weird buzz/ground loop noise?

B

Btyre2013

New member
Hi, I went to plug in my guitar today and noticed that it was noisy all of a sudden, it's been a while since I last used it,

here's a recording of it, View attachment 93864

the recording is my guitar straight into the amp, the first is the neck, then neck+bridge, then bridge, as you will hear the neck P90 is noisy, the first round is on the overdrive channel, then on cleans,

would appreciate some advice on solving this, it was silent before with no noise at all with the selector switch on any setting.

setup = JJ Retro guitar P90 (neck), Humbucker (Bridge) > Vox VR30 >Orange PPC112 > sm57> audient iD22 preamps> iD22 AD conversion> Wavelab 8 100% dry.
 
Have you changed anything around in your room - moved the amp, turned a ceiling fan on that wasn't before, maybe replaced a regular lightbulb with a fluorescent? Anything like that? It almost sounds like there is some kind of electrical interference going on there...

I've got a few things to take care of around the house, I'll go up and plug my melody maker in later and see how the P90's in that sound - IIRC, I've always had a little bit of noise with them, especially with the OD engaged.
 
There has to be some change from before.
however, you mentioned it was silent with no noise before. That is an impossibility with a p90. Its a big single coil with no hum cancelation features.
They all make some noise it is just a matter of degree.

I would take it out of the current environment, and just try the guitar and amp in an electricly "quiet" room. No motors, no fans, no fridge, no fluorescent lights, and see how it does.

For a long term solution, take it to a tech and have the whole thing shielded with copper tape. Ive found a 50 to 75% reduction in noise. But a single coil will always produce noise, just the nature of the beast.

There's alway the possibility that your string ground has failed. Its rare but it can happen.
 
Yeah, so I played around with my Melody Maker late last night and the P90s in it are noisy as hell - especially when running through any kind of OD. Cleans weren't as noticeable, much like your clip that you posted, but as soon as the channel on the amp was switched it was there. Quite frankly, I've got too much crap plugged in in my small room and it was way worse than your clip.

RFR said:
For a long term solution, take it to a tech and have the whole thing shielded with copper tape. Ive found a 50 to 75% reduction in noise.
Click to expand...

Copper tape, eh? I'll have to go see if I can track that down and see what I can do with it.
 
Single coils are noisy. Nature of the beast. Additional noise can be about ten billion different things. Have fun with that.
 
I was just thinking about this... When you plug it in next time, move around the room a little bit and face away from your recording computer (assuming it's in the same room) to see if any of that makes a difference as well.
 
pikingrin said:
Copper tape, eh? I'll have to go see if I can track that down and see what I can do with it.
Click to expand...

You can get it via guitar shop suppliers. Stew Mac, Luthiers Merchantile, Allparts, WD, etc.

In a pinch you can go to your local hardware store and pick up 2inch wide aluminum tape.It works fine but not quite as well as copper, because you cannot solder to it.
look in the plumbing section. Done right, you wouldnt notice much difference between it and the copper.

When you buy an aftermarket strat p/g they usually have an aluminum sheild on the back. Their stuff is a cheap paper backed stick on with a real thin metal coating.
The hardware store stuff is actually metal with a adhesive backing.

Installation is easy but a pain in the ass.

All electronics need to come out. All cavities
need to be lined with the tape, and overlapped so you have continuity. As an additional measure, the seams get a few beads of solder.

On a p90, you will want to run tape around the outside of the winds, as well as the inside of the cover.
Make shure there is no shorting of the windings!

Tape up all covers, and do it so all points are getting continuity.

You need;

Patience
The tape
An exacto knife, sissors
An ohmeter
a soldering iron and solder.

Thats about it.
hopefully this is somewhat useful.

:-)
 
already done all of that RFR, it cost a fortune and took ages, and it removed all the hum, was completely silent even on extreme overdrive settings, I removed at least 90% of the noise, but then it went back to humming again recently, had a look inside and there's nothing obvious at all, definitely no cold joints, also tried it at another persons house and the problem is still the same so it must be the guitar itself. I'm going to take it to my local tech soon
 
I shielded my Strat with copper foil and tape. It's sealed and grounded. It still makes noise because single coils just make noise.

The foil is evil. That shit will cut you to pieces.
 
Greg_L said:
The foil is evil. That shit will cut you to pieces.
Click to expand...
lol ....... no shit.
It's basically razor tape!

I did my tele build with it and really have very little noise ...... in today's world of "I want perfection" people freak about even the least little noise but a little noise doesn't bother me.
 
normally with a single coil pickup guitar, like a strat, you can spin around slowly and there will be 2 quiet positions and 2 really noisy positions. These positions are the polar opposites of each other. When recording I usually hit record and quickly get the guitar into the lowest noise position. Thats the best you can do with single coils and 60cycle hum. Well, you can use a noise gate but it will abruptly end a decaying note when the level gets below the noise gate threshold.
If you find the quiet spot position, your guitar is properly shielded, and there isnt anything else in the room causing noise....like lighting or a transformer of some kind...the noise usually isn't very noticeable.
 
Also, your volume and gain will have a big effect. A clean Strat, Tele, or P-90 sound won't be that noisy. Turn the gain and volume up and hell starts to break loose. I bet Hendrix's Strat made all kinds of ungodly racket just sitting idle with cranked Plexis behind him.
 
Johnny Ramone used a Dimarzio FS-1 (Fat Strat single coil) in his Mosrite, plugged into very loud JCM 800s. For the microseconds between songs that he wasn't playing, his rig was NOISY.
 
Greg_L said:
Johnny Ramone used a Dimarzio FS-1 (Fat Strat single coil) in his Mosrite, plugged into very loud JCM 800s. For the microseconds between songs that he wasn't playing, his rig was NOISY.
Click to expand...

Yes.
Also, the older vintage 100 watt Marshalls all had a very audible hum to them. At least all the ones I ever heard or owned did.
Nobody back then gave a shit though....after the first set everyone's eardrums were too scorched to hear it.
lol
 
Btyre2013 said:
already done all of that RFR, it cost a fortune and took ages, and it removed all the hum, was completely silent even on extreme overdrive settings, I removed at least 90% of the noise, but then it went back to humming again recently, had a look inside and there's nothing obvious at all, definitely no cold joints, also tried it at another persons house and the problem is still the same so it must be the guitar itself. I'm going to take it to my local tech soon
Click to expand...

I just listened to the clip. The hum is constant even while playing.
The first thing I'd check is if the ground is intact on the jack and if the string ground is intact.
For it to have been sheilded, all the wiring had to come out. It is very possible that upon re-assembly something wasn't soldered well and now has come loose.

Edit: question, when you touch and remove your hand from the bridge is there any change in the hum??
If the string ground is intact, the hum should decrease.
 
RFR said:
I just listened to the clip. The hum is constant even while playing.
The first thing I'd check is if the ground is intact on the jack and if the string ground is intact.
For it to have been sheilded, all the wiring had to come out. It is very possible that upon re-assembly something wasn't soldered well and now has come loose.

Edit: question, when you touch and remove your hand from the bridge is there any change in the hum??
If the string ground is intact, the hum should decrease.
Click to expand...

no change when I touch the bridge or strings or take it away, it might actually be the input jack? gonna take a last look before sending it to someone
 
No change means no string ground.

If you touch the metal casing of your plug (on the cord) the hum should stop.

My bet is the string ground is not making contact.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top