Insane FM9 Buzzing all of a sudden

sick pickle

sick pickle

Inspired
Hi Fractal Friends,

Today out of nowhere, I started noticing insane buzz when using my FM9. This is happening with all guitars, and is even happening after swapping cables.

Things I have tried:
  • Different guitars (to rule out guitar pickup grounding issue - PRS, Fenders, my Gibsons, you name it)
  • Different cables (new, old, etc.)
  • The ground option switches on the FM9
  • Plug FM9 into different power outlets of my house
I am absolutely stumped. I don't ever recall it being this bad. I just did a short clip using my Telecaster into Logic Pro.

Any ideas? I know these things are hard to diagnose, but - I have been using the FM9 in my regular studio location for almost a year now and this has never been a problem.

 
Oh wow, sorry my friend you're going down that path, it's going to drive you nuts
I get that once in a while too. Different rooms, different power quality, on and on.
The one thing that's helped me with noise more consistently is using wireless on my guitar, and getting a Furman power strip.
I assume position 2 on the guitar isn't helping, humbuckers either?
 
tubelessone said:
Oh wow, sorry my friend you're going down that path, it's going to drive you nuts
I get that once in a while too. Different rooms, different power quality, on and on.
The one thing that's helped me with noise more consistently is using wireless on my guitar, and getting a Furman power strip.
I assume position 2 on the guitar isn't helping, humbuckers either?
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Position not making a different - happening with Les Paul and PRS as well.
 
sick pickle said:
Position not making a different - happening with Les Paul and PRS as well.
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if there's no noise when you don't have the guitar cable plugged into the unit, then I would say you're just creating a big antenna when you have the guitar plugged into the fm9 via cable. Any TVs around you? Turn them off. I played a gig one time and was against a TV wall.... it was a nightmare LOL.
There's other threads about that here in the forum, even one started by me when I had an fm3 with crazy buzz.
 
tubelessone said:
if there's no noise when you don't have the guitar cable plugged into the unit, then I would say you're just creating a big antenna when you have the guitar plugged into the fm9 via cable. Any TVs around you? Turn them off. I played a gig one time and was against a TV wall.... it was a nightmare LOL.
There's other threads about that here in the forum, even one started by me when I had an fm3 with crazy buzz.
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Ok...what I don't understand is why all of a sudden it is happening now, when my house setup/power has been fine since I got the unit. Super odd.

With guitar unplugged and a normal patch uploaded, it is incredibly silent (testing using headphones).
 
Any new lights or dimmer switches in the area? Played a gig this past weekend and the chandeliers in the banquet room caused an insane hum and buzz for me and the bass player. It even changed frequencies when they were dimmed. Thankfully we figured it out and turned them completely off.
 
sick pickle said:
Ok...what I don't understand is why all of a sudden it is happening now, when my house setup/power has been fine since I got the unit. Super odd.
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Either there's a new source of interference nearby, or you've moved your guitar closer to the interference.

Plug in your guitar and move it around the room. See where the interference is the loudest.
 
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Yes...

LED lights
Fluorescent lights
Dimmer switches
Computers (especially with non-metal cases)
Power supplies (aka, wall warts)
Appliances on the same circuit

Are you in your own house or apartment/condo/townhouse?

Can you take it somewhere else to see if it's still bad?
 
I don’t know if this will help or not but a similar thing happened to me and it was my preset. I still haven’t figured it out. I looked for a drive pedal or setting that was too high, didn’t find it. I did a quick check, comparing it with another preset and the other one was very quiet in comparison. I just deleted the noisy preset.

Have you tried a similar preset to see if ones with the same type of gain have the same noise?

Also, in the clip your input gate is working as it should, but you might want to turn it off when comparing, if you give that a try. Personally, I need to hear constant noise when I’m troubleshooting/comparing.

One time my gate was “chattering” when I wasn’t playing because of my settings. The signal was riding the level where the gate activated and shut off. Spent a bunch of time looking for loose stuff rattling near the speaker.

Good luck!
 
Master of Nothing said:
Something that happened to me ……local power company replaced the power transformer on the power pole down the street from my house. All of a sudden, I started getting hiss on my amps.
Click to expand...

Yup, even after eliminating any other possible sources of noise in the home like lighting, computers, etc., there is always the possibility that there is power line noise. Testing the FM9 in another location as @unix-guy suggested might help eliminate that as a potential source of the problem.
 
sick pickle said:
Ok...what I don't understand is why all of a sudden it is happening now, when my house setup/power has been fine since I got the unit. Super odd.

With guitar unplugged and a normal patch uploaded, it is incredibly silent (testing using headphones).
Click to expand...
Because this problem can be originating from outside your home. Try moving the FM9 to a different room or even a different place altogether. I really don’t think the problem is the FM9
 
Ground loop. The noise only happens when you pluck a string because the gate kills it. Troubleshooting will be easier if you turn the noise gate in the input block off, and any noise gate blocks you may have added as well.

What other equipment is connected to the FM9 and by what cables?
 
Rex said:
The noise disappears when he unplugs his guitar. It’s not a ground loop.
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Depends. If the cable is unplugged from the FM9 input, it may just gate. This would be best explored with gates disabled. If still true, I agree. Also, if the FM9 is not plugged into ANY other gear (just guitar and headphones, no other cables), then not a ground loop.
 
sick pickle said:
With guitar unplugged and a normal patch uploaded, it is incredibly silent (testing using headphones).
Click to expand...
That removes the modeler and a ground-loop from the list.

It sounds like you've tested the normal suspects and it's down to the location or environment. When you hear it after unplugging guitar from the modeler and it's with multiple guitars and different cables it points to something outside your rig or guitars or cabling.

If you're in an apartment/condo it's possible that someone plugged something into their power that's radiating RFI. If the noise has bursts or changes frequencies it is probably electronic. If it's steady it could be an electrical motor or a heater. It's the season when people plug in old heaters and old and damaged or cheap tree lights. Testing in a different location, such as your practice space should prove or disprove that theory immediately.

I'm in an adobe house built in the 30's that still has some original wiring from back then. We brought sections of the power up to modern specs but the engineer said it's not worth trying to fix what's running through the walls because it'd basically be like cutting through rock, so I live with RFI in my room. My gear is silent when I'm out of the house so I find my happy orientation when I'm home and need the quietest signal the guitar can give me. I get the best signal with my Strats in positions 2 and 4, even the humbuckers can't avoid it.

Keep us up to date.
 
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elvis said:
Depends. If the cable is unplugged from the FM9 input, it may just gate. This would be best explored with gates disabled. If still true, I agree. Also, if the FM9 is not plugged into ANY other gear (just guitar and headphones, no other cables), then not a ground loop.
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The noise from a ground loop rides in on the power line, not the guitar. Neither the guitar or a noise gate will affect a ground loop. That's how we know that this situation doesn't involve a ground loop.

But you're right that the best way to check a noise issue is with gates off.
 
It's a good thing my neighbours don't move too often. I've gotten used to their housing equipment and I am noise free.
 
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