The Steel Guitar Forum

Hey y'all! I had, probably, the worst show of my career, yesterday. It was an outdoor , festival gig. Giant stage, tons of power. I get my PSG and guitar rigs set up, and checked, and they sound great. Slight hum. But, I don't sweat that, at gigs like this. Everything sounds awesome. We're all noodling around getting levels, and some monitor mixes. Then, the power goes out on the whole stage and front of house. we wait a few, and they get it back on. But, when i get my rigs running, again, they have a horrible loud buzzing hum. I got our lead guitar player to plug direct into the guitar amp, and it sounded fine. So, I figured, the amps are not the problem. We changed the power source for my pedalboard/hilton vp. Still had the buzz. The only thing that seemed to work, was running straight from my psg to my backup ernie ball vp, and into the amp. I normally use a Hall of Fame mini for reverb. So, I had to play without that, because I wanted to bypass anything else that needed power. For some reason, I ended up playing through the guitar amp. It sounded so terrible, that I still couldn't tell if the noise problem was gone. No one else had any problems. I got through the gig, without smashing anything, barely, and got loaded up and hauled ass home. Got home with my pedalboard, power strip(that I use at shows) VP, and started testing everything. It all sounded great, no noise at all. I guess the next step, it to set up my whole rig, and see if it happens again. But, I'll have to get a rehearsal space, for that. I just wanted to see if y'all have ever had any experiences, similar to this. I guess I still need to check my PSG, and amps. But, I figured it wouldn't hurt to ask y'all about it. Thanks!

You were playing with dirty power

Man, I've played with dirty power. In fact, I don't know if I've ever played with clean power. Its never been this intense. It was blaring loud, and everything was fine, before the power went out. No one else had any problems, in my band, or with any of the other bands. I mean, I hope you're right. But, I don't think I'm that lucky.

Possibly some sort of ground loop. Or a ground fault related to the power failure.
But if it all works now, it's not likely to be your gear.

I was assuming it had something to do, with the power failure. But, I thought, maybe my gear got a surge or something. I thought my VP was the problem. But, its fine. Thanks, for the info, Lane!

I don't know if it would have solved your problem; but, I never leave home without a Hum X.

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Lee, from South Texas

Thanks, Lee. I've used a Hum Debugger, before, and it worked. That Hum X has some good reviews. I'm currently looking into ways, to cut down on hum, in general. I'll definitely keep that one, in mind.