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Topic: Hum in amps |
Tony Tipton
From:
Wagoner,Oklahoma, USA
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Posted 28 Jun 2018 3:08 pm |
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I have developed a pretty good hum when the volume pedal is near full throttle . It is the same with my Nashville 112 or 1000. I play a Legrande ll and the hum is there with the neck switch on either neck, but stops when both necks are on ( in the center position ). I have checked the grounds and appear to be ok . Any ideas ? Thanks, Tony.
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Emmons Legrande II D-10 ,Nashville 112, Goodrich L 120, Lil' Izzy, a homemade seat, delay pedal, BJS bar, Dunlop .013, and a red thumb pick |
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Georg Sørtun
From:
Mandal, Agder, Norway
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Posted 28 Jun 2018 3:43 pm
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The hum most likely is picked up from the environment by the PUs. Are they by any chance single-coils?
That the hum disappears when both PUs are 'on', indicate that one is connected in reverse relative to the other, which cancels out hum like a humbucker does.
Moving the steel around is likely to change the amount of hum that gets picked up, and thereby confirm that it is indeed noise caused by mains cabling/equipment. |
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Tony Tipton
From:
Wagoner,Oklahoma, USA
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Posted 28 Jun 2018 5:13 pm Hum in amps
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Yes, they are single coils and moving the amps away from the steel makes it nearly go away . It has done this at different locations where I play . What do I need to do to correct it ? Thanks
_________________
Emmons Legrande II D-10 ,Nashville 112, Goodrich L 120, Lil' Izzy, a homemade seat, delay pedal, BJS bar, Dunlop .013, and a red thumb pick |
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Georg Sørtun
From:
Mandal, Agder, Norway
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Posted 28 Jun 2018 9:55 pm
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Replacing the existing PUs with humbuckers, will solve the hum-problem for good.
Finding humbuckers that make your steel sound like it does now – or better – may be the hardest part.
I am partial to Lace Alumitone as replacement for single-coils…
http://www.lacemusic.com/Tonebar_10.php
… but there are so many others. |
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Tony Tipton
From:
Wagoner,Oklahoma, USA
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Posted 29 Jun 2018 3:40 am Hum
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Ok. Thanks for the help Georg .
_________________
Emmons Legrande II D-10 ,Nashville 112, Goodrich L 120, Lil' Izzy, a homemade seat, delay pedal, BJS bar, Dunlop .013, and a red thumb pick |
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Jack Hanson
From:
San Luis Valley, USA
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Posted 29 Jun 2018 5:49 am
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Common household features such as fluorescent lighting, dimmers, refrigerators, aquarium pumps, etc. often cause hum problems with single coil pickups. Reorienting the instrument in relation to the speaker can help. So will replacing the single coils with humbuckers, but it will likely change the sound of the instrument.
Although far from perfect, the Electro-Harmonix Hum Debugger often will reduce or eliminate single-coil hum in most situations.
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Tony Tipton
From:
Wagoner,Oklahoma, USA
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Posted 29 Jun 2018 6:34 am
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Thanks Georg.
_________________
Emmons Legrande II D-10 ,Nashville 112, Goodrich L 120, Lil' Izzy, a homemade seat, delay pedal, BJS bar, Dunlop .013, and a red thumb pick |
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Dennis Detweiler
From:
Solon, Iowa, US
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Posted 29 Jun 2018 7:09 am
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I've had a few different pickups on my 76 U-12 MSA over the years. I'm totally happy with the tone and quiet sound of Telonics humbuckers. I live across the street from a power sub-station and high power lines along the street. Single coils were terrible at my location and I was having some mild hum in the recording studio. All is quiet now.
David Hartley demonstrates a few models of the Telonics pickups on YouTube. Use headphones to listen.
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1976 Birdseye U-12 MSA with Telonics 427 pickup, 1975 Birdseye U-12 MSA with Telonics X-12 pickup, Revelation preamp, Carbon Copy Delay and Hall Of Fame Reverb, Crown XLS 1002, 2- 15" Eminence Wheelhouse speakers, ShoBud Pedal, Effects Pedals. 1949 Epiphone D-8. |
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Tony Tipton
From:
Wagoner,Oklahoma, USA
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Posted 29 Jun 2018 2:35 pm Hum
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Thanks, Dennis . I’ve had this rig about four years and haven’t had this hum . Something has changed somewhere. I like the tone I’ve had, so I really don’t want to change pickups. Hopefully, I can get it figured out. Thanks for the reply . Tony
_________________
Emmons Legrande II D-10 ,Nashville 112, Goodrich L 120, Lil' Izzy, a homemade seat, delay pedal, BJS bar, Dunlop .013, and a red thumb pick |
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Mike Scaggs
From:
Nashville, TN
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Posted 29 Jun 2018 2:38 pm
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check your grounds on both the guitar and amps
_________________
I can explain it to you but I can't understand it for you
Zum double Hybrid 8x9, 64 Twin (JBLs), p2pAmps Bad-Dawg, p2pAmps Tremendous Reverb, Visit my website www.p2pamps.com |
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Tony Tipton
From:
Wagoner,Oklahoma, USA
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Posted 29 Jun 2018 3:12 pm
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Ok , Mike . I will . Thanks
_________________
Emmons Legrande II D-10 ,Nashville 112, Goodrich L 120, Lil' Izzy, a homemade seat, delay pedal, BJS bar, Dunlop .013, and a red thumb pick |
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Mike Scaggs
From:
Nashville, TN
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Posted 29 Jun 2018 3:17 pm
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| Tony Tipton wrote: |
| Ok , Mike . I will . Thanks |
Make sure your pot is grounded too and the solder joint didn't break... Its a place to start. Do you get the ground hum on other guitars or just one?
_________________
I can explain it to you but I can't understand it for you
Zum double Hybrid 8x9, 64 Twin (JBLs), p2pAmps Bad-Dawg, p2pAmps Tremendous Reverb, Visit my website www.p2pamps.com |
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John Groover McDuffie
From:
LA California, USA
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Posted 29 Jun 2018 4:11 pm Re: Hum in amps
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| Tony Tipton wrote: |
| moving the amps away from the steel makes it nearly go away . |
The power transformers in most amps radiate a strong electromagnetic field which will cause a very strong hum in nearby single coils, but this field looses strength rapidly over distance (twice as far away the field is 1/4 as strong) so your experience is normal. If you have to set up near the amp try to set up near the opposite end from where the power transformer is located. (the PT seems to most often on the right side of the chassis when looking at the amp from the front.) |
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Andy DePaule
From:
Saigon, Viet Nam & Springfield, Oregon
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Posted 29 Jun 2018 5:11 pm Mine is fixed now
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Hi Tony,
I had the same problem and the hum was so loud here in my house that I hardly even practiced any longer. Also was using a Peavey Nashville 112 amp.
I contacted Tom Bradshaw to ask his advise because I knew he had years of experience.
He said it is often caused by the cords connecting the steel to the volume pedal and amp being too long. That causes them to become an antenna like devise picking up all the noise.
My amp often sits very close, but I had a long 12 foot cord from pedal to amp because some places we play the amp can't be near as I like.
On his advise I went and got a good quality 3 foot cord and shezammm, No more hum at all. Now I can play again. 
Best of luck solving the issue,
Andy
_________________
Inlaid Star Guitar 2006 by Mark Giles. SD-10 4+5 in E9th; http://luthiersupply.com/instrument-gallery.html
2017 Mullen SD-10, G2 5&5 Polished Aluminum covering. Custom Build for me. Great Steel.
Clinesmith Joaquin Murphy style Aluminum 8 String Lap Steel Short A6th.
Magnatone Jeweltone Series Lap Steel, Circa 1950? 6 String with F#minor7th Tuning.
1956 Dewey Kendrick D-8 4&3, Restoration Project.
1973 Sho~Bud Green SD-10 4&5 PSG, Restoration Project. |
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Georg Sørtun
From:
Mandal, Agder, Norway
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Posted 29 Jun 2018 5:49 pm Re: Hum in amps
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While bad cables and connections can lead to hum-pickup and should be checked, the following from the initial post indicates that the environment is a bit too noisy for single-coil PUs…
| Tony Tipton wrote: |
| I play a Legrande ll and the hum is there with the neck switch on either neck, but stops when both necks are on ( in the center position ). |
Bad cables/connections would still cause hum with both PUs on, and Tony says it is quiet then.
I too use single-coil PUs on some of my PSGs, and eliminate cables and connectors as "noise antennas" by using buffers. Placing amps for minimal radiation towards the PU is "standard procedure", and what little hum is left when all equipment is placed and oriented optimally in the environment is something I choose to live with. |
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John Groover McDuffie
From:
LA California, USA
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Posted 29 Jun 2018 5:55 pm
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I agree with Georg's post - the fact that the hum stopping when both necks are on eliminates a bad cable as a culprit.
As an aside, one must be careful not to use a speaker cable (non-shielded) in place of an audio (instrument) cable, which is shielded. This is a case in which the longer the cable the worse the problem. And it is sometimes hard to tell the difference between the cable types just by looking at the outside. |
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Andy DePaule
From:
Saigon, Viet Nam & Springfield, Oregon
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Posted 29 Jun 2018 6:49 pm Not bad cables
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Bad cables were not the cause.
The cables being too long and creating a virtual antenna was the issue.
In other environments my longer cables still work just fine.
But get them back in the house and the steel amp hums horribly...
The short cables solved the problem with little cost. I needed them anyway.
_________________
Inlaid Star Guitar 2006 by Mark Giles. SD-10 4+5 in E9th; http://luthiersupply.com/instrument-gallery.html
2017 Mullen SD-10, G2 5&5 Polished Aluminum covering. Custom Build for me. Great Steel.
Clinesmith Joaquin Murphy style Aluminum 8 String Lap Steel Short A6th.
Magnatone Jeweltone Series Lap Steel, Circa 1950? 6 String with F#minor7th Tuning.
1956 Dewey Kendrick D-8 4&3, Restoration Project.
1973 Sho~Bud Green SD-10 4&5 PSG, Restoration Project. |
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Chuck Stowe
From:
Sycamore, Illinois, USA
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Posted 29 Jun 2018 7:05 pm
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I don't normally have any hum,but a few venues are awful. I bought the Hum Debugger and it's amazing. I can hear a subtle change in notes when set at maximum, but the normal setting sounds fine and does the job 90% of the times I need it.
_________________
1980 Emmons PP D10, Hilton Pedal, Peavey Session 500 & Nashville 112 |
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Georg Sørtun
From:
Mandal, Agder, Norway
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Posted 29 Jun 2018 7:13 pm Re: Not bad cables
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| Andy DePaule wrote: |
| The short cables solved the problem with little cost. I needed them anyway. |
The shorter the cable the better. No one can argue against that 
As an aside: in my earlier work in local radio stations I had to run full-frequency audio through mile-long cables – usually unshielded twisted-pair (old land-line phone type). Could be done by applying low impedance at source and phase/frequency compensation at both ends, but the limit for natural sound across the 20Hz-15KHz range – and unnoticeable hum levels – was about three miles (5km). Luckily I have never needed that for my steel rigs |
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Tony Tipton
From:
Wagoner,Oklahoma, USA
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Posted 1 Jul 2018 11:51 am
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I played out Friday night at a casino ,and , with the amp 5-6 feet away, very little hum at full throttle.Another thing, with the amp a couple feet from the tv, the amps have a different, loud , buzz / hum . With the cord from the amp to volume pedal disconnected from the pedal and moving the end of the cable near the tv, the hum / buzz gets really loud. .
_________________
Emmons Legrande II D-10 ,Nashville 112, Goodrich L 120, Lil' Izzy, a homemade seat, delay pedal, BJS bar, Dunlop .013, and a red thumb pick |
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Georg Sørtun
From:
Mandal, Agder, Norway
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Posted 1 Jul 2018 12:38 pm
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| Tony Tipton wrote: |
| Another thing, with the amp a couple feet from the tv, the amps have a different, loud , buzz / hum . With the cord from the amp to volume pedal disconnected from the pedal and moving the end of the cable near the tv, the hum / buzz gets really loud. |
That is normal with any amp without load on its input cable. TVs of all types are "noise generators", as their power supplies and other circuits radiate broad-specter electromagnetic noise. |
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Tony Tipton
From:
Wagoner,Oklahoma, USA
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Posted 2 Jul 2018 3:40 am
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Ok. Maybe I’d never had it in that location before Georg. Thanks again .
_________________
Emmons Legrande II D-10 ,Nashville 112, Goodrich L 120, Lil' Izzy, a homemade seat, delay pedal, BJS bar, Dunlop .013, and a red thumb pick |
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