Question:
It's a beautiful thing, your soundguy blames all of your equipment for the hum, and in reality, it's the wiring in your church. The lights are connected to the same power, and that creates the hum.
So, how do I get rid of it? Is there really any way? I'd like to be able to use my equipment and not just an acoustic/electric(I am the lead guitarist). I need a cost-effective way to get rid of it, because it's more of a "only use it in one place" thing than a use it on a daily basis. Thanks for all the help.
Answer:
Originally Posted by Beyer413 It's a beautiful thing, your soundguy blames all of your equipment for the hum, and in reality, it's the wiring in your church. The lights are connected to the same power, and that creates the hum.
So, how do I get rid of it? Is there really any way? I'd like to be able to use my equipment and not just an acoustic/electric(I am the lead guitarist). I need a cost-effective way to get rid of it, because it's more of a "only use it in one place" thing than a use it on a daily basis. Thanks for all the help.
Actually, your amp/effects/etc are connected to a 60-cycle source too. The wall outlet.
There are several common things that can cause 60-cycle hum.
So... some troubleshooting questions:
What is your setup? (from guitar to soundboard)
What guitar do you have (and what pickups - single coil/humbucker)?
What lights are around (incandescent/fluorescent)?
How bad is it? Do you get this hum anywhere else?
Answer:
I'll give our main sound guy credit. He'll admit that bad lighting is our problem. The other guys blame the equipment, but our main guy knows who the real culprit is.
That being said, one of our other electric players is using a PRS that must have something wrong with it because his distortion is always doing the 60hz thing no matter what.
I'll never forget the day I was about to lose my mind and the main sound tech said he would show me what was wrong. We have two different lighting systems in our sanctuary. One the contractor put in, the other we put in. He turned off all the lights that the contractor installed and guess what? No hum coming from my guitar. I ever used a setting that was notorious for making more noise than it was worth...............nothing. It was a thing of beauty.
He turned the contractor lights back on and guess what? The 60 cycle ride from u-know-where came back.
Guess which lights the contractor installed? The main lights. The lights that have to be used all the time.
My suggestion is get the best possible noise gate you can afford and put it in your setup. I used to use a Boss NS-2. I now use the suppressor built into my Boss GT-6, but I still have the NS-2.........just in case. And there's been a couple of times I seriously thought about hooking the NS up with the GT.
The main sound tech says we can do something about the lights in the sanctuary someday, but even if we do it ourselves it's going to be some time and money. Two things nobody in the music/tech department has a lot of right now.
Answer:
The hum is horrible, and I use no effects pedals(but I'd like to be able to.)
The buzz is the same as is described directly above this one. I'll look into the noise suppressor.
I don't get the hum anywhere but at church. I'd love to mic my amp, and the sound guys are fine with that, but that buzz gets pretty bad.
Answer:
Originally Posted by Jaymze13 I'll give our main sound guy credit. He'll admit that bad lighting is our problem. The other guys blame the equipment, but our main guy knows who the real culprit is.
That being said, one of our other electric players is using a PRS that must have something wrong with it because his distortion is always doing the 60hz thing no matter what.
I'll never forget the day I was about to lose my mind and the main sound tech said he would show me what was wrong. We have two different lighting systems in our sanctuary. One the contractor put in, the other we put in. He turned off all the lights that the contractor installed and guess what? No hum coming from my guitar. I ever used a setting that was notorious for making more noise than it was worth...............nothing. It was a thing of beauty.
He turned the contractor lights back on and guess what? The 60 cycle ride from u-know-where came back.
Guess which lights the contractor installed? The main lights. The lights that have to be used all the time.
My suggestion is get the best possible noise gate you can afford and put it in your setup. I used to use a Boss NS-2. I now use the suppressor built into my Boss GT-6, but I still have the NS-2.........just in case. And there's been a couple of times I seriously thought about hooking the NS up with the GT.
The main sound tech says we can do something about the lights in the sanctuary someday, but even if we do it ourselves it's going to be some time and money. Two things nobody in the music/tech department has a lot of right now. :nope:
The main church budget should be used for general repairs like that, not the A/V budget.
Anyways, alot of things can contribute to the hum (usually lighting).
One thing that helps is to turn off extraneous gear. Anything not immediately necessary for the operation of the sound system should be turned off. That will severely diminish the amount of hum.
Also, microphones that are not in use should always be off. This will help diminish the amount of noticeable hum.
Answer:
Originally Posted by Beyer413 The hum is horrible, and I use no effects pedals(but I'd like to be able to.)
The buzz is the same as is described directly above this one. I'll look into the noise suppressor.
I don't get the hum anywhere but at church. I'd love to mic my amp, and the sound guys are fine with that, but that buzz gets pretty bad.
The problem with noise suppressors is that they simply provide a muting threshold -- none, as far as I know, target 'noise' because noise is already mixed with the signal. A noise suppressor will just mute the signal to the amp when you aren't playing.
The reason that I asked about pickups and the lighting is simply because of the nature of them. Single coil pickups (the type you most commonly see on a Strat) can have a tendency to pick up extra noise, _especially_ if the guitar isn't shielded well.
With lighting, particularly fluorescent light, single coil pickups will be quite vulnerable to picking hum, regardless of how it is wired.
Also, it would be a good idea to confirm where the noise is coming from -- have you tried other guitars with your amp or another amp with your guitar (and possibly a different cable?) If nothing else, unplugging from the amp should tell you if the noise is indeed coming from the guitar, of if it could be from the amp itself.