Just to confirm, I get the same hum with humbuckers or singles. I have 2 different guitar that produce the same issue. Have tried turning everything off in the room (computers, monitors) except my FM3 and no change. Using a George L cable. Using a power conditioner, and tested the ground at the outlet. I have turned off 5he FM3 and run plugins through an old Scarlett 2i2, and still noise.
Even though the ground tested ok at 5he outlet, I’m pretty convinced it must be dirty power in my house.
^This is confusing and sounds conflicting^
There are various ways we get noise with a guitar and amplifier, with two that are the most likely:
- EMI, through the air into the pickups/wiring of a guitar. It's typically a midrange buzzing noise that changes as we rotate with the guitar while its volume is on, or disappears if we turn the guitar's volume off or switch to positions 2 and 4 on a Strat. EMI can also be picked up by bad cables, either poorly made or damaged, or with lousy shielding.
- A ground-loop which doesn't involve the guitars, only a connection between two or more powered devices, one of which has a better connection to the power-circuit's ground causing the other unit's power to flow across the signal cable and be amplified. This is typically a low-frequency, 60Hz, hum.
- We can also get hiss due to extreme gain, but that's an entirely different problem inside the amp's circuitry.
EMI can travel through walls and floors or ceilings. It affects single-coil pickups more than humbuckers, but even humbuckers, especially those with taps or splits, can have problems. It can also be caused by bad/unshielded wiring in the guitar, or poorly made cables that have inadequate shielding, but the pickups are the usual starting point. Diagnosing it is easy: plug in, turn up the amp, turn up the guitar, and turn in a circle while holding it. If the sound comes and goes it's EMI. If the sound disappears when you roll the guitar's volume down it's EMI. If swapping the cable changes it, the problem is the cable and
might be EMI or grounding.
EMI is a location problem; My Strats and several of my humbucker guitars are affected by it badly here at home, but this house has wiring from the late 30s, that was upgraded piecemeal over the years and was not necessarily done to code. The same guitar(s), cables, amps/modelers are completely quiet when I go out to play, unless I have the amp absolutely cranked and I'm right next to it.
I've used George L's cables for years and they're made with very good quality parts and cable. However, they can have problems if they're not treated well and the plugs begin to loosen or they're not making good contact internally with the shielding. Confirm the set-screws or screw-top is tight, then wiggle the cable and plug while it's in the guitar and amp and see if the noise changes. If so it could either be the 1/4" jack in the guitar or amp, or the connection of the plug to the cable. At that point I'll trim off an inch of the cable and reattach the plug; I've only had to do that a handful of times. I have a bunch of George L patch and guitar cables I made over 30 years ago, and they're still going strong with only a handful of issues.
A ground-loop is a different beast and is potentially lethal. The circuitry inside an electrical device powered from AC coming from the wall has to have a path to ground, otherwise it won't work. If that device's path to ground isn't as good as the amplifier's path to ground, then the electricity flows across the guitar cable, or whatever is used to connect the two, and the amplifier ends up amplifying the noise, the 60-cycle hum, here in the U.S. Besides having that device's circuitry improved, we can put all the interconnected electrical devices on the same power circuit, typically the same outlet on the wall, or sharing the same power-strip. If the hum continues the problem is most likely the circuitry so take it to a tech. If the device is DC powered, perhaps using a wall-wart or a brick, then there should be no problem from it.
This just came in…
Ok, the cable may be our culprit. When I turned on the FM3 with no guitar connected to the cable and the cable laying on the ground, initially, there was no noise. As soon as I touched the cable, I got the hum. Interestingly, when I set the cable back on the floor (second floor of our home if that makes a difference - not a first floor slab), the hum remained. As soon as I unplugged the cable from the back of the FM3, the hum stopped. I was able to repeat this consistently.
So... Any recommendations on good quality "quiet" cables? The FAS Humbusters seem to be meant for connecting the output from a fractal to amps, etc. per the product description, so not sure they apply.
Fractal, and a lot of us, like the
BTPA.com guitar cables. They're extremely well made. They also make HumBuster cables which are useful when dealing with ground-loops.
But first, try fixing the George L cable yourself; it's easily done, you just need a small screwdriver and something to cut the cable
cleanly at 90º. I'm sure their site talks about how to do it.
Humbusters are not meant for the guitar -> amp connection, they're specifically to connect between the modeler and AC powered amps and pedals. The manual covers their use well; start on the page showing the rear panel and follow the links to subsequent pages, and in Section 4 where you see diagrams that have power-amps and regular guitar amps.
PS - guitar cables are our lifeblood on stage if we need to get connected and don't have a wireless. I carry a couple different lengths and use the shortest I need. I carefully coil mine (using the alternating coiling method) before putting them into my gig bag, which gives me a chance to inspect them twice a night, before and after playing. I was watching a guy I know try to untangle a 20' cable he'd carelessly wadded up and thrown into the back of his amp untold numbers of times. After 5 minutes he STILL hadn't gotten it ready which was inexcusable because the band was waiting on him. Don't be that guy.
