Off Topic I need some serious help - Guitar Interference/noise

[frankiman]

I need some serious help. I have recently moved and to my surprise in my area there is something that is causing interference with my guitar pickups.

It is not ground loop noise, my outlets are properly grounded. The hum in the guitar gets worse when I move around so it is definitely something causing interference.

I do have dimmers, but they are turned off. I do have florescent lights but only in the kitchen and they are too off. I have tried all outlets in the condo even outside in the hallway in my floor, it is all the same.

I have the same electrical equipment I had before moving. Unfortunately there is a Bell (mobility, TV, I am not sure) building beside my condo, which may have antennas and whatnot causing the interference.

My question is, how can I improve the shielding to avoid interference. I am not playing through an amp, I am using my pod X3 live with headphones or I use the Guitar Port directly into the computer, with headphones. So besides getting the best shielded cables i can, is there anything else I can do?

PS: I was so happy finally buying a place to live... after I plugged in and heard the noise I felt I wanted to die... yes it is that bad... If I cannot record at home I will go insane.

Your help is appreciated

 

[candid_x]

Bummer. Have you run through a power conditioner, like a Furman?

 

[frankiman]

someone told me that if the noise comes from RF intereference that the conditioner will not help as it only reduces noise from badly grounded connections. I am not sure of this, but I can give it a try, thanks for your reply

 

[e.mate]

someone told me that if the noise comes from RF intereference that the conditioner will not help as it only reduces noise from badly grounded connections. I am not sure of this, but I can give it a try, thanks for your reply

...which is true. However, I would borrow a conditioner to give it a try and to exclude the possibility of anything coming through the wires.

What is your guitar?

 

[frankiman]

...which is true. However, I would borrow a conditioner to give it a try and to exclude the possibility of anything coming through the wires.

What is your guitar?

Thanks I think I will see if I can rent a unit. I have 9 guitars, to of them Ernie Ball JP's, the rest are other brands, none of them with active pickups, they are all humbuckers, no single coils either

 

[beej]

You can get noise from both. If your guitars are decently shielded, bad power is the usual culprit. It's not about grounding, you get noise from circuits further down the line from your house.

 

[e.mate]

You can get noise from both. If your guitars are decently shielded, bad power is the usual culprit. It's not about grounding, you get noise from circuits further down the line from your house.

....a friend of mine got a problem from a washing machine in the basement, which provoked a hum in his bass amp. Took him six months to find out

 

[bkrumme]

Frank,

Are you sure it's RF? That seems likely by what you said, but it's just as likely your whole condo has a power problem. You're in a new home with different power lines and I'm assuming in a different part of the city/town where you live.

It could just as easily be dirty AC power coming from the grid.

 

[David Corrales]

....a friend of mine got a problem from a washing machine in the basement, which provoked a hum in his bass amp. Took him six months to find out

Haha that sounds really frustrating. "Hey, could you please do your laundry tomorrow? I'm laying down some tracks"

 

[nobozos]

There is alot of useful information in this article. Even though it revolves primarily around single coil pickups, some of the methods used can be useful for quieting any guitar.

http://www.mcquain.com/lespaul/StratWiring/Strat_Shielding_Tips.pdf

 

[jamminjim]

Get ahold of your local power company, explain your problem to them best you can and ask them come out and investigate. There could be something very wrong and they would most likely want to know about it. What you are describing does not sound normal.
could also be someone else, a neighbor, doing something that is causing the interference.
Does it do it constantly, 24 hours a day?

 

[e.mate]

Haha that sounds really frustrating. "Hey, could you please do your laundry tomorrow? I'm laying down some tracks"

...and I didn't even point out that it was a bass player

 

[bkrumme]

Get ahold of your local power company, explain your problem to them best you can and ask them come out and investigate. There could be something very wrong and they would most likely want to know about it. What you are describing does not sound normal.
could also be someone else, a neighbor, doing something that is causing the interference.
Does it do it constantly, 24 hours a day?

I concur with this. They should check out the power lines up to the meter on your house for no charge. if it's the meter itself or after the meter, it's most likely your responsibility.

 

[frankiman]

Frank,

Are you sure it's RF? That seems likely by what you said, but it's just as likely your whole condo has a power problem. You're in a new home with different power lines and I'm assuming in a different part of the city/town where you live.

It could just as easily be dirty AC power coming from the grid.

I am not savvy in this matter, I think it could be RF because the hum is dynamic in the sence that it changes in intensity when I move around,but I still cannot find a spot in the condo where it will be fully quiet.

You are right, it is a different part of town but the building is only 6 years old. The fact the noise also happens in the hallway outside my apartment is disconcerting. If it is a dirty AC power from the grid, is there a way I can "clean" it? is that what a power conditioner is fur?
I was also reading about this little guy, would it help?
Ebtech - Audio Solutions

 

[frankiman]

Get ahold of your local power company, explain your problem to them best you can and ask them come out and investigate. There could be something very wrong and they would most likely want to know about it. What you are describing does not sound normal.
could also be someone else, a neighbor, doing something that is causing the interference.
Does it do it constantly, 24 hours a day?

calling Toronto Hydro sounds like a good idea,but hopefully they'll give a s#1t

I haven't tried in the morning, I'll check thanks for all the tips guys

 

[jamminjim]

Curious, are there any High Tension power lines nearby? Oh, and you might ask some of the neighbors if they are experiencing the same problem.

 

[Jack FFR1846]

Do you have access to a guitar wireless? My setup near my couch at home is very noisy, but it's because my effects pedal, laptop, laptop supply (which causes a huge amount of noise) and everything are all piled together and I listen through my headphones plugged into my effects pedal. My non-EBMM single coil guitar with hums is the worst....in single coil positions. If I plug in my wireless and separate the cables from the power supplies and laptop, everything is completely clean. The laptop by itself can be noisy. I know the disk drive in mine causes some noise that's easy to find.

Good luck.

 

[frankiman]

Jim, there is a tension line maybe 100 meters away from my home, but seems to be like the normal ones in neighbourhoods, not the big tension lines I think you might be reffering

Jack, I do have wireless, the thing is that i have the same wireless set up and electrical equipment (PC, laptop, TV, game console, etc) exactly the same way I had it in the condo I was renting before.

thanks guys

 

[bkrumme]

I am not savvy in this matter, I think it could be RF because the hum is dynamic in the sence that it changes in intensity when I move around,but I still cannot find a spot in the condo where it will be fully quiet.

You are right, it is a different part of town but the building is only 6 years old. The fact the noise also happens in the hallway outside my apartment is disconcerting. If it is a dirty AC power from the grid, is there a way I can "clean" it? is that what a power conditioner is fur?
I was also reading about this little guy, would it help?
Ebtech - Audio Solutions

That's exactly what the power conditioner is for. If the power coming in from the grid is dirty, it's likely the entire building is affected and the only way to get rid of it is to isolate your unit in the building (super expensive) or use a device of some kind to clean the power.

The HumX is good, but only when you know exactly where the ground loop is. For instance, I have my home studio plugged into a Furman M8-L power conditioner, but I still got hum through my studio monitors. Took me a couple weeks to track it down, but I found that it was a ground loop between my computer monitor to my recording interface. That power conditioner doesn't have isolated grounds for each outlet, so I don't recommend it. I put a HumX on the computer monitor and bye-bye hum. Basically all it does is isolate the ground on whatever device you use it with. You could try it, but it's not a sure fix.

You have to follow your signal chain to find stuff like this. With the GuitarPort, you may have the same issue, but that doesn't explain the X3 since it's the only powered device in your signal chain. My bet is still on dirty power, but it's probably within the limits of what the power company considers acceptable. Get yourself a GOOD power conditioner.

I recommend these as low-cost solutions:
Monster Power PRO 900 PowerCenter | Sweetwater.com
Furman PL-8C | Sweetwater.com

 

[Slingy]

You may be able to quiet the noise with the built in gate on the X3. Set the threshold to -50db and the decay as low as possible without chopping off notes. Works for me, this 50 year old house is noisy as well. Also the built in hum reducer when using Gearbox for Guitarport is fantastic. Unfortunately, the hum reducer algorythm is not included in the Podfarm software.