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Topic: Novice question about CORDS |
Richard Lahr
From:
Gulf Cove Florida, USA
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Posted 16 Apr 2013 4:08 pm |
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I bought a fender new Mustang 1... have a new Fender cord ( 18 feet) ..without the guitar plugged in to the cord I get terrable hum.... is the cord to long or could it be the amp ?
I messed with it a while but can't tune it out, pretty bad, actually unbearable
No hum without the cord plugged in.
Maybe I need a 6 footer or ??
Thx |
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Marvin Born
From:
Ohio, USA
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Posted 16 Apr 2013 5:15 pm
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18 feet is a little long, especially for steel. It will reduce high frequencies and increase system noise.
Do you get any hum when a guitar is connected to the other end? The open circuit end will pick up stray magnetic fields.
The cable length from the pick up to the first amp stage is important. The shorter the better. |
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Ray Montee
From:
Portland, Oregon (deceased)
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Posted 16 Apr 2013 6:33 pm About those guitar cords................
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I agree about an excessive length cord between the guitar and the amp.
I've learned over the years, that a long, long cord can often be stepped on and one or more of the wires can be broken within the cable. This can cause a distorted signal.......humming, or electronic 'cracking'.
Also, a cheap cord might lack proper shielding and therefore allow it to pick up extraneous electronic interference.
Expensive guitars and amps require expensive strings and cord.........in order to make good music. |
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Dennis Smith
From:
Covington, Georgia, USA
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Posted 16 Apr 2013 6:57 pm
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Have you tried another cord?
Last edited by Dennis Smith on 16 Apr 2013 9:28 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Stephen Cowell
From:
Round Rock, Texas, USA
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Posted 16 Apr 2013 9:19 pm
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Did you mean *with* the guitar plugged in? Your post is confusing.
Let's try and guess... you meant as above. So when you plug your guitar into your amp with your 18' Fender cord you get bad hum.
So it's either the guitar, the cord, or the amp. I'm guessing it's not the amp, so either the guitar or the cord. Now you have to use substitution to tell... try another guitar, try another cord. Also, make sure your cord is not a speaker cord... pictures inside the cord end will help us help you. If you unscrew the cord end and look inside you should see an inner wire and an outer sheath, made of woven wire. If there are two wires inside that look the same then you're using a speaker cord and you'd expect it to hum.
_________________
Too much junk to list... always getting more. |
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Tony Lombardo
From:
Alabama, USA
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Posted 17 Apr 2013 12:44 am
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| Are you saying that one end of your guitar cable is plugged into an amp that is turned on, and the other end of the cable is not plugged into an instrument? Under those conditions all cables (two feet long of 50 feet long) hum. As long as the hum doesn't occur when the other end of the cable is plugged into an instrument, everything is fine. |
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Richard Lahr
From:
Gulf Cove Florida, USA
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Posted 17 Apr 2013 3:46 am better explanation
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I just bought a NEW Mustang 1 amp and a NEW FG186L cord.
I plugged the cord into the amp and guitar and turned the amp on... TERRIBLE HMMMMM
I turned the amp off... unplugged the guitar but left the cord in the amp..turned the amp back on and still the same hum, very loud and can not tune it out.
I turned the amp off and unplugged the cord...turned the amp back on ......no Hmmmm
I tried the above 3 times...no change
not sure if it's the cord or the amp ????
guess I need to buy another cord or take the amp to
the local guitar store and try a cord ! |
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Earnest Bovine
From:
Los Angeles CA USA
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Posted 17 Apr 2013 4:16 am Re: better explanation
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| Richard Lahr wrote: |
TERRIBLE HMMMMM
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Which preset are you using? Probably most of them have lots of gain for rock guitar sounds. Your guitar will be louder than the hum, but all that gain will make the hum quite audible when you are not playing, unless the amp has a gate built in, which I don't think it does.
Try using the cleanest sounding preset, such as 65 Twin perhaps. Experiment with Gain, Volume, and Master levels. Steel guitar may sound best with low Gain and high Master setting, and that should help the hum problem a lot. |
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Mike Neer
From:
NJ
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Posted 17 Apr 2013 4:38 am
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Do you have a light dimmer in the room?
_________________
Links to streaming music, websites, YouTube: Links |
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Richard Lahr
From:
Gulf Cove Florida, USA
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Posted 17 Apr 2013 4:41 am FOUND/ please close
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darn.. well took the whole thing apart and found a broken wire at the solder joint on the volume control in the guitar body..going to re-solder it.
Thanks for the input on length though..
Close |
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Marvin Born
From:
Ohio, USA
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Posted 17 Apr 2013 4:53 am
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Plug in the cable to the amp but not the guitar. Turn up the volume up until it hums. Note the knob position. Turn the volume down. Short the guitar end of the cable with a clip lead, alum foil, etc. keep it shorted and turn the volume back up to where it was. How was the hum?
If the hum is gone the cable is ok. If it is still there try another cable. Either way 18 feet is way too long.
What kind of volume pedal do you use, if you use one?
No vol pedal, 6 to 8 feet of Mogami or Gorge L cable would be good.
Follow the amp setup instructions above. |
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Richard Lahr
From:
Gulf Cove Florida, USA
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Posted 17 Apr 2013 4:58 am Close
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| Marvin Born wrote: |
Plug in the cable to the amp but not the guitar. Turn up the volume up until it hums. Note the knob position. Turn the volume down. Short the guitar end of the cable with a clip lead, alum foil, etc. keep it shorted and turn the volume back up to where it was. How was the hum?
If the hum is gone the cable is ok. If it is still there try another cable. Either way 18 feet is way too long.
What kind of volume pedal do you use, if you use one?
No vol pedal, 6 to 8 feet of Mogami or Gorge L cable would be good.
Follow the amp setup instructions above. |
Good input on cord... going to go a lot short.. got the humm gone.. bad wire inside and fixed. |
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