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Major buzz

Bluemoon

By Bluemoon
in Gibson USA

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Bluemoon

Bluemoon

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OK, so my les paul buzzes when connected to my Fender tube amp. There appears to be two things that are causing it--dimmers throughout my house and heater fans we use in a few bedrooms that get cold at night. The buzz is pretty bad. I can't pretty much eliminate it be switching off the lights and the fans--but that is not a permanent solution , obviously.

 

So, here are the questions...

 

1. is this a shielding issue with the LP and would that be covered under warranty?

2. issue with the humbuckers (aren't they supposed to eliminate this kind of thing?)

3. is it just the problem with my house and the only solution is to get a noise gate.

4. something else?

 

I tried a power conditioner but that didn't work. So it is not interference coming through the electrical lines.

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Bluemoon

Bluemoon

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Did you try lifting the ground on your amp?

 

Yeah. Didn't help--just made the guitar "pop" when I touched the strings.

 

I am pretty sure that is it just interference in the air--nothing with the wiring in the house. I can reduce the hum/buzz slightly by moving the guitar around.

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Bluemoon

Bluemoon

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So I spoke to a couple of "experts." They seemed to think that Gibson's were adequately shielded with shield paint and that adding more wouldn't do anything.

 

So the options are

 

1. putting in a dedicate circuit for the guitar gear

2. a noise suppressor

3. or a more expensive power conditioner.

 

Not sure I want to do #1.

#2 would be the easy--put do they destroy your tone.

#3.. I will try this solution, but I have my doubts.

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RichCI

RichCI

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Try the cheapest, easiest solution first: Look for the source of the noise and eliminate it. Light dimmers, fluorescent lights, TVs, computer monitors, electric motors and other electric devices (try changing channels on your TV with the remote held up to the pups of your guitar) can all cause noise. Turn them off when playing or consider moving to another spot to play. If you gig, a good power conditioner/surge protector is worth every penny but I get the impression this is just an issue at home.

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Bluemoon

Bluemoon

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It's just a home issue. Not sure I can really solve the problem by turning all the lights off in the house and turning off the heater fans in my kids' bedrooms (I could but I am pretty sure it will lead to a divorce).

 

So it pretty much down to

 

1. Power Conditioner

2. Noise Suppressor.

 

I am going to buy both and return the one that doesn't work. I am hoping the Power Conditioner works.

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Bluemoon

Bluemoon

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Why do you think it's a problem with your Lester? Did you try the same guitar with another amp? Did you try moving your amp to another corner of the room? Does it get any better or worse? There are so many reasons for hum and buzz: cables... eusa_think.gif:-k:-k

 

I don't think it is the lester anymore after taking to a few luthiers. Apparently Gibson does a pretty good job shielding their guitars. I did move the amp around--makes no difference. I don't have another electric guitar to try out on the amp. I have used a bunch of different cables--makes no difference. The amp does hum with a cord plugged in, but no guitar. I bought the amp about a month ago. It started humming from day 1. I returned it thinking it was just a bad amp. The replacement is doing the same thing. Before the Fender, I had a Valve Junior, which hummed a lot. I figured it was because the amp was so cheap.

 

I think the dimmers in my house and a heat fan upstairs are the cause of my problem. I can't really switch them off-unless I play in the dark, etc.

 

I will tell you that this is driving me insane trying to figure out what is causing it and how to fix it. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.

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clayw09

clayw09

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Yeah dude, I feel sorry for you. Can't offer much assistance. Could be ghosts...jk. my amp picks up Fox Sports Radio, cuz their broadcast antenna is in the cornfield across the road from my house. I don't have that problem when I take it to my friend's house. It pisses me off sometimes. A lot of times actually. I didn't know dimmers, etc did that kinda stuff... I wouldn't wish that stuff on any of my enemies either. Looks like u and me have the same sorta setup, cept urs is way nicer. IDK if my sig. shows up on a quick reply, but I've got an Ibanez GSR, a 19 watt amp (also Ibanez), a crappy Strat, and a pedal.

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Bluemoon

Bluemoon

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Yeah dude' date=' I feel sorry for you. Can't offer much assistance. Could be ghosts...jk. my amp picks up Fox Sports Radio, cuz their broadcast antenna is in the cornfield across the road from my house. I don't have that problem when I take it to my friend's house. It pisses me off sometimes. A lot of times actually. I didn't know dimmers, etc did that kinda stuff... I wouldn't wish that stuff on any of my enemies either. Looks like u and me have the same sorta setup, cept urs is way nicer. IDK if my sig. shows up on a quick reply, but I've got an Ibanez GSR, a 19 watt amp (also Ibanez), a crappy Strat, and a pedal.[/quote']

 

Dimmers, fans, TVs, computer screens....what a mess.

 

You can end up spending a ton chasing this problem. You may want to look at getting your strat shielded. Also single coils pick up a lot more interference that humbuckers.

 

I

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daveinspain

daveinspain

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Hey Bluemoon, there isn't a hum or buzz you can't fix... Ok, so you have all kinds of stuff in your house that could be causing the problem... One by one eliminate them... Go around the house shutting things off or unplugging them if you have to. After each possible culprit is eliminated check your amp to see if the buzz is still there... OK, so you have unplugged or shut off everything and the noise is still there. Go to your service panel or fuse box and turn off the breakers one buy one, checking your amp each time again until you have narrowed down what part of the house the interference is coming from. If after all of that if the problem still exists start looking at the amp and guitar again...

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Bluemoon

Bluemoon

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Hey Bluemoon' date=' there isn't a hum or buzz you can't fix... Ok, so you have all kinds of stuff in your house that could be causing the problem... One by one eliminate them... Go around the house shutting things off or unplugging them if you have to. After each possible culprit is eliminated check your amp to see if the buzz is still there... OK, so you have unplugged or shut off everything and the noise is still there. Go to your service panel or fuse box and turn off the breakers one buy one, checking your amp each time again until you have narrowed down what part of the house the interference is coming from. If after all of that if the problem still exists start looking at the amp and guitar again...[/quote']

 

Pretty much did that and narrowed it down to the fans and dimmers. The fans are the biggest problem. But I can't remove them...long story.

 

My goal is to reduce the buzz/hum, not necessarily eliminate it.

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eddie

eddie

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I struggle with the same problem. It's not much of a problem during the day, but at night it's hard to turn off ALL the lights +:-@

I also found it has nothing to do with grounding. I can get the same thing running with a pocketPod on battery power. It's in the Air (probably giving me cancer too =P~ ). Essentially the noise from the devices is getting induced into the power lines that then act like transmitting antennas for the noise into the surrounding area.

 

Part of it has to do with my pickups which are not symmetrically wound (by design). This makes them a little less humbucking. In fact, if I use the middle position, the hum almost goes away since the sum of all the coils is the same (I think that is what is happening).

I tied the Electro-Harmonix Hum Debugger and it worked like magic to remove the hum, but made the guitar sound like sh$@

I also tried a bunch these little devices:

http://www.musicdirect.com/product/74169

I think this helped a tiny bit, but didn't make a huge impact.

 

I’m definitely going to ditch the dimmers, but I don’t want to ditch the fluorescents if I can help it.

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daveinspain

daveinspain

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I struggle with the same problem. It's not much of a problem during the day' date=' but at night it's hard to turn off ALL the lights =P~

I also found it has nothing to do with grounding. I can get the same thing running with a pocketPod on battery power. It's in the Air (probably giving me cancer too #-o ). Essentially the noise from the devices is getting induced into the power lines that then act like transmitting antennas for the noise into the surrounding area.

 

Part of it has to do with my pickups which are not symmetrically wound (by design). This makes them a little less humbucking. In fact, if I use the middle position, the hum almost goes away since the sum of all the coils is the same (I think that is what is happening).

I tied the Electro-Harmonix Hum Debugger and it worked like magic to remove the hum, but made the guitar sound like sh$@

I also tried a bunch these little devices:

http://www.musicdirect.com/product/74169

I think this helped a tiny bit, but didn't make a huge impact.

 

I’m definitely going to ditch the dimmers, but I don’t want to ditch the fluorescents if I can help it.

[/quote']

 

There is a new technology in lighting, LED LIGHT, Leds use like, no power, make no noise and last forever... They are expensive now but you can save a bundle in you electric bill that will pay you back many times over... Look into it.

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bobv

bobv

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Sometimes a three-prong outlet is just there to fool you, especially in an older house where there isn't necessarily a ground wire running to each outlet. An inexpensive circuit tester will tell you if you have a real ground there or not (it also spots other issues like polarity problems). And of course a dedicated circuit would help, but you'll have some information before discussing it with an electrician.

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