FXL block for loop not working

[cragginshred]

I am still having noise issues. Both guitars grounded, and good to go may be from my studio wiring. Only thing that will kill it fully is the Decimator pedal. I cannot get it to work using an fxl block in the chain then putting it in the loop of the axeII, what am I missing????

[Chris@KatsuKuriMedia]

make a video.

[cragginshred]

Will do!

[cragginshred]

[Chris@KatsuKuriMedia]

thanks for the vid. really helps.

i can't remember, have you tried the axe and speaker in a different house? it kinda sounds like the normal "bad electricity" hum. the noise isn't "because you're fretting the note." it's because the guitar is creating signal and the noise is already there. i bet it's just how that electricity is.

so if you can, try the setup in another house or a music store or rehearsal place, preferably somewhere they know has "good power" and doesn't affect music/audio gear.


next vid (if needed), could you put the phone to the landscape mode instead, so it fills the entire video player. and also we need the audio, but for the video can you put it only on the axe fx display? the camera will adjust the exposure so we can see it, but i'd like to be able to read your settings.

[cragginshred]

thanks Chris,.. 1st video with iphone. Although I put an 8' ground pole in the dirt and hooked it to the panel outside my stand alone studio building I think when I did the addition to my studio the wiring was not done correctly. I do get some noise in other settings but not like here. I will try it up in the house Sunday. What would you suggest as a move to solve the noise I am getting in my studio in terms of cleaning up the wiring and finding the cause? Also why will the Decimator in the loop not work for me??

[strat714]

I carry an Ebtech Hum X Hum Exterminator with me to jobs to help eliminate some grounding problems. It gets rid of most (not all) hum issues. You could try one of those. They sell for about 75$. It's worth a try.

[Rex]

It sounds like you have a source of electromagnetic interference somewhere nearby. I think it's unlikely that you have "bad electricity." This is interference, not dirty power. You can check this by unplugging your guitar. If the noise goes away, it's getting in through your guitar, not through the power line.

Chris is right: you're not getting the noise from fretting the note. It's just that when you play lightly, you open the noise gate, but you're not playing hard enough to drown out the noise.

I initially thought your guitar had a grounding problem, because you reported that you get the noise just from touching the strings. I saw no evidence of that in the video, so that pretty much rules out guitar grounding.


Open up your noise gate and walk around the room with your guitar, listening to the noise. You may just find the source of the interference.

[Chris@KatsuKuriMedia]

You can check this by unplugging your guitar. If the noise goes away, it's getting in through your guitar, not through the power line.

Open up your noise gate and walk around the room with your guitar, listening to the noise. You may just find the source of the interference.

Definitely do that. Unplug the guitar (make sure the cable isn't touching something that will cause signal/input hum).

After that, plug the guitar back in and turn all gates in a preset off (input gate and any blocks) by turning the threshold all the way counter clockwise. A distortion preset will make the noise more apparent, but it also compresses, so play around with the drive level of the amp so you can hear the increase/decrease in the noise as you walk around.

For the FX Loop and external Decimator... eh, I think you may not have done it correctly so let's just take that out of the equation for now. But again, I think we can rule out the Guitar as the problem.

I've had grounding problems with guitars and when you touch the string, not even fretting a note or making ANY sound like you do, there is a big POP since it's being grounded suddenly. This is not what's happening to your guitar and your noise is VERY different than a guitar grounding issue.

[cragginshred]

Thanks fellas, will continue to pursue all possible issues. The guitar nor the axe II being the culprits. Keep you all posted!

[cragginshred]

This noise is gone in the house, wiring in the studio is the issue. will the hum x help me if it will hooked up in the studio?

[Chris@KatsuKuriMedia]

Woo hoo at least the problem has been sourced!

[flyingfadr]

Sounds almost like your guitar is facing a CRT Monitor...

[Rex]

Can you help me follow how you determined the studio wiring is the problem?

[RichHowe]

Fluorescent lighting can also cause interference.

[cragginshred]

Can you help me follow how you determined the studio wiring is the problem?

Does not occur in the house, why would you think it's not the studio wiring Rex?

[Rex]

Does not occur in the house, why would you think it's not the studio wiring Rex?

You've done a good job verifying that the problem is specific to the studio, but not that it's the wiring. It's unlikely that dirty power is the problem—much more likely that something in the studio is radiating interference, and it's being picked up by your guitar.

[Tonemeister]

Does not occur in the house, why would you think it's not the studio wiring Rex?

You've changed too many variables all at once. The fact that by moving into the house you don't get the noise proves only that the noise is caused by something in the studio. Could be the electrical wiring or it Could be that you are standing near something that is causing lots of interference. Did you bring the whole setup in to the house? The power amp, speakers, same cables etc.? Do you have dimmers in the studio? Those add a crap load of noise to the electricity and WILL cause you to get the type of noise you are getting. Whilst trouble shooting this you need to leave the noise gate off. Is all of your guitar gear plugged into the same electrical outlet? Found this which is relevant if you have grounding issues..

"You need to get a electrician in to check out your house if you are in doubt. He will use a earth ground meter to check your ground. You do not use a megohmeter to check ground on your house, that's used for checking insulation on motors. By code you must have a 8' ground rod driven into the ground, plus your water pipes bounded to your service as well. But just because you have a 8' ground rod that doesn't mean its enough. You must have 25 ohms or less to be considered properly grounded. This will all depend on the soil make up. Sandy soil is not as good as loam or clay. You may have to drive 16' or more to get under 25 ohms, doubling the length of ground rod reduces the resistance by 40% you may sometimes even have to drive multiply rods ten feet apart from each other, and connected together to drop the resistance, or place rock salt around the ground rod to make the soil more conductive."

sounds like fun

[Chris@KatsuKuriMedia]

True. I assumed there just wasn't something in the studio causing the interference but "bad power" but yes, it still may be something like that.

Run an extension power cable from the Studio power outlet and setup your stuff outside or as far away as you can get it from the actual room.

That would work as a test right guys?

[Rex]

Run an extension power cable from the Studio power outlet and setup your stuff outside or as far away as you can get it from the actual room.

That would work as a test right guys?

That would work as a test, but it usually pays to start with simple tests that rule out the most possibilities. That way you zero in on the cause quickly, with a minimum of messing around.

• I think the next test should be the one we discussed earlier. Listen to the noise while you unplug your guitar cord from the Axe-FX. If the noise goes way down, then it's something nearby that's radiating junk that's being picked up by your guitar.

Noise that sounds like this is almost always caused by radiated interference, not power or grounding problems. Power or ground could still be the cause, but this test will tell you pretty clearly whether that's the case. And power/ground problems are a bigger hassle to deal with, so let's find out with the above test.

• If the noise goes away when you unplug, then we need to find out what's making the noise. To do that, plug your cable back in, listen to the noise, and carry your guitar around the room, twisting, turning, moving it back and forth. There will be one area in the room where the interference is loudest. That's where to start looking for the offending device.