Bass amp/ radio receiver

jultes

? Good day all. I am fairly new to bass playing and the site and not sure if this topic ever came up. After practice on Wednesday night we all stood around before switching off all the gear and my Hartke bass amp suddenly started picking up some radio station. As soon as I unplugged the cable at the guitar, the signal became better. The signal was not 100% clear but sounded like a 702 talk show. Some discussions on the financial markets.

My gear setup is simple -Ibanez Sound Gear 5 string base(active pickups), Samson DI running on the soundesk phantom power, Hartke amp and two stacked bass speakers. Now the big question ??-- Did anyone listen to the 702 show I need to know where to invest?? ?

Only joking. No money- no investing.

Seriously- has anyone come across this problem before and what might the solution be?

AlanRatcliffe

More likely to be from your guitar or cable than the amp. Usually due to insufficient shielding in the guitar cavities or cable. Occasionally an improperly earthed amp can be a problem, but that's relatively rare.

jultes

Thank you for the response Alan.
I took the guitar out of the circuit and the radio signal got better. I will see if I can simulate the problem again and do a better investigation to get to the actual culprit.

I do have a little-bit of technical ball-sense but the fact that a normal amp is somehow picking up a radio signal ☹ new to me.

AlanRatcliffe

jultes wrote: I took the guitar out of the circuit and the radio signal got better.

The thing is the guitar is part of the circuit and just because removing it stops the problem does not prove beyond doubt that it is the actual problem. The easiest thing to do is try another good cable. So do that first. Then try another guitar.

jultes

Noted- thank you. I will test a few scenarios and see If I can get to the bottom of it. Might be a good excuse to upgrade to a better guitar.

Cheers