Hum

[Armistice]

Have noticed of late that whenever I try to record electric guitar through my amp (Laney 30W valve combo) that I'm getting a lot of hum - this largley goes away when I touch the strings, but if I ever am not touching the strings during a take, then the take's ruined.

Any clues - I'm sure it hasn't always been this way - and it doesn't seem to matter which guitar I use - happens for all of them, although less for humbucker pickups, of course.

Also getting a problem similar to cstockdales in that the amp just makes a strange noise every now and then without anything plugged into it. Low level, but audible outside the usual white noise that the amp makes. Have checked all the toobs - they're all seated properly.

Help!

 

[Light]

When you are not touching the strings, your guitar is not grounded, and it hums. This is normal, and you will get it with any passive system. You just haven't noticed it before. You do not need to touch the strings, by the way. You can touch the bridge, or the knobs (if they are metal) to ground it.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi

 

[Armistice]

Thanks Light - I was wondering whether I just hadn't noticed it as much before - I'm primarily trying to record clean electric sounds, so it tends to stand out a lot more than dirty sounds where your amp is making a lot more general noise anyway when you're not playing anything.

Cheers