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Post by Russell Letson on Oct 29, 2022 14:36:16 GMT -5
I wanted to use my Broadway at the Thursday-night session, but as soon as I plugged it into my Roland AC-60, there was a very loud hum. It's an old building with old wiring and some neon beer signs, but turning off the neon didn't make a bit of difference. So I went home and returned with the Eastman and its humbucker and for the rest of the evening only the annoying noise was my usual playing.
This guitar is currently wearing a Guild-branded DeArmond 1100 recreation--I'm pretty sure Marty did the install, which is very basic: straight into a jack glued to the underside of the pickguard, no volume or tone controls. I don't recall this behavior in this room with the old-stock Rowe pickup that the DeArmond replaced. (Though in the auditorium,with all the lights and dimmers, it did hum quite loudly.)
What I wonder is whether there is anything fairly simple I can do to tame that hum, or whether the Epi needs a shop visit to properly diagnose and fix.
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Post by epaul on Oct 29, 2022 15:34:17 GMT -5
Switch the amp off. The hum will go away. Leave the amp off. Hum won't return.
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Post by TKennedy on Oct 29, 2022 15:52:29 GMT -5
Does the hum go away when you touch the strings?
Marty will have the definitive answer but one thing I have done is use a B string with one end wrapped around a hairpin clipped to the tailpiece and the other end stuck in your waist touching the skin.
I think your body acts like a big filter to absorb RF waves.
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Post by Village Idiot on Oct 29, 2022 19:28:07 GMT -5
I assume this is real advice, Terry? I wonder if a Jacob's ladder might help.
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Post by TKennedy on Oct 29, 2022 19:38:16 GMT -5
I assume this is real advice, Terry? I wonder if a Jacob's ladder might help. Last resort is burying a potato in your back yard. |
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Post by aquaduct on Oct 29, 2022 20:14:34 GMT -5
I wanted to use my Broadway at the Thursday-night session, but as soon as I plugged it into my Roland AC-60, there was a very loud hum. It's an old building with old wiring and some neon beer signs, but turning off the neon didn't make a bit of difference. I really don't have much of an answer since I've pretty much been Gibsons with humbuckers through a good tube amp for the last 40 years and grounding, etc. has never been a real problem. A sole exception was when I was using a borrowed Strat (single coil pickups) in some ancient building in DC. Same story- old building, wiring throughout that probably was an original Edison installation by the man himself, dicey if even existing grounding, plenty of neon, etc. Hummed like a mother. Nothing I could do to fix it (adapters, ground lifts, changing phase on the amp, etc. Nothing. My suggestion if you're going to be there regularly, always take the humbuckers. |
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Post by Marty on Oct 29, 2022 20:48:02 GMT -5
A light dimmer on the same circuit may be the cause. Turning that dimmer off or all the way on will tell you if that is the problem. But you have to find the dimmer. It may be the house lights and if that is the problem then you need to find a outlet that is the opposite phase. Not just you, the whole band, or you may get Todd's Jacob's Ladder effect. Carrying a multi-outlet power strip is the way to be safe, everything plugs onto it. If you have a dimmer problem just move the strip to a different outlet. This may not solve the problem every time because you need to find a outlet not connected to that dimmer.
When I was playing on the road and we had that problem I would use a heavy duty AC plug I wired with a dead short. Plugging that in would blow the breaker so I could see which phase of the 220v we were on and then find outlets on the opposite phase to plug the band into.
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Post by Russell Letson on Oct 29, 2022 21:02:53 GMT -5
I did use a different outlet than my usual one, which was occupied by holiday lights. The house lights are on a dimmer, and the outlet I used might be part of that circuit.
It's a pain to carry two guitars to the session (I'm already staggering getting the rest of my gear into the venue in one trip), but I may try that next week. I really would like to switch between the Eastman and the Epi sometimes, just to exercise my hands on the different necks.
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Post by Marty on Oct 29, 2022 21:45:21 GMT -5
I did use a different outlet than my usual one, which was occupied by holiday lights. The house lights are on a dimmer, and the outlet I used might be part of that circuit. It's a pain to carry two guitars to the session (I'm already staggering getting the rest of my gear into the venue in one trip), but I may try that next week. I really would like to switch between the Eastman and the Epi sometimes, just to exercise my hands on the different necks. and a couple of heavy duty bungee cords. Strap your amp and one guitar to the dolly and the other in a gig bag over the shoulder. |
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Dub
Administrator
I'm gettin' so the past is the only thing I can remember.
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Post by Dub on Oct 29, 2022 22:25:23 GMT -5
I did use a different outlet than my usual one, which was occupied by holiday lights. The house lights are on a dimmer, and the outlet I used might be part of that circuit. It's a pain to carry two guitars to the session (I'm already staggering getting the rest of my gear into the venue in one trip), but I may try that next week. I really would like to switch between the Eastman and the Epi sometimes, just to exercise my hands on the different necks. and a couple of heavy duty bungee cords. Strap your amp and one guitar to the dolly and the other in a gig bag over the shoulder. Experience with both types tells me he’ll be much happier with this one. |
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Post by amanajoe on Oct 30, 2022 0:35:33 GMT -5
The problem is one of two possibilities,
Noise in the AC line or Noise impressed upon the pickups by other equipment
Most will believe it is noise on the AC line, but it is quite impressive what good antennas single coils are.
How to minimize noise in three possible steps (no you aren’t going to get rid of it in a noisy environment, you can only minimize it).
Step one, power conditioner on the AC line.
Step two, a noise gate.
Step three, a multi-band eq to pull down the frequency (start by hunting it down through increasing the gain in each band one at a time until it gets really loud and then pull that band down)
The place I did sound in for a while had a lighting controller from the 50’s. The hum was not only on the line but in the air and even annoyingly audibly loud if you were anywhere near it. I only had one issue there and it was with a player who insisted that he had to plug his strat into his fender direct without anything in between. End result, he had to turn down the volume and could only turn it up for the leads.
I know this is not a perfect solution since it involves carrying pedals around and a power conditioner, but if that’s the sound you want, that’s likely the only way to get it.
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