#1
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Bad Humming Sound - home wiring problem?
Hey guys,
Today was a crazy day. I went to GC to pick up my amp (Egnater Tweaker!) this afternoon. Was soooo excited. Went home, and started hearing this odd humming sound. Really wasn’t sounding great. My friend (who works at GC) came over to check it out. He couldn’t figure out what it was, but he speculated that it might have to do with the wiring of my really old apartment. Went to GC to pick up a power conditioner (I think is the name) power strip (Furman). Went back home, and it didn’t fix the problem.. Then we drove to my rehearsal space with my new strat and amp. Plugged in, and it was totally fine. Sounded so amazing! So now I know that it’s not the amp or the strat. It must be something to do with my apartment. Does anyone have any experience with this issue? Thanks! |
#2
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Fairly common with tube amps, in structures built before modern wiring codes - FYI that's why [1] humbucking pickups were developed, and [2] many older mid-/high-power amps (pre-1990) had polarity switches. Nothing to really worry about IME, and if it gets too annoying/uncontrollable (try turning the amp at different angles to your body to minimize the hum) find a three-to-two prong adapter with two equal-size blades and try reversing position in the wall socket until the hum is minimized...
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"Mistaking silence for weakness and contempt for fear is the final, fatal error of a fool" - Sicilian proverb (paraphrased) |
#3
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You really haven't ruled out inductive coupling of hum directly into your guitar pickups.
If you see a a “null” in the hum as you rotate your GUITAR (aligning it in the fields within your house), then it is probably coming in through your pickups. Alternately, short the amp input and see if the hum goes away. |
#4
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Quote:
Buy an outlet tester, they're $10 or less at Home Depot. Make sure you have a properly wired outlet, and if you don't, tell your landlord. Every guitarist should have one of these in their gig bag, IMO. Again, don't risk your safety just to have a quiet amp.
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"You don't have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great." -Zig Ziglar Acoustics 2013 Guild F30 Standard 2012 Yamaha LL16 2007 Seagull S12 1991 Yairi DY 50 Electrics Epiphone Les Paul Standard Fender Am. Standard Telecaster Gibson ES-335 Gibson Firebird |
#5
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Yes it's a really bad idea to disconnect the earth connection from a valve amp.
It could save you or someone else's life.
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Yamaha AC3M Acoustic Guitar Gretch G5220 Electromatic Squier Classic Vibe 50s Telecaster Squier Vintage Modified Telecaster Special Yamaha BB414 Bass |
#6
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Thanks for the help and feedback guys. So the outlet tester should work?
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#7
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Quote:
There could be something else causing interference in the power side of thing, like a large appliance (refrigerator, heating or AC unit, etc). There could also be some source of RFI which is inducing hum through the signal input (guitar, cable[s], pedals, etc). At least the amp sounds clean in another location, so you can be pretty certain there's nothing internally wrong with the amp itself. |
#8
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Good luck! |
#9
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lighting
Sometimes the old florescent lights will do this. CFL and LED can also cause this. try turning off lights and see if that helps.
If the problem goes away then turn on lights one at a time until it comes back.
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"My opinion is worth every penny you paid for it." "If you try to play like someone else, Who will play like you". Quote from Johnny Gimble The only musician I have to impress today is the musician I was yesterday. No tubes, No capos, No Problems. |
#10
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Old dimmer switches can also cause the problem.
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Mike My music: https://mikebirchmusic.bandcamp.com 2020 Taylor 324ceBE 2017 Taylor 114ce-N 2012 Taylor 310ce 2011 Fender CD140SCE Ibanez 12 string a/e 73(?) Epiphone 6830E 6 string 72 Fender Telecaster Epiphone Dot Studio Epiphone LP Jr Chinese Strat clone Kala baritone ukulele Seagull 'Merlin' Washburn Mandolin Luna 'tatoo' a/e ukulele antique banjolin Squire J bass |
#11
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Quote:
you may have to get some copper tape and tape the routed area underneath the pickguard. make sure the tape is then to ground. additionally there is a way to apply that same tape to the pickups themselves. but, follow clintj's recommendation first. play music!
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2014 Martin 00015M 2009 Martin 0015M 2008 Martin HD28 2007 Martin 000-18GE 2006 Taylor 712 2006 Fender Parlor GDP100 1978 Fender F65 1968 Gibson B25-12N Various Electrics |
#12
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GC carries this thing called HumX which plugs between your outlet and amp. Works well enough to keep in your gig bag just in case...
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#13
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Quote:
"Really old" is relative, first are your outlets 2 prong or 3 prong (really old is actually only two and there is no 3rd 1/2 round hole ) If they are 3 (which I suspect since you did not mention them) unfortunately there are two possibilities if in fact the building is old enough to have actually been a two wire system. #1 is that the old system was actually replaced with a 3 wire system # 2 the owner simply replaced the 2 wire outlets with 3 wire outlets and the ground is not really connected I am not an electrician so there may be a way to use a meter to determine this But another way to determine is to pull the face plate and inspect the box and socket ( note you should turn the power off to that circuit first ) Besides what others have said another troubleshooting method is plug in the guitar and amp and go the the breaker /fuse panel and determine what circuit they are on, then start systematically turning of the other circuits to see it the hum goes away. If it does then the problem is likely some connection on the problem circuit.
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#14
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