60 Cycle Hummmmmmmmm?

  • Thread starter Thread starter dshlapak
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dshlapak

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Hey there. Hoping for an assist here.

Bedroom studio situation. Gear involved:

Mackie 1202 (not VLZ or Pro) mixer
SP B1 mic
SM-57 mic
Fender Tele
Gibson Les Paul
Marshall Valve-State amp

OK, so I'm getting a wicked buzz with either guitar, whether through the amp or DI'd into the Mackie. The SM-57 is also all hive o'bees. The B1, interestingly, seems quiet.

The grounding on the electric plugs (amp on one socket, mixer on another, both on the same house line) checks out with my $4 Home Depot tester. No CRTs nearby. Dimmer switch on ceiling fixture, but it's turned "off." No power conditioning except for a basic surge strip.

Advice? Please? Would something like an Ebtech Hum X unit help me out here? Or am I looking at a "full copper repipe" sort of situation?

Thanks in advance for any inputs.

Cheers.

--- das
 
Do you, by any chance, live near any high-tension power lines? Sounds like an EMF problem to me.
 
It could be the pick up on your guitar picking up waves from lights or computer screen. If the gear you use shares one circuit its pretty dirty.Another thing i use to get a bad hum when (i dated up tight white chics) when i turned off my m audio quatro wrong. The next time i would start up everything would have a bad hum. All the circuits in your house are dirty, unless you ran a dedicated circuit. I ran dedicated circuits for all my gear, three of them. I being a electricain and all. well good luck
 
DonF said:
Do you, by any chance, live near any high-tension power lines? Sounds like an EMF problem to me.
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Nope. In the big bad city. OK, well, Pittsburgh, but far, far from any high-tension lines,in any event.

Very maddening. Since there's not much stuff involved, I'm tempted to move it into another room and see if the problem persists. Or maybe just try a tinfoil hat.

Grr. Argh.
 
It seems weird that don't get the buzz with the condensor but you do with everything else. That would lead me to believe it's a cable problem and/or guitar issue. If it was a ground loop you would most likely get it with both mics. Are you turning off the phantom power when you don't need it?
 
you are getting it with both the gibson and tele? hmm i was gonna suggest it may be a pickup thing. A guy i know took his guitar apart and coated the pickups / chambers with this insulating/grounding stuff. He said it helped a lot. but if it's both your guitars, that may not work.
 
Sometimes if you have some of your cables running close to a power supply they'll pick up some noise. Move your cables around ..away from sources of power and see if the noise changes with the movement.
 
Hang on lemme get this straight in my mind, is the GUITAR humming, or the mic/DI. Tried another XLR cable? Tried another input on mixer?

If its the guiar itself humming thats a whole different can of bees. (ho ho... oh dear, bad joke)
 
goldfish said:
Hang on lemme get this straight in my mind, is the GUITAR humming, or the mic/DI. Tried another XLR cable? Tried another input on mixer?

If its the guiar itself humming thats a whole different can of bees. (ho ho... oh dear, bad joke)
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Actually, the amp starts humming on power up whether there's a guitar plugged into it or not. Which suggests to me that it might be "dirty" power, whatever that actually means. The mixer doesn't buzz left on its own (e.g., with nothing plugged into it); I can turn it up all the way and all I hear is the static noise from, I presume, the preamps. Once I hook either a guitar (DI'd) or the SM-57 in, however, I get hum.

I've tried moving, but not switching, cables to no good result thus far. A couple different 1/4" inputs seem to prodiuce the same results with the guitars; haven't switched the mics around.

Thanks to all for your thoughts; keep 'em coming, please!!!
 
I still dont quite understand im afraid! sorry!

So youre saying that the amp itself hums with no guitar in it (that sounds about right..) but with a guitar plugged in its clean. But if you plug the guitar into the mixer (which is what youre doing ill presume) you get hum, or if you plug the sm57 into the mixer you get hum as well?

Do you get the hum when the mic isnt near the amp? From my understanding it looks like the mic itself is buzzing.

Dirty power is just inconsistant power. Think of a sine wave, (pure AC power) and make it jaggedy, like you get static on a radio or somthing. Thats my understanding anyway.
 
goldfish said:
So youre saying that the amp itself hums with no guitar in it (that sounds about right..) but with a guitar plugged in its clean.
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No, sorry. It buzzes with or without a guitar plugged in. Which I think clears my guitars as the primary source of the problem.

Do you get the hum when the mic isnt near the amp? From my understanding it looks like the mic itself is buzzing.
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The mics aren't near the amp, and the SM-57 hums even when the amp is off. But the B1 doesn't seem to, at all. Weird.

Dirty power is just inconsistant power. Think of a sine wave, (pure AC power) and make it jaggedy, like you get static on a radio or somthing. Thats my understanding anyway.
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Helpful! Thanks. Hope the situation is becoming clearer and I 'preciate your patience.
 
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