Self-generated noise problem?

jimfist

jimfist

Fractal Fanatic
I have an Axe-Fx Ultra and have recently noticed that it has been producing an odd noise that is enhanced by processing blocks that you'd expect: drive, amp, compression, especially when the amp and/or drive blocks have a fair amount of distortion in them. I'm not talking about ground noise, or the expected hiss that I'd expect to hear when you turn up the drive or preamp gain, but a very "computer-processor"-like sound, like someone is using a hair dryer with a fast rhythmic static mixed in. I can hear the sound using nothing but shunts, with the input and output volumes turned up to about 2 o'clock each - not radical settings - with NOTHING plugged into any of the inputs. It is faint, but when I start adding blocks it just gets louder and louder, depending on the settings.

I have tried the ground lift, a physical ground lift, different cables all around, a different amplifier to confirm whether the amp I'm using is causing the noise (it is not), and moved the rig to a different environment and plugged into a different electrical source. I have double checked the I/O settings, and anything else I could think of. Nothing has worked to remove this self-generated noise in the unit.

Anyone else experienced the same problem? Any ideas? :?:

Or should I just go for a service call straight away?

thanks
 
Same issue perhaps?

New 3-week old Ultra owner here, same issue with both low and high gain presets with multiple parallel blocks (though not noticable with the simple just-a-few-blocks stock presets). My presets are similar to Scott Peterson's approach in terms of parallel blocks with extended grid via effects send/return blocks. The white noise sits under the fundamental sound and stays constant as the note decays, until ultimately clamped off by the noise gate. The noise varies proportionally with input 1 level, and is especially noticable with clean/low-gain amp emulations. I have been reading through related noise posts already on the forum, but haven't recognized any as quite the same issue (yet).

Any insight would certainly be appreciated. And thanks, also. Hope I didn't hijack this thread.
 
follow-up :

I did a demo at a rehearsal spot for a friend who wanted to hear an Axe-Fx Ultra cranked up. Lo and behold, the strange noise coming from the unit disappeared as mysteriously as it had appeared. I'm now wondering if it is an a problem with the electrical power at my house. I haven't been using any power conditioning, but I will now. But, when I returned home after the demo, I plugged the unit back in and again no noise.

To be clear, in high-gain presets, you can hear some of the expected top end noise/hiss that is goes with the high-gain amps and drive blocks, and my initial situation had nothing to do with this.

I'm keeping an eye on this to see if a pattern develops. I'm hoping that this can be solved by power conditioning. Moving forward, I'll post my finding.
 
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I have this problem also. It doesn't occur everytime, but specially yesterday it was awful.
I will try with a power conditioner today and try it somewhere else. The noise is like what I used to ear in my computer several years ago (not the same computer or house, anyway).
 
Bobby, since the "incident" occurred with my setup last month, and then just as quickly went away, I haven't had the problem again (knock on wood). I don't really have any idea how or why this problem started and then stopped, but the most likely answer is cabling or a poor connection somewhere, but I'm just guessing. I'd suggest setting up your rig in a different location (different building in a different town/city if possible) and use all new/different cables, and only plug in the essentials to see if the problem persists. One thing to note, though, is that my house is less than 1/2 mile from the power grid. When I set up my rig at my rehearsal spot on town over, the problem went away and has not returned.

I wish I could offer more on this subject. Good luck!
 
Unhealthy noise here too

Same thing here. It started after the firmware upgrade from 8.x (forgot subversion) to new 10.05. Same thing appears on factory presets as well (i.e. Cliff's of Dover, Down Full Step, Recto 1...)
Noise is present even if nothing is plugged in axe. I need to set input 1 level to less then 1 o'clock to cut it down. Noise sounds very "un-healthy" like something is trying to pass trough noise-gate or for the experienced people, like when you have a bad electrolyte condenser in old power tube amp, or when you have original power tubes in new generation "CLASS A" (Axe-FX name) amp.
I'm considering to fallback to version 8.
 
Noise is not an issue of the Axe.
if you have noise troubles it's most likely some crap plugged into it (Korg tuner) or the electrical outlet/power strip/other stuff in the power strip.
try it at a friends house.
 
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Is the gate fully engaged? Are you operating it from your PC through MIDI or straight from the Axe?
I do notice a brief noise when I change presets from a PC bank file from my laptop but it quickly goes silent from that point. The gate catches a lot of crap from pickups, etc. The higher the gain the more you are amplifying these noises and might have to tweak your gate a bit.
 
you guys should really be using a power conditioner of some sort. their not that expensive and they keep harmfull noise from hurting your unit.
 
dwg115 said:
you guys should really be using a power conditioner of some sort. their not that expensive and they keep harmfull noise from hurting your unit.
Click to expand...

Most of us do. You can still get the noise even with the best conditioner since it does not always originate from the electric plug. Bad pickups, cheap guitar, hi gain settings, neon lighting, etc. gets picked up and amplified.
 
just to re-state the problem I had and measures I took to trouble shoot (summarizing the Original Post):

-the "mystery noise" was present with nothing plugged into any of the Axe-Fx inputs, with only Shunts (no processor blocks)
- problem persisted whether using the XLR output into a FRFR PA speaker, or using 1/4" outputs into a mixing console and monitoring with headphones
- all of the original XLR and 1/4" cables were replaced with new or "confirmed good" replacements

In my case, the problem just as mysteriously vanished when I used the Axe-Fx at a rehearsal room a 10 miles away, without any changes to the cabling scheme or equipment used. Then, when I brought the unit home (where the noise was first detected), it was gone - POOF! Same equipment, cables, outlet strip/wall outlet...

If the noise sounded like a typical "ground loop" noise, it would be understandable since ground loops can come and go due to poor contact/wiring/grounding. But this noise had a distinct "digital processing" quality to it that is entirely different than a ground hum.

In any event, I have since racked-up all of my gear and am using a power conditioner and (knock on wood) the problem has not surfaced again.
 
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