Noise - revisited - GuitarTalk Community

Noise - revisited

modulator

I have lowered the pickups on my 3 single coil guitar way down low, close to the pick-guard plate, any lower will need longer screws and springs. The tone is OK, and through the 40 watt valve amp (at bedroom volume) the guitar sounds good. Better than with the 15 Watt transistor amp. The problem is that a lot of noise comes through to the amp. If I turn down the guitar volume, the amp is quiet enough, as soon as I open up the guitar volume, the irritating noise is present. (The noise is less when I "earth" my hand on the bridge, as is apparently normal.)

This noise from single coil pickups is normal they say, I play close to LED (240 volt type) lights, some other electrical items are around, I know the supply voltage is not clean, but the amp is quiet enough when the guitar volume is turned down... This seems to be a problem with electrical noise picked up by the single coils, but please do not advise me to buy a noise gate, I am trying to get away from more pedals (with their own power supply hum) and extra peripherals.

Question: Seeing as I play guitar, not bass, and the lowest frequency the low E string is supposed to give (at 440 Hz standard tuning) is around 82 Hz, is it viable to insert a cut-off filter in the line to the amp, to cut off any signal under about 70 Hz? Seeing as I am forced to build some hum-eliminating filter box for the pedal supplies, I might as well do the same for the guitar - amp line.

I still have to test with humbucker guitars, as well as try different guitar leads, as well as switch off lights and stuff. And compare side-by-side with the solid state amp. But likely it is the low-output old single coils picking up electrical noise.

V8

I'd think about shielding the guitar with single coils. Though it won't much help with the 60hz hum, Mine's unshielded and fairly noisy around pc's/monitors, at high volume I can hear the RF interference.

If I was playing higher gain through the single coils I'd use a noise gate - at least it would damp the noise down between songs - though the noise would still be there while playing, it just wouldn't be as noticable. I do have a Boss NS2 in my 'rig', but it's there more because of the style of music than the need to tame noise.

Curious about adding a low pass filter/cutoff, maybe trawl tdpri.com for similar thoughts?

psyx

The other day I got a new amp, Engl Powerball II so as I got home I decided to quickly give it a try in the living room with my 212 cab since I had to make some space for it in the music room first. Anyway, so when I tried it there it hummed like crazy! I thought the amp was faulty at first. When I moved it to a clean plug it was quiet like an evening on the farm.
So other devices on the same plug make a massive difference!

Stoffeltoo

Thanks Psyx, Need to check my outlets and if they are separate circuits. Good Tip

modulator

I suspect shielding to be the problem - I tested the S-S-S guitar with all the leads I have on hand, with the solid state amp - switching off all the other power consumers in the room made no difference. I then plugged in the H-S-H guitar, a much newer toy, and that was much quieter, even the single coil pickup. I suspect that guitar to be shielded, if the output jack cavity cover has foil on the inside...

I play 20 m from overhead three-phase lines. I play right next to the amp. Many sources of electromagnetic noise. But, shielding the old single coil toy would imply stripping it down, introducing temptations like treble bleed caps, so I shall refrain from doing so for as long as possible.

Interesting, turing down the tone pots alters the noise, so the noise is not confined to low frequencies.

psyx

modulator wrote: I suspect shielding to be the problem - I tested the S-S-S guitar with all the leads I have on hand, with the solid state amp - switching off all the other power consumers in the room made no difference. I then plugged in the H-S-H guitar, a much newer toy, and that was much quieter, even the single coil pickup. I suspect that guitar to be shielded, if the output jack cavity cover has foil on the inside...

I play 20 m from overhead three-phase lines. I play right next to the amp. Many sources of electromagnetic noise. But, shielding the old single coil toy would imply stripping it down, introducing temptations like treble bleed caps, so I shall refrain from doing so for as long as possible.

Interesting, turing down the tone pots alters the noise, so the noise is not confined to low frequencies.

Yeah some guys are really meticulous when it comes to shielding on guitars. Personally I just don't play single coils. Mostly due to tonal preference but also due to the fact that they can be noisy. Power lines make quite a bit of electromagnetic interference which could make your life even more difficult. I'm afraid that tube amps are not going to make your life easier noise-wise...

I wonder whether there is any good solution to your problem?

modulator

psyx

No wonderful solution would be my guess. I will have to look into shielding, and turn down the gain.