Minimizing single coil hum

jolynyk · Post by **jolynyk** » 15 Sep 2012 4:35 am

Is it possible to minimize the hum from a single coil Trutone pickup for recording,??
thanks.

Jerry Overstreet · Post by **Jerry Overstreet** » 15 Sep 2012 6:05 am

Maybe a long shot, but if you have access to one of the older Boss Pro SE-70 half rack fx units, it has a dedicated program called a Hum Canceler that filters out 50 or 60 HZ. noise and works perfectly with single coil p/ups. Eliminates the hum completely.

I think the later Boss VF-1 has the feature also.

jolynyk · Post by **jolynyk** » 15 Sep 2012 7:32 am

Thanks Jerry, no I don't have access to one, but will see if I can find one.. I did buy an Ebtech Hum Eliminator, & the minute I plug into it, the hum increses at least 10 times.. Hmmmm, wonder why.?

Jerry Overstreet · Post by **Jerry Overstreet** » 15 Sep 2012 8:09 am

That's a strange and atypical phenomenon with your Ebtech. Dunno what's up with that. Anyway, it doesn't do away with single coil hum. Good luck.

jolynyk · Post by **jolynyk** » 15 Sep 2012 8:43 am

Are there any other units besides the VF-1 ? And where in the chain would I hook up the VF-1 ? I also use an RV3. Would there be any effects in the VF-1 that would take the place of the RV3, so I'd only have to carry one unit instead of 2 ??

Stephen Cowell · Post by **Stephen Cowell** » 15 Sep 2012 8:44 am

The Ebtech is basically a ground-loop eliminator... you don't have that problem.

You can do three things:
1.) Protect the pickup from noise/hum
2.) EQ out the noise/hum
3.) Inject opposite noise/hum

For (1) you can find the source and minimize it... fluorescent lights around? House wiring nearby? Light dimmers in use? Transformers (all amps have transformers) nearby? Try moving/reorienting the guitar.

For (2) use a graphic EQ... not much help with things like dimmer noise but helps a lot with true 60/120hz hum.

For (3) you can twiddle the hum balance control on some amps... or you can choose another single-coil guitar (Tele?) and plug it into the same (or another) channel and move it around until you get less hum. Suhr makes a device that injects reverse hum into the ground circuit of a guitar, same principle.

Good luck... most of us just get humbuckers or low-impedance pickups. The higher the impedance the more sensitive to electrical noise, not a lot of current behind the hum.

Jerry Overstreet · Post by **Jerry Overstreet** » 15 Sep 2012 8:55 am

There might be some other products, but those Boss are the only ones I know of that have a real hum canceler.

I run my Boss inline between the VP and amp, simple thru connection.

I don't know about the VF-1, but my SE-70 only allows the hum canceler in that one algorithm for the patch [along with Noise Suppressor which you can turn off if you want], no other effects. So yes, you'd still need your reverb pedal and any other effects you might want in the chain.

That's the downside if you want to call it that. Those units have a lot of great sounds you can use for steel otherwise.

jolynyk · Post by **jolynyk** » 15 Sep 2012 9:38 am

That's too bad, I wonder if the newer VF-1 will allow more than one at a time.. About the same price on E-bay..

Bob Hoffnar · Post by **Bob Hoffnar** » 15 Sep 2012 9:43 am

Most all professional level studios have software that fixes the issue these days. I would avoid EQ based filters at all costs. I would not plug into anything extra that gets in between my fingers and the recording console.
The system is: Go ahead and record and don't worry about the hum. Then when the track is still running and your part is over leave your volume pedal full on without playing so you have a sample of nothing but the noise you don't want. They grab that sample and run it through some studio magic type plug in and it cleans your sound without screwing it up. The high in scrubbers work very very well. They don't use eq. They us some complex phase cancellation system.

I just had a classical music studio in Houston take care of a noisy old twin in a very pristine environment. I was astonished at how well the good stuff works these days.

If it is a home studio I still feel you will be better off running a parametric eq to clean it up later if the hum is a noticible problem on the track. Most of the time hum isn't a big problem even with single coils.

jolynyk · Post by **jolynyk** » 15 Sep 2012 10:06 am

Thanks for all replies. I moved the amp a long way from the guitar & it decreased the hum by quite a bit,, Bob thanks for the tip about leaving the volume pedal open, but not playing... and yes it is a Home Studio..

Chuck Snider · Post by **Chuck Snider** » 15 Sep 2012 8:44 pm

Hi John, something to think about, try one of the Alumitone pickups. It gives you the single coil sound, but it is dead quiet! I now have Alumitone's in both of my U12 guitars. I had used Truetones, tried an Alumitone in one, liked it so much I went to that in both guitars.

-Chuck

jolynyk · Post by **jolynyk** » 16 Sep 2012 5:39 pm

Hi Chuck, good to hear from you.., & thanks for you suggestion.. I've been thinking about them, but was a bit hesitent, because of adjustments on them.. I wasn't extremely happy with the E66 on my guitar, & do like the Trutone except for the hum when recording.. Live gigs it's OK, drummer covers any & all hums..lol..

Dom Franco · Post by **Dom Franco** » 16 Sep 2012 8:36 pm

The electro harmonix HUMDEBUGGER really works it costs about $120.00 but is well worth it to be able to use a favorite guitar in a noisy place. It adds a little edge to the notes almost like a slight slapback delay, but it is not a bad sound, and sounds great with reverb.
Try one at a local music store with your own guitar and you will be amazed...
Dom

Alan Berdoulay · Post by **Alan Berdoulay** » 17 Sep 2012 3:17 am

The EH Humdebugger works. It's not pristine....but good enough for live situations.

jolynyk · Post by **jolynyk** » 17 Sep 2012 7:30 am

Thanks for the link , found it.. does the slapback interfere with the clean sound of the guitar... I use an RV3 os sometimes a Profex II, & a hilton pedal. Where in the chain would you put the Debugger?

jolynyk · Post by **jolynyk** » 17 Sep 2012 7:32 am

Alan, what do you mean it's not Pristine, does it eliminate hum in a studio situation??

Alan Berdoulay · Post by **Alan Berdoulay** » 17 Sep 2012 7:33 am

I go after the volume pedal, before effects and amp.

Alan Berdoulay · Post by **Alan Berdoulay** » 17 Sep 2012 11:34 am

There seems to be a high pitched sound instead of hum. Not that loud......not an issue on the bandstand.....but liable to be in the studio. I like what bob, above, says about dealing with hum in the studio.

jolynyk · Post by **jolynyk** » 17 Sep 2012 11:37 am

Yup, short of changing pickup, I'll follow Bob's advice..
Thanks all...

Dom Franco · Post by **Dom Franco** » 17 Sep 2012 3:18 pm

I place the humdebugger as the first thing out of the guitar. It eliminates the noise from the pickups, and then the cleaned up signal is sent through your effects and volume pedal.

BTW I always run my effects pedals before the volume pedal, so they receive the full signal strength. The only exception to this would be reverb/delay because you don't want the echo trail cut off when you lower your volume.

Dom

Bob Hoffnar · Post by **Bob Hoffnar** » 17 Sep 2012 4:23 pm

jolynyk, After you record that sample part of just the hum you can figure out what frequencies it is by making it louder and quieter with a parametric eq that will be in your recording software. Once you have it dialed in you can pull it out with the parametric. Make the prametric as narrow as you can. Just enough to work for the track. Anther thing is to see if there is some sort of "sound scrubber" plug in available already. They are getting pretty common. I hope I'm making sense !

One of the things I've seen engineers do in sessions is pull out the low frequencies of the steel track when they mix. Helps keep the steel out of the way.

jolynyk · Post by **jolynyk** » 17 Sep 2012 5:30 pm

Thanks for your help Bob. Actually I'm making the tracks with BIAB, then I export the tracks as individual wave files via USB to my D3200 32 track Korg recorder & import them as individual wave files to individual tracks
Most are real tracks, real drums, real bass etc then the vocalist comes in & sings, & we add steel, lead guitar etc. All the tracks on the Korg have effects & EQ, So I'll have to go in there & see what I have for EQ..I should be able to hook up external eq.. My computer room is only 6'x8' & can't do any computer type recording in there... besides I don't know how to do computer recording..
John

Philip Mitrakos · Post by **Philip Mitrakos** » 21 Sep 2012 5:27 pm

I have a nut job rock star guitar builder friend that owns 60 guitars..so I complained to him about the single coil 60 cycle hum in my steel ..wallace true tones ...he said I can fix that for you ..he wanted to try and use another set of single coils run em in line with mine and wire them out of faze ..and stuff em out of the way under the guitar ...I said are you nuts? ...
then a couple old emmons humbuckers showed up here on the forum and I bought em ....was a bit of work getting them mounted and wala!! ...no hum no noise and a world of difference in the tone ...I hate noise and I hate hum even more
I got a couple true tones for sale if anyone wants some ...
they really do look good ...

Daniel Policarpo · Post by **Daniel Policarpo** » 21 Sep 2012 6:06 pm

Now you got me thinking Philip.

Scott Appleton · Post by **Scott Appleton** » 23 Sep 2012 5:44 pm

Lawrence used to make a Q filter that went into single coil guitars to eliminate
single coil buzz.. I don't know if they still make em though.

The Steel Guitar Forum

Minimizing single coil hum

Minimizing single coil hum

hum cancellation