New noise/buzz

Greg Ferguson said:
Do what you have always done. Hopefully you won’t find out how it isn’t the right way to deal with it. I was lucky when it happened to me.
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Heh-heh...sure bro.
Go ahead and spend a fortune and waste time...OR, figure out the problem instantly. You don't have to make it a permanent solution. But it's the fastest way to figure out what's going on.
But I suppose myself and thousands of others with real world gigging experience are just wrong.
 
Robbie Boyette said:
But I suppose myself and thousands of others with real world gigging experience are just wrong.
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You repeatedly say you have "real world gigging experience", as if those of us who made a recommendation to NOT do that have none.

Years ago that practice was common. We used to do it, but we learned not to because it's dangerous. If you lift a circuit and touch someone or something that is still grounded you can get shocked, and it can kill.

I carry circuit testers in my gig bags and check the wiring when I go into a new-to-me building, especially when it's old. And, I've run into wiring that had horrible grounding problems. Using the tester I could find a safe outlet rather than rely on an adapter. They're not perfect, but at least I have foreknowledge that there are problems and don't have to learn about them the hard way.

Technology has changed, the circuitry has changed and recommendations have changed.
 
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Robbie Boyette said:
The ground lift switch on the FM3 is only for the XLR outputs.
It's DEFINITELY a ground problem if it's still making the same sound with the FM3 turned off (as you stated), but goes away if you unplug the cable.
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Does this mean if its a ground problem then it should go away when I run XLR to 1/4" out to my amp and I hit the ground lift switch?

Just did this and it reduced the hum by a few db. Still though it's very very much louder than my pedalboard in front of my amp. The pedalboard adds negligible noise, the FM3 adds noise that's basically equivalent to the amplified volume of the guitar.

I have a humbuster cable on the way, fingers crossed.
 
You could also use a small isolation transformer like this one:

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Amazon product ASIN B00BARTW3I


I use these and they do the job perfectly well and don't impact tone at all.
 
alex1fly said:
Does this mean if its a ground problem then it should go away when I run XLR to 1/4" out to my amp and I hit the ground lift switch?
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Not necessarily or exactly. It will depend on how the cable is wired. Wait until you get the Humbuster cable and tackle it from there.
 
FractalAudio said:
These are EXTREMELY dangerous. You run the risk of electrocution.
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And yet...I've done it since the 1970's and I'm still here. And I run no risk of electrocution anymore since I haven't had to use one in years now that modern gear and the wiring in modern venues don't seem to generally have that problem (and most modern gear has a built in ground lift as well so you can lift each piece in a rack of gear individually using switches)...plus I'm wireless now with no wired connection to my amp or my Fractal gear (which is my main rig here in Vegas now)
Trust me...using a ground lift...lol. Standing in 3 inches of water with a giant allen wrench wrapped in electrical tape and tapping into a 220V main line for a power distribution system in a 60 year old night club in North Carolina? Now THAT was dangerous! lol
 
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alex1fly said:
Does this mean if its a ground problem then it should go away when I run XLR to 1/4" out to my amp and I hit the ground lift switch?

Just did this and it reduced the hum by a few db. Still though it's very very much louder than my pedalboard in front of my amp. The pedalboard adds negligible noise, the FM3 adds noise that's basically equivalent to the amplified volume of the guitar.

I have a humbuster cable on the way, fingers crossed.
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On my "real" amp rig I have a Mesa TC 50, an ISP Decimator Pro Rack G, and a WAZA Tube Amp Expander.
Each of those components have ground lift switches. And to get it nice and quiet requires a combination of lift and non-lift on all the switches.
So no, just the FM3 lifted might not do the trick.
Does your amp have a lift switch as well?
If it doesn't, then I would (again) suggest trying a ground lift plug adapter to troubleshoot it. If the hum goes away...and you want to go the more expensive route that others on here are suggesting...then you will know what to do, and you can buy whatever "hum removal" doo-dad that is sold to do the same thing "safely".
And if you're like me and use a wireless guitar system as well...then all that talk of "dangerous" (which it isn't) doesn't matter anyway because you aren't connected by wire to the system anyway and won't get shocked playing guitar.
 
Robbie Boyette said:
On my "real" amp rig I have a Mesa TC 50, an ISP Decimator Pro Rack G, and a WAZA Tube Amp Expander.
Each of those components have ground lift switches. And to get it nice and quiet requires a combination of lift and non-lift on all the switches.
So no, just the FM3 lifted might not do the trick.
Does your amp have a lift switch as well?
If it doesn't, then I would (again) suggest trying a ground lift plug adapter to troubleshoot it. If the hum goes away...and you want to go the more expensive route that others on here are suggesting...then you will know what to do, and you can buy whatever "hum removal" doo-dad that is sold to do the same thing "safely".
And if you're like me and use a wireless guitar system as well...then all that talk of "dangerous" (which it isn't) doesn't matter anyway because you aren't connected by wire to the system anyway and won't get shocked playing guitar.
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Lifting grounds is dangerous. Full stop.

The right solution is a Humbuster cable. It's inexpensive and effective and is recommended by us, the manufacturer.
 
Okay well I got the humbuster cable in, no reduction in background hiss. Same hiss whether I connect the FM3 to my amp with the humbuster cable, a guitar cable, a TRS cable, use the headphone out, use the output 2 (and all permutations). And unfortunately (or fortunately) my analog pedalboard doesn't cause the hiss - no matter which cable I use to connect it to the amp. So I don't know, is there anything else I can try?

I mean all is not lost. I can still use the FM3 in front of my amp's clean channel - the extra hiss isn't too noticeable - and then I can just remove the FM3 from the chain when I want to use the amp's dirty channel. Also, kind of fun to run the FM3 straight into the amp's power section. Plus running it as an interface, headphone performer, and into FRFR. Still, it's a little disappointing to not be able to solve this one.
 
alex1fly said:
Okay well I got the humbuster cable in, no reduction in background hiss. Same hiss whether I connect the FM3 to my amp with the humbuster cable, a guitar cable, a TRS cable, use the headphone out, use the output 2 (and all permutations). And unfortunately (or fortunately) my analog pedalboard doesn't cause the hiss - no matter which cable I use to connect it to the amp. So I don't know, is there anything else I can try?

I mean all is not lost. I can still use the FM3 in front of my amp's clean channel - the extra hiss isn't too noticeable - and then I can just remove the FM3 from the chain when I want to use the amp's dirty channel. Also, kind of fun to run the FM3 straight into the amp's power section. Plus running it as an interface, headphone performer, and into FRFR. Still, it's a little disappointing to not be able to solve this one.
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It’s sort of hard to follow your situation because now the problem has gone from “noise or buzz” to “hiss” which contextually are usually different things. Hiss is caused more by raising the always present noise floor higher with gain. Many times unnecessary or improper gain or gain staging. This is why recordings and being very specific in terminology is really important. Just like a picture can say a 1000 words, some recorded audio can do the same.
 
alex1fly said:
Okay well I got the humbuster cable in, no reduction in background hiss. Same hiss whether I connect the FM3 to my amp with the humbuster cable, a guitar cable, a TRS cable, use the headphone out, use the output 2 (and all permutations). And unfortunately (or fortunately) my analog pedalboard doesn't cause the hiss - no matter which cable I use to connect it to the amp. So I don't know, is there anything else I can try?

I mean all is not lost. I can still use the FM3 in front of my amp's clean channel - the extra hiss isn't too noticeable - and then I can just remove the FM3 from the chain when I want to use the amp's dirty channel. Also, kind of fun to run the FM3 straight into the amp's power section. Plus running it as an interface, headphone performer, and into FRFR. Still, it's a little disappointing to not be able to solve this one.
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A Humbuster cable is designed to combat hum/buzz. In your OP you said you were getting buzz. Now you are saying you are getting hiss. Which is it?

Hiss is thermal noise. If you are going into the front of an amp and using the FM3 for effects only then use Output 2 and increase the Boost/Pad in the Setup menu. This will optimize the SNR for your use case.

The optimum way to use the FM3 with your amp is to use the FM3 into the amp's FX return (power amp in) and bypass the amp's preamp altogether.
 
Note: I am not using the FM3 through and amp!

Didn't mean to hijack this thread, but I have a similar situation going on using a humbuster cable, but my problem is mostly single coil pickups.

I know it's my computer causing the issue and I am not sure what to do about it. I guess build a farady cage around it?

I tend to stay away from using single coil in hi gain situations because of the noise or tapping the coils which I can do on my 3 PRS's.

Thanks for any help!!!
 
mesabassman said:
Note: I am not using the FM3 through and amp!

Didn't mean to hijack this thread, but I have a similar situation going on using a humbuster cable, but my problem is mostly single coil pickups.

I know it's my computer causing the issue and I am not sure what to do about it. I guess build a farady cage around it?

I tend to stay away from using single coil in hi gain situations because of the noise or tapping the coils which I can do on my 3 PRS's.

Thanks for any help!!!
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Move away from the computer.
 
Have you played around with repositioning the FM3 further away from your amp or other noise source.

As an aside, I stopped using ground-lift plugs as soon as someone said it could kill me or damage my gear. Clearly most people agree there are other ways to solve ground hum.

I recently was on a gig with a bad hum and a friend popped over with one of those isolation transformer boxes. Worked perfectly. I got a Pyle PHE400 for cheap and keep one in my bag now.
 
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