How do I stop my pedalboard from humming?Isolated power and finding ground loops will fix most pedalboard hum. Isolate your power Ground loops are the usual culprit — Alan Ratcliffe, our Guitar Doctor, explains that daisy-chaining pedals off one supply creates earth loops between them. His fixes: use a separate supply per pedal, use a supply with isolated outputs, or disconnect the earth between pedals 2. Daisy chains hum by design — Gearhead, our Builder in Residence, points out that one PSU powering several pedals creates ground loops through both the audio and power cables 8. Cheap bricks aren't really isolated — Alan warns many budget PSUs daisy-chain outputs internally, unlike proper supplies with separate transformer taps, regulators and smoothing 6. Track it down Eliminate one at a time — Alan suggests going guitar-straight-to-amp first, then adding pedals one by one. Watch the wah especially: a noisy early pedal gets amplified badly by high-gain pedals later 6. Try battery or another PSU — a faulty or noisy supply can cause hum; test the pedal on battery to rule it out 1,3. Check the wall socket — other devices on the same plug can inject serious hum; a clean outlet fixed one member's amp instantly 5. Last resorts Noise gate — a Boss NS-2 with proper threshold settings tames hum between songs, though it won't fix the source 6,7. If the hum persists even guitar-to-amp, it may be your guitar's pickups or wiring rather than the board — ask in the community with your full signal chain details. From these forum threadsRemoving humming noise from guitarpedal (2013): Alan's quick battery and jack tests for a humming pedalPedal makes humming noise ? (2013): Alan's four-step ground loop fix for daisy-chained pedalsNoisy pedal (2014): Why high-gain pedals amplify power supply noiseNoise - revisited (2017): How wall sockets and shielding turn a quiet rig noisyEffect/OD/Dist noise (2013): Alan's pedal-by-pedal method to isolate board humWhat do I need to know about noise-gates? *Culprit Found!* (2011): Noise gate settings, trigger inputs and shielding adviceLooking for power supply for all of my pedals. (2009): Why multi-pedal one-supply setups create ground loops
