Noise and clicking sound from axe 2

Are there other floors in the building below you? That seems to be what your results are suggesting. Try moving ten feet east or west and try the same experiment.

This is what I meant by the three different ways you can rotate your guitar: pitch, yaw and roll. Look at the picture below, and imagine the airplane is your guitar. These are the three ways it can turn.

View attachment 15029


Ok... first let me say that I have a ranch style house (all one floor), with a full basement. House was built in 1988 so all wiring is newer style. The house is rectagular with outside dimensions of 30x48.

Now, I've just took the axe to several places in the house, living room, dining room, two places in the basement, and the garage. what I found is that in each location the orientation of the guitar in relation to the clicking sound was the same throughout the house (same as described inearlier post) However, I did find that anytime the guitar was near a power cord or anywhere electric was running through the wall it was noisier...(not sure that the clicking itself was louder, maybe, but there was much more "buzzing" or "static" when close to anything electric) which makes sense.

I did notice that the bigger the space (living room, garage) the quieter the noise. I mean it seems like it's just in the power lines and since theres wiring in the walls and running under the floor, small room especially are just prone to more interference. I'm honestly not sure there's anything I can do about it at this point other than put all the wiring inside metal conduit to try and shield it...but that would require a complete tear out of the current wiring...not feasible.

So, I guess my only other option would be to try to shield the control cavity of the guitar...anyone ever done this? Any success?

I also found this post... http://forum.fractalaudio.com/ultra-std-discussion/25507-axe-fx-noise-issue-soundclip-included.html

That guy said that the power company replaced a transformer on a pole near his house and his issues were solved. I don't have and light poles in my neighborhood, everything is underground, don't know how that affects things...?

Rex, I appreciate the picture of the plane and the three axis', but this noise seems to be throughout the whole house...as if it's inherent in the wiring itself...but the larger the room the quieter it seems...but still present. Do you think shielding the control cavity would help in this situation?
 
Shielding the control cavity will help some. Shielding the pickup cavities will help more. Shielding is worth doing on any guitar that doesn't have it already. Don't forget to ground your shielding.

I agree with your findings. It sounds like something is impressing noise onto your power lines, and it's being radiated from there.

There's still a chance that the source of the interference is in your house. You've already shut down all but one circuit breaker, and the noise is still there. Next, move your rig to another room on a different breaker, and shut down all the breakers except that other one. If the interference is still there, then the source is outside your home. In that case, it couldn't hurt to call the power company, explain the problem, and ask if they'll send someone out to meet you.
 
I'll try moving to a different breaker tonight...

Do you know how or what to shielding the guitar with? Copper? Thickness? Best way to accomplish this for best results?

Brian
 
You have two choices for shielding: adhesive-backed copper foil or shielding paint. Both are available from luthier-supply houses such as Stewart McDonald. Shielding paint is easier to get into irregularly-shaped cavities. Copper foil is less messy. When you shield the cavity cover, copper foil is the more practical way.

Do a little web research on how to shield a guitar. It's not enough just to shield; each shielded cavity should also be connected to the guitar's ground.
 
At my previous house I used to get a clicking. I finally traced it to the ARB box which IIRC is a wireless interface to the water meter.

^^^THIS. This is the EXACT reason I cannot play my guitar down in my basement, which was going to the be the area I was going to build a small studio. Now, I suppose I could just rip out the stupid wireless water meter thingie, but I'm sure the water company would just complain, and insist on having another one installed. And, unfortunately, we require water service. ;)
 
Following this thread with great interest! At the expense of BrianJ's sanity. ;)

To me, and I'm certainly no expert, it seems the issue could be bad grounding and/or noise throughout your homes power wiring.

This may sound a bit crazy, but... is there a chance you could get a long (30' or more) instrument cable so you could put your rig in the garage, then walk as far outside as possible with your guitar to see if the noise still persists? I would think this would tell you if the problem is within your house, or within your surrounding area. Your neighbors will probably think you're nuts, lol! :lol
 
This is the EXACT reason I cannot play my guitar down in my basement, which was going to the be the area I was going to build a small studio. Now, I suppose I could just rip out the stupid wireless water meter thingie, but I'm sure the water company would just complain, and insist on having another one installed. And, unfortunately, we require water service. ;)
Or you could contact the water company and discuss alternatives to the wireless meter.
 
Or you could contact the water company and discuss alternatives to the wireless meter.

Or you could just not make the assumption that I did not contact the water company.

In fact I did contact them about the issue, and they offered no other alternatives as the wireless meters were their new "standard".
 
Or you could just not make the assumption that I did not contact the water company.

In fact I did contact them about the issue, and they offered no other alternatives as the wireless meters were their new "standard".
You didn't say, I didn't know. Sorry they didn't have a good option for you. It stinks to be force-tied to an interference source.
 
You didn't say, I didn't know. Sorry they didn't have a good option for you. It stinks to be force-tied to an interference source.

Agreed. Unfortunately, these are the types of things we have to deal with when there is no competition or choice in a product or service for the consumer.

You know, it was almost two years ago when I contacted them. Perhaps I should give it another shot. All they could do is say "No" again, right? :lol
 
Ok...so, it's 10:50pm here in Ohio, 19 degrees outside...where am I? Standing in the front yard with a $3000 guitar and a $2200 axe2...and the kicker? It's just as noisy out here as it is in the house...but then of course I'm still plugged into the house power via an extension cord. I'm a good 30 ft. from the house at this point. I don't know what else I can do to figure out where this clicking is coming from. Surely this far away from the house the pickups aren't still picking up my house wiring, so I'm guessing it's environmental, OR something in the wiring is bleeding from the power circuits of all my equipment over into the audio circuits when the guitar is connected...

I also, tried the other breaker as you suggested Rex, no change.

Ok, so at this point I need to figure out what to do going forward. There's definitely some noise floor to be gained by getting rid of the "have to touch the bridge" grounding issue. The "clicking" will continue to be an issue, but can be minimized/eliminated by position and patch manipulation and hopefully by the copper shielding.

Now, to take care of the "have to touch the bridge" scenario, what is the best way to do this? Something to do...something to buy?

Also, here is a picture of my PRS cavity, does everything look in order here?

Tremonti_controls_zps39c70393.jpg



And here is the official schematic...looks correct to the actual wiring...

Tremonti_wiring_zps45ba570e.jpg




Any other suggestions are appreciated...thanks!

Brian
 
You know, it was almost two years ago when I contacted them. Perhaps I should give it another shot. All they could do is say "No" again, right? :lol
It's worth a shot. Sometimes, talking to a different person makes all the difference. Maybe offer to read the meter yourself, like we did in the "old days."
 
Standing in the front yard with a $3000 guitar and a $2200 axe2...and the kicker? It's just as noisy out here as it is in the house...I also, tried the other breaker as you suggested Rex, no change.
Well, now we know it's in the neighborhood, and the source isn't in your house. There are two fronts we can attack: shield your guitar as much as possible, and ask the power company to help (call 'em, explain the problem, say you'd like to rule out power as a problem (sometimes, something like a pole-mounted transformer is the cause), and ask if they'll send a tech to your house to witness the problem firsthand).


There's definitely some noise floor to be gained by getting rid of the "have to touch the bridge" grounding issue.
That's a good first place to look. If your bridge ground is bad, noise will be your constant companion. Let's see if your bridge is properly grounded. As you're listening to the noise, take an extra guitar cable. Touch the tip of one end of that cable to your bridge, and touch the tip of the other end to your output jack. If the noise is reduced, then your bridge isn't properly grounded. If there's no change, we need to look elsewhere.


Also, here is a picture of my PRS cavity, does everything look in order here?
Everything looks to be in order, carefully laid out and connected. There's a splice in the cable going to the output jack, but if it were bad, you probably wouldn't be getting signal out.

But it doesn't look like the cavity is shielded. There may be shielding at the bottom—it's hard to tell from the pic—but the walls of the cavity aren't, and probably the cover plate isn't, either. Shielding both will help.

You might get even better results shielding the pickup cavities.
 
I apologize for reviving an old thread, but I found this thread and thought there was already a lot of great discussion going on so I wanted to add to it. I am also having the same clicking/popping issues with my Axe FX II as Brian. I run my Axe FX through a Furman Power Conditioner. Did you ever fix the issue?

I'm at the point where I have tested all the outlets in my house with the other breakers off, and still I receive this clicking noise. I am getting this noise more prominently in my Schecter C1+ with Bareknuckle Aftermaths, than I am my Schecter C7 with Duncan actives, but the clicking is still apparent in both.

Is there anything an electrician can do to "shield" an entire room? Or to improve grounding in a room? My house was built in 1980, and my studio is in my basement.

Any help on this topic would be much appreciated! Thanks!
 
Check your loft (Europe) or basement (America) for explosive devices.
Cross the red wire with the blue wire to disarm.
 
Is there anything an electrician can do to "shield" an entire room? Or to improve grounding in a room? My house was built in 1980, and my studio is in my basement.

One thing you could check or have an electrician check is the "neutral" not being 'grounded' per se correctly. This is more for a hum in most electrical devices, but could be part of it.

Best way to isolate the issue is to bring your rig to someone else's house and see if it persists. If it does, that is a sure sign something in the electrical is messed up. I used a Furman at my old house for years and it definitely helped. The new house has a bit more hum that I have to look into but it is not that noticeable.

#ZombieThread
 
If you have a cellphone in your right pocket and play your guitar, the cellphone will cause interference popping similar to a whooshing click track.
I have a PRS Custom 22 Artist and my Samsung cellphone reeks havoc. Not sure if this is your problem.
 
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