Guitar pickups getting electronic noise that I can't pin down

fatandugly

fatandugly

Experienced
All of a sudden I've started getting a loud annoying electronic buzzing through my guitar pickups in my home system (loud and annoying on humbuckers and unbearable on single coils.) With the guitar volume off it's dead quiet. I've tried 3 different guitars all with the same noise. I've played for years with perfect quiet and I can't nail down where the noise is coming from. The only thing that changed in my home was I had a wireless glass break for my burglar alarm installed in my studio, but I've gone as far as removing the batteries and taking the thing off the ceiling and putting it 50+ feet away in the garage and there was no change. I've tried everything I can think of as far as wiring the axe, trying different electric outlets, different guitar cables, running wireless and going outside, unplugging my wireless internet modem, turning off wifi on the laptop, etc and I'm still getting varying degrees of noise no matter what I do. It has to be in the house somewhere as when I run wireless and go outside and I face away from the house it is less (but still clearly audible) and then if I walk up to an outside door with a window and I'm facing the house, it gets crazy again. I have the axe wired into my studio desk now but I'm going to try putting it in a rack case and try it in other spots in the house and then outside the house (running wireless guitar and walking throughout the house I still get the noise so relocating the axe should have no effect right?), but that does not solve my problem of noise in the studio, where I do 99% of my playing. Anyone have a similar situation they solved or have any ideas?
 
You have a loose ground wire/earth shielding problem in your guitar by my guess. They can come loose over time with bumps etc. Try looking under the back plate and see if anything is obvious. You didn't say whether the problem was isolated to this specific guitar or all of your guitars.
 
Wireless mouse, cell phone.


Record it please, so I can hear it. Is there any sort of steady beep beep beep or whine that goes along with it?

I make my living making pickups, so I'm fairly good at diagnosing these sorts of things. .

I assume the Wireless "Glass break" is a sensor and that it has a receiver?
Unplug it...

Move very close to the receiver. I'll bet the noise increases the closer you get.
 
Fabio, it's with every guitar. Womac, I'll bet you're right. I did discover a receiver box on top of the main alarm panel but there is no way to turn it off it unplug it. I'll call the alarm company today to see what they say.
 
Talked with alarm company and they say the box in the other room is a receiver and cellular transmitter but it only transmits 1 x per day to report status or if the alarm is set off. He said no way it could be the glass break if the batteries are removed. Here's what it sounds like. I'm getting it on clean patches as well but this is humbuckers on patch 113 = rock concert. First noise is in the studio. 1st string chunk is 20 feet away at the door to the lanai facing away from the room (about 20 feet diagonal from the room and separated by an interior drywall wall with the door open to the room, second string chunk is about 30 feet diagonal from the room outside on the lanai separated by an interior drywall wall and a sliding glass door. First bit of playing is in that spot facing away from the house. Next string chunk is outside on the lanai with a concrete block wall in between the guitar and the room (about 25 feet away, this one has the least noise). Then I walk to an outside bathroom door with a glass window, still outside but facing the room and do a set of 3 string squeaks about 15 feet away (lots of noise). Last bit of noise before the last string squeak is still outside, block wall between me and the room about (15 feet) but facing the yard (lots of noise). I tried just the axe with headphones with nothing else powered on in the room including the overhead light and the noise was still there. I'm stumped. There is about a 6 inch square area in the room where I can stand facing the door diagonally right next to an outside wall and get no interference. Pointing pickups at floor and ceiling makes the noise louder. I'm going to try placing it in another part of the house to remove the actual Axe unit from the room.

 
I own an Alarm company. I have a couple of questions : Is the power supply for the alarm system plugged into the same Electrical circuit as the Axe Fx ? Did the system always have a wireless receiver or is that new ? Do you or did you have a GSM Digital Cellular Communicator installed recently ?
 
Hey man, I had this EXACT problem.

It has to do with electric interference going on, due to improper grounds or lines in the walls.

My fix, was just to move my studio setup to a place that didn't have much buzz. I would highly suggest getting an electrician in there if it's a big problem.

My buzz started out of the blue, about a year and a half ago and I've pinned it down to the main line that runs through my house -_- So now I am where the main line doesn't run. Best of luck man
 
Rain said:
I own an Alarm company. I have a couple of questions : Is the power supply for the alarm system plugged into the same Electrical circuit as the Axe Fx ? Did the system always have a wireless receiver or is that new ? Do you or did you have a GSM Digital Cellular Communicator installed recently ?
Click to expand...

Hi Rain. The power supply is in another room on the far side of the house, so I assume that is a different circuit? The plug the alarm is in has not changed nor has the plug for the axe. It has always had the wireless receiver as we already had a wireless glass break in another part of the house. The cell communicator has always been there as well. We only added the one wireless glass break in the studio room.
 
Sean Ashe said:
Hey man, I had this EXACT problem.

It has to do with electric interference going on, due to improper grounds or lines in the walls.

My fix, was just to move my studio setup to a place that didn't have much buzz. I would highly suggest getting an electrician in there if it's a big problem.

My buzz started out of the blue, about a year and a half ago and I've pinned it down to the main line that runs through my house -_- So now I am where the main line doesn't run. Best of luck man
Click to expand...

Man, that stinks! I have the perfect setup in that room so if I can't get it sorted I'll have to call in an electrician.
 
I had a friend who had this problem and it turned out to be a ceiling fan on the same circuit. Try turning some lights off and things like that. Also I had an issue similar that turned out to be the cables hooked up nto one of my effects units they were 1/4 inch and when I changed them and used the xlr it fixed the noise issue I was having. I hope you can pin it down.
 
If you can't pinpoint it, look into Stetzerizer Filters too. They can relieve a lot of dirty electricity and make your house less unhealthy in general. Mainstream electricians may not even know or be interested in this.
Stetzer Electric, Inc. - YouTube

CFL lights, dimmers, ... anywhere in the house (maybe even neighbors) could be the cause.

Smart Meters are evil in every way too. Some people even hear them as a high pitch in their head. Not sure they would be picked up by a guitar.
 
Thanks guys. It's a serious PITA. Sean, did you have the noise all the time or only when the volume was up on the guitar? Mine only happens through the guitar pickups when the guitar volume is up.
 
No problem, good luck. I remember once when I had my Ultra. I had it in a Rack using a Furman Power conditioner and I started getting unbearable noise all of a sudden. I checked the Ground Pin on the end of the Furman it appeared normal but had gotten damaged at a gig the pin looked like it was connected but it had broken off inside the AC plug. I went to Home Depot and got a replacement AC plug and that fixed it.
 
We know it's interference being received by your pickups. The most common source of interference in modern houses is light dimmers and those coiled florescent replacement bulbs.

One thing you can try: kill every circuit breaker in the house except the one your Axe is on, and see if the problem persists. Id it goes away, turn on the breakers one by one until it comes back. The problem will be something powered by the last breaker you flipped.
 
I have this problem too and its really annoying even on super clean patches - totally awful with any distortion. I'll also try some of the suggestions mentioned, thanks for the tips.
 
Hello. I was googling "Stetzerizer Filter + guitar hum" and found this topic. It sounds exactly like what I am experiencing. I see this thread died around Nov 2013. Did anyone have any luck? I am just starting to investigate my problem.

My 200 amp breaker panel is in my basement studio. All my humbucking guitars have started having a slight but manageable hum when using high gain presets. My Strat, which has a tapped PU, has the same manageable hum in dual coil mode but horribly loud hum in single coil.

I was able to do a very interesting test. I have an ME-70 multi effect that I use for live jams, etc. It runs on batteries. I realized that I could use headphones, walk around with the ME-70 and my Strat, and easily hear where the hum does and does not occur.

The hum ends about 20 ft from the breaker box. It resumes when I go into the room above the studio, or outside and stand by my conduit and meter.

As a further test, I turned off every breaker, including the main. Which meant no electricity was coming into the house at all (though I would assume the wiring behind the box, leading outside through the conduit to the utility pole, was still hot). And I got the exact same results. The hum occurred within 20 ft of the breaker panel and everywhere else it is normally present.

Thanks.
 
Nice detective work.

It sounds like your breaker panel is emitting noise even with the main breaker off. You might have a dodgy ground at or near the panel. As a zero-cost option, you could call the power company and explain your situation. Be sure to let them know the testing you've done. They might steer you toward an electrician, or it may be something they can fix.

Post a clip of what you're getting. That can go a long way toward spotting the issue.
 
Thanks. Will post a recording soon.

I had just moved into the house in Sep 2012, right before Superstorm Sandy hit. During the storm, a tree fell and pulled down my line, requiring me to replace the 100 amp service with 200 amp service. Which I planned to do anyway. I used the same electrician to install that service (new line, meter, conduit, and panel) as I did when the time came to build my studio. The house had a 7 ft basement ceiling, so I made a live room -where the breaker panel is- and a control room.

So it is the same electrician I can have come back. I need some other work done anyway. Though it seems a bit of a stretch that any ground inside the house would have an effect with the main breaker off.

It would be great if the power company could suggest something. Even though my electrician installed the service, perhaps the power company can recommend something specific he can check. I will call the power company.

BTW, I was rehearsing in the basement even before the studio was built. I don't recall this sort of hum. And even when it did start a year or so ago, after the studio was finished, the Strat didn't get crazy bad until recently.

I am too new to post a url, but I got some good information at a website called LessEMF. It is at that website that I found out about Stetzerizer filters and indirectly led me to this forum. They even provide an example of how to measure the readings around a breaker panel.
 
MEFlyingV said:
Though it seems a bit of a stretch that any ground inside the house would have an effect with the main breaker off.
Click to expand...
Your breaker panel is grounded, even when switched off. Corrosion can increase the resistance on that ground.

Good luck, and keep us posted.
 
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