick-up selector to the in-between position to let you hear the difference.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-GudkWVW9czZ19GaTR3Z054d1k/view?usp=sharing

This, instead, is a screenshot with a frequency analyzer (ReaEQ) run before any effects:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-GudkWVW9czUkdGeHNHNmlFRU0/view?usp=sharing

I hope that's enough to clarify.
Thanks.
 
It sounded like it was loud and then quieted down when you put your fingers on the strings.
If thats the case you have a grounding problem on your guitar .
Have you tried another guitar?
 
It sounded like it was loud and then quieted down when you put your fingers on the strings.
If thats the case you have a grounding problem on your guitar .
Have you tried another guitar?

Yes, it is quieter when I have my fingers on the strings.
I don't have another guitar, so I haven't tried yet, but I will.
As I've said, though, I took it to a guitar tech to have the wiring checked, and he didn't even look at it, because he tried it into a normal amp with the gain cranked and it sounded normal there.
 
It sounded like it was loud and then quieted down when you put your fingers on the strings.
If thats the case you have a grounding problem on your guitar .
Have you tried another guitar?
No dude. The noise is supposed to get quieter when you touch the strings. If it didn't - or got louder - we'd know that the bridge ground was not connected. I can't listen to the clip from my phone, but this part seems normal from the description.

Single coil pickups hum. That's why they make humbuckers. ;) Properly shielding the pickup and control cavities might help, but it only goes so far.
 
No dude. The noise is supposed to get quieter when you touch the strings. If it didn't - or got louder - we'd know that the bridge ground was not connected. I can't listen to the clip from my phone, but this part seems normal from the description.

Single coil pickups hum. That's why they make humbuckers. ;) Properly shielding the pickup and control cavities might help, but it only goes so far.

Hi, ashcat. Good to see you here, too.
Fact is, if it's normal single coil hum, why wasn't it nearly this bad when I've plugged it into the amp at the shop? And why does it not make any difference switching to the in-between position?
 
You changed way too many variables when you went to the store.

Are you sure your middle pickup is RWRP to the others? Even then, it's not going to be as good at hum cancelling as an actual HB where the coils are as close as possible to each other.
 
You changed way too many variables when you went to the store.

Are you sure your middle pickup is RWRP to the others? Even then, it's not going to be as good at hum cancelling as an actual HB where the coils are as close as possible to each other.

I'm not positive, although I assumed it was like that on every modern Strat, otherwise what's the point of having 5 positions?

Anyway, I may be able to borrow a guitar with humbuckers to see if that helps.
I do have, and have tried, a messed-up entry-level Yamaha with humbuckers that I have lying around and it did the same noise, but it's really messed-up and cheap and it doesn't seem to be a good test.
 
It sounded like it was loud and then quieted down when you put your fingers on the strings.
If thats the case you have a grounding problem on your guitar .
Have you tried another guitar?

Completly untrue. All guitars with the exception of active pickups like EMG, utilize a "string ground". There is a wire from the back of one of the pots to the bridge. When your hand is on the strings or any other metal on the guitar the ground is completed.

Some guitars are quieter than others, but taking your hands off and it buzzing/humming is normal.
 
I'm not positive, although I assumed it was like that on every modern Strat, otherwise what's the point of having 5 positions?
Quack?

Since you said it was a cheap copy with cheap pickups, I wouldn't take it for granted.

There is some debate about exactly why string/bridge ground actually works, but the point is that it should get quieter when you touch the strings. That doesn't mean there couldn't be a problem with a ground connection in the guitar, just that the touching the strings thing only proves that the string ground is intact.
 
Quack?

Since you said it was a cheap copy with cheap pickups, I wouldn't take it for granted.

There is some debate about exactly why string/bridge ground actually works, but the point is that it should get quieter when you touch the strings. That doesn't mean there couldn't be a problem with a ground connection in the guitar, just that the touching the strings thing only proves that the string ground is intact.

Well, pretty cheap but not dirt cheap. It's an LTD St-213: I think it's similar to a Squire Classic Vibe. The pickups are labeled "ESP-Designed".
Unfortunately, I really can't tell much difference with the in-between positions, except that some low freq hum seems to decrease a little.
 
Nizhny, why did you say "60Hz hum" in your first post? *

The attached spectrum clearly shows a dominant 50Hz component then 100Hz then a mid band mess. The latter is due to the fact that amp sims can use enormous DIGTAL gains without the constraints of hiss and microphony associated with analogue electronics.
No free lunch though because it still amplifies all the crap from the guitar that it picks up from the 'ether' !

Re the hand, hum string thing? I would intuitively think a properly shielded guitar WITH the strings bonded to the bridge AND the bridge bonded to jack earth would not hum differently whether touched or no. IF this is the case I would be suspicious of the quality of the equipment or/and mains earthing?

In the annyloggy amp world you can have an amplifier that has a very respectable signal to noise ration of 50dB below full power (that's bloody good for a valve gitamp!) but switch in the OD channel, if it has one, and this can degrade hugely to worse than 20dB below FP. Fact of electronic life I am afraid. Plug in a guitar and things all go to H in a pram!

* So, where TF ARE you?

Dave.(btw, yes as someone said, most DAWs have a 'visulizer' but they are often not very precise at hum frequencies)
 

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Nizhny, why did you say "60Hz hum" in your first post? *

I said 60Hz hum because it's a well known problem guitars with single coils have. But in my case I don't think it is, because switching to the "humbucking" in-between position doesn't solve it (although ashcat pointed out that the middle pu could not be RWRP).

Re the hand, hum string thing? I would intuitively think a properly shielded guitar WITH the strings bonded to the bridge AND the bridge bonded to jack earth would not hum differently whether touched or no. IF this is the case I would be suspicious of the quality of the equipment or/and mains earthing?

Is there consensus about this? Ashcat and others said it's normal that the noise changes in loudness and/or pitch when touching the strings, even if the guitar's grounding is OK.

* So, where TF ARE you?

You mean geographically or where am I recording/playing?
 
"You mean geographically or where am I recording/playing? "

Geographically. You can only get SIXTY Hz hum and its harmonics in US (and a surprisingly few other places in the world) . Your noise, as you can see, has 50Hz hum.

Hums, guitars and earthing (aka 'grounding') is a complex problem and often depends upon the guitar, the amp and the mains supply quality/type.
So no! No specific, cast in stone, answers!

Dave.
 
"You mean geographically or where am I recording/playing? "

Geographically. You can only get SIXTY Hz hum and its harmonics in US (and a surprisingly few other places in the world) . Your noise, as you can see, has 50Hz hum.

Hums, guitars and earthing (aka 'grounding') is a complex problem and often depends upon the guitar, the amp and the mains supply quality/type.
So no! No specific, cast in stone, answers!

Dave.

I'm in Italy, but they call it "60Hz" hum here, too. Does it make much difference?

So, to sum it up, possibile solutions:
- shielding the cavities
- humbuckers/quiet pickups
- check that everything (guitar/sockets etc.) has proper grounding
- power conditioners.

Am I missing something?
Except things like go and turn on/off the neighbour's fridge, because that's a little complicated in my home studio situation.
Thanks a lot.
 
"Am I missing something?
Except things like go and turn on/off the neighbour's fridge, because that's a little complicated in my home studio situation.
Thanks a lot."

No, you are missing nothing. The electric guitar is a noisy beggar. It is some years now since I did it but I found the beat noise floor I could get with a Mex Strat was around -70dBFS. I shall see if I can repeat the exercise, last time the interface was an M-A 2496 card and home built DI box into a Behringer X802. I can still use the 2496 but drive it from an A&H Zed 10 mixer (has HZ inputs) . Then hook my NI KA6 to an HP i3 lappy.

The difficulty (apart from time and acute knackeredness) is getting a standard string strike as a baseline signal.

Italy will be on the EU 'harmonized' 230 volts at 50Hz. The Britts were bastards to a lot of countries years ago but at least they introduced a sensible mains supply!

Dave.
 
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