Direct Box 60 Cycle Hum Issue?

S

Strange Fires

New member
For recording right now, I'm using a Joyo JDI-01 between the power amp and speakers of my Music Man HD130 212 (in addition to micing the amp). The first time I tried it out, it did what it was supposed to: running that way, the amp colored the direct signal (rather than the usual flat direct sound you get with running guitar direct i.e. pretty much all of Prince's album Dirty Mind), and it gave me something to mix the mic'd signal with.

I tried it out for the second time yesterday, and I got really bad 60 cycle hum, which I didn't last time. Tried flicking the ground lift switches on both my amp and DI on and off, but it didn't go away. I had the box sitting on top of my amp both times. I managed to get rid of it with Ableton's noise gate for the most part, but I don't want to have to use a gate to begin with. Any way to fix this?
 
If you didn't change anything in your rig.....then maybe the box has issues.

Try a Radial JDX next time....you get what you pay for.
 
I actually searched "direct box hum" on here, and someone brought up having your computer/interface plugged into a different power source than your box being a potential issue. I realized that I did have my MacBook charger plugged into a different power bar than my amp and DI, so I think that might actually be it.
 
Well...if it was plugged in the same way last time, then it's something else.... but it never hurts to switch things around to see if it makes a difference.
It could also be some other device that's on the same electrical circuit in another room/location....?
 
I didn't have my computer charging last time I recorded, and that's the only thing I can think of that wasn't happening the first time, so that seems like the most likely culprit. If that's not it, any other thoughts/suggestions?
 
that's why expensive DI boxes have a ground loop button, unfortunately you always get what you pay for. I used to own a samson DI box that was dirt cheap though which had a ground loop button, this should hopefully remove all the hum. If that doesn't work it is very likely to be the circuit in your guitar, make sure there are no cold solder joints and that it's also well grounded to ONE point, especially if it is a single coil type guitar like a strat/tele.
 
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