Help with hum issue

Bill Piersall

Bill Piersall

Experienced
At a gig the other night, had a bad hum coming through the RCF powered wedge, as well as, the FOH. I use a Furman power supply so rarely if ever have hum issues running the Axe. I tried the ground lift on back of Axe, no luck. The club has a neon light with the club name on wall behind stage. Unplugged it, hum was gone. Unfortunately, idiot club owners wanted light on more then I wanted to get rid of hum. Tried plugging Furman into different outlets, even tried a 3 prong lift, no luck Question is this, Would the Humbuster Cables help in this situation? If not, any ideas? We play this club quite a bit, but first time in with Axe. I had a 4x10 Mesa Maverick with Bradshaw switching system prior to this rig and never had issues there.

Thanks,
 
Were you playing a strat by any chance? Sounds like the single coils picking up the interference from the light to me.

When I get that hum at random clubs, switching to my Les Paul usually gets rid of any extraneous noise.
 
fox5150 said:
Were you playing a strat by any chance? Sounds like the single coils picking up the interference from the light to me.

When I get that hum at random clubs, switching to my Les Paul usually gets rid of any extraneous noise.
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i do primarly play a heavily shielded, star grounded Strat that has next to no single coil hum. But switch to les Paul to give it a try, same issue.
 
Hate clubs and their power issues. This also happens if the neon light is plugged into the same phase as your axe. Ask for a separate shielded or decoupled power source. Does rolling off the volume help?
 
Bill Piersall said:
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even tried a 3 prong lift, no luck
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If by "3 prong lift" you mean that you plugged in your gear with the ground pin somehow removed from the power cable / power extension, then don't EVER do that. Even if it did solve your hum issue, don't ever do it. It can mean death. There is no amount of hum that is worth dying for.

Also, a Furman power strip will not help with hum caused by fluorescent lights.

I am not familiar with mumbuster cables, but I would be extremely surprised if they would help.

WIth fluorescent lights, it's usually (but not always) noise being introduced onto the normally well-behaved 60hz 110V power. You have to plug into a different circuit (perhaps run a long extension from a plug elsewhere in the venue). And sometimes, that fluorescent-induced noise can appear on all circuits (in which case you're SOL).
 
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strat714 said:
I always carry one of these and it has solved SO many problems for us.

Ebtech Hum X | Sweetwater.com
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I bought one of those because I was *sometimes* getting abit of hum at our rehearsal space (but never at home). However, I tried the Hum X at home and it actually introduced hum that I never had before. I removed the Hum X, hum was gone. Baffled, I put it away and never even tried it at the rehearsal space where I sometimes have hum.

Can anyone explain how a device that has a good reputation for removing hum can all of a sudden *add* hum?
 
Heard good things about that piece. I'll give it a shot, 3 prong lift didn't work though.
See the Strat714 moniker, usually I go by strat357 on other forums. Previous poster, fox5150 mentioned shielding. Anyone interested in shielding a Strat right should go to Guitarnuts.com and look under mods. They have a mod called Quieting The Beast that using full shielding, but new star grounding schematic that eliminates grounds between all pots. I've done this on many Strats now, and it allows me to stay with real single coils with almost zero hum. Better than any shielding I've ever tried in 30+ yrs. of playing Strats. No change in tone, just quiet.
 
Bill Piersall said:
At a gig the other night, had a bad hum...The club has a neon light with the club name on wall behind stage. Unplugged it, hum was gone.
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The problem is almost certainly interference coming from the neon sign directly into your guitar. It's not a power problem, and no amount of power or cabling tricks will get rid of it. If the club owner refuses to turn off the sign, the best you can do is to hold your guitar in the position that produces the least amount of noise...or swithc to humbuckers.
 
Did it with a les Paul too though.
Also, I've played this club, same neon sign, same guitar, different rig, no issues.
Was using a Mesa Maverick with a ton of pedals racked with a Bradshaw system. No hum with it.
 
Dpoirier said:
If by "3 prong lift" you mean that you plugged in your gear with the ground pin somehow removed from the power cable / power extension, then don't EVER do that. Even if it did solve your hum issue, don't ever do it. It can mean death. There is no amount of hum that is worth dying for.
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This needs to be shouted from the rooftops.
 
Dpoirier said:
Can anyone explain how a device that has a good reputation for removing hum can all of a sudden *add* hum?
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The HumX is a 1:1 isolation transformer designed to safely isolate from the AC ground.

If you don't have a ground loop issue because of the way your AC is connected, then it's not going to solve anything.

BTW, you need a bigger transformer than the HumX if you are connecting a guitar amp or power amp. The HumX is not rated for amplifier type current.
 
Bill Piersall said:
Did it with a les Paul too though.
Also, I've played this club, same neon sign, same guitar, different rig, no issues.
Was using a Mesa Maverick with a ton of pedals racked with a Bradshaw system. No hum with it.
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Something's changed. Sign in a different position, or you're in a different position, or the Les Paul has P90s instead of humbuckers, or your noise gate was set differently, or...something.

If the noise goes away when you unplug your guitar, then it's getting in through your guitar.
 
Rex said:
This needs to be shouted from the rooftops.
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Agreed, only tried it temporarily to see if grounding issue was the problem or if it was cable, Axe etc. Would never leave it in this manner or play gig with lift in place. Don't want to put on an unplanned pyrotechnic show, lol
 
Only thing different is the Axe.
As I said, I am even using same furman. Same stage position, outlet etc. have played this club for over 5yrs.
Have also done many gigs with Axe and current setup, just not this club for a bit.
Have had this Strat for30+yrs, and have rarely had any hum issues related to shielding once I completed the mod I mentioned earlier in thread.

Les Paul has humbuckers. Other guitar players rig, in same outlet, no hum with his Les Paul OR my Strat.

My first time at this club with Axe, but many shows here with old rig. Sign has always been there. No noise gate on old rig.

Old Rig: Same Strat-Bradswaw Switching System-8 pedals-out to front of Mesa Boogie 4x10 Combo. Everything plugged into Furman Power Supply. Always quiet with shielded Strat.

New Rig: Same Strat-Axe Fx front end-OUT 1 -FOH, OUT 2-RCF NX12-SMA. Both FOH and Wedge had hum.

Didn't try it with no guitar plugged in, but Humbucker equipped Les Paul and Strat both had same issue.
 
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Give it a listen plugging and unpluggung the guitar. That'll tell you whether it's the guitar or the rig. If the noise goes away when you unplug the guitar, then the guitar is the source. If it doesn't go away, then it's the rig.

One thing that will make a rig more susceptible to noise from the guitar is gain. If you're running with more gain on one rig than on another (that includes compression), then the higher-gain rig will will be noisier.
 
Rex said:
Give it a listen plugging and unpluggung the guitar. That'll tell you whether it's the guitar or the rig. If the noise goes away when you unplug the guitar, then the guitar is the source. If it doesn't go away, then it's the rig.

One thing that will make a rig more susceptible to noise from the guitar is gain. If you're running with more gain on one rig than on another (that includes compression), then the higher-gain rig will will be noisier.
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I will, thanks! We are a band that isn't using a lot of gain really, what got confusing is the Les Paul humming through my Axe rig too, but the Strat or Paul not humming in my buddy's rig plugged into same electrical outlet.
And like I said, this same guitar never caused hum issues at the same venue with old rig plugged into same outlet.
I give a few things a try, we are back there in 2 months. Let you know what I find out.

Thanks for all the ideas!!
 
Hello,
well just want to jump in...
We got a new Room and got a lot of Hum and Noise...
But only if we plug in the Instruments... especially if we plug in the Bass...
We can rank up the Volume to 100% on the Bassamp & Axe and there is no Hum and a little noise thats normal but if we plug in the Bass we get a lot of Noise/Hum.
If the Bass Player now keep his Hand on the Strings the Hum is gone to 90% same on my Guitar...
I use a Furman for all Amp's but that does not help...
So will the Ebtech Hum Eliminator 2 XLR help to solve this or do we need to Mod our Instruments ?
btw. the Bass is a new Fender Jazz Bass and i use the Parker Fly Deluxe...

thanks for any suggestions ....
 
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