radio in pedal

[jal]

does any one have any problems with the radio coming through when recording? its usually the pedal. its probably a grounding problem in my studio, but i was wondering if there was any jerry-rig way of fixing the problem?

jal

[Daddy-O]

First of all, use good quality cables. Next use a good battery or if you use an adapter make sure it's plugged into the same circuit/receptical as your amp(s). If you are still having a problem, take your pedal apart and line the inside with shielding foil. Do you have flouresent lights in your studio? If so the high voltage ballast inside them can cuase a 60 cycle hum or interference with electronics. Also as you stated before, it could be a grounding problem in the building wiring. If your studio was built before 1970, it may have two wire ungrounded circiuts. This is how you find out. Take a receptical out of the wall and look for theses colors. Black, red, or blue; these are positve. White is neutral. Green or a non-insulated conductor is ground. If the green or non-isulated is missing, the circuit is most likley ungrounded. I'm an electrician and I'll be glad to talk you through how to test and correct the problem. The details can become lengthy so e-mail if you have any more questions about wiring problems. daddyo@mad.scientist.com

[jal]

hey thanx i will definitely try those and contact u if i have anymore ?'s. i heard if u connect a wire to ur finger and connect to the jack part of ur guitar it stops alot of the hum, have u ever heard of that?

jal

[enemyofthesun]

I have a demo like that. Its got the damn Rangers station going on in the background. Pretty funny. The guitar was not grounded properly.

[Daddy-O]

Touching metal parts of your pedal or guitar will reduce some of the hum because the stray voltage uses your body as a ground. Enemy... brought up a good piont. Make sure the electrical parts in you guitar are bonded. There should be a conductor that is soldered to the casing on all the pots and soldered to the negative post on the 1/4" jack and soldered or mechanical connected to the tailpiece or tremolo.

[jal]

cool. i did a hole song and i picked up radio disney in it and they were playing nsync i actually liked it though cause it sounded good with the back up vox. hehe

[Tom Hicks]

You can use aluminum foil to line the pickup cavities of your guitars.All the solder points on your volume and tone pots are unshielded radio antennae ready to grab stray signals (and it is an electronic soup out there,including RFI like radio ,flouresent lights ,bad wiring etc.).As previous posts noted,make sure the onboard pickup ground wire is properly connncted (touch your bridge and if hum goes away the ground is wrong).
Tom