Radio signals coming thru amp?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Bodhisan
  • Start date Start date
Please endure my story....I'm old and can't help it. When I was a kid of about 13, I was experiencing the exact same problem. I asked my Dad the same question. He of course, gave a generic answer....not thinking that I would actually try to do it. His answer was something like "they just put a capacitor in shunt with the power supply". Well....being 13 I knew I could handle that. Long story short it knocked the wall recep out, shocked the hell outta me, and on top of that I got my ass beat.



bd

BTW, the answer to your question is yes. The moral of my story is "don't try this at home kids".
 
Radio Frequency signals are in the air. They're everywhere. Whether or not they are strong enough to be picked up and amplified by your guitar pickups usually depends on your proximity to their source (the tower). If you live in the shadow of a broadcast tower you'd need a lead lined room to avoid it.
Sometimes, they can come and go depending on atmospheric conditions, so if your lucky, it might only be an occasional problem.
I doubt that filtering your power lines will address this problem.
You might be able to minimize the efffect just by changing where you stand in the room, or the direction you are facing. Your guitar is an antenna attached directly to an amplifier. Make sure the pickups,pots, bridge etc. are properly grounded. Make sure you're using a good quality cable with a good shield to the amp. Try moving the amp itself. Also many guitars have some magnetic sheilding in the pickup cavity or on the back of the pickguard. It's like tinfoil, also with a ground wire attached to it. Try a different guitar for troubleshooting purposes. Once you find the source, then you'll know where to concentrate your efforts.


Twist
 
Sometimes it's not the amp. If you have an unbalanced line feeding it with a signal, that line can act as an antenna and you'll get Radio Moscow clear as a bell. Happened to me once in church; hooked the guitar up and we could hear Britney popping her bubble gum through the P.A. :D
 
Radio thru the amp! what a bonus... normally you have to pay extra for the jam-along feature! Can you slow the riffs without loosing intonation?
 
Ah, it truly would be a bonus if only the volume would be loud enough. It's actually just audible enough to pose problems with slow tunes.

I do think it's the amp and not the guitars. I have five amplifiers in my little room, and it's the only one that loves broadcasting.

I'll check Radio Shack.

Bodhisan (thanks for the sites Track Rat)
 
Treeline said:
Happened to me once in church; hooked the guitar up and we could hear Britney popping her bubble gum through the P.A. :D


LOL @ treeline!!!
Same here man!
But we got a spanish salsa station on ours! :D :D :D
 
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