I've had a Mesa Boogie Single Rect-O-Verb for a little while now. When I brought it home, it made the weirdest buzzing sound; not what I'd usually associate with 60 cycle hum, but I'm no electrician. I can't recall hearing it in the store, but you know how Guitar Centers are. I hoped moving to a new apartment would have helped, but it hasn't.
I have just picked up a THD Hot Plate --which is awesome, thus far, though I'm not able to really hear it's audio footprint with all this noise in the signal... I'll share my thoughts once I've heard it cleanly.
But I thought I'd use the Hot Plate to see if it's strictly an electricity issue. The results don't leave me with any solid answer.
But here's what I've tried thus far.
When either of my guitars are plugged in (a Tele and a Yamaha Pacifica Strat copy --both stock pickups), with the 2x12 cab or the Hot Plate, there is noise. When I change the angle of either guitar's neck the noise begins to vary, usually changing the depth of the buzz.
If I take the bridge of the guitar and put it right up to the grill of the amp it makes this squealing sound which is actually quite cool and might be worth experimenting with at a later date.
Now, that was what led me to think it's a pickup issue. But then I, using the Hot Plate once again, used the amp as an external distortion box on the BlueSynth. First off, let me say HOLY SHAZBOT!!! If you're thinking of getting a distortion pedal, or something like that, consider the Hot Plate. It made the BlueSynth growl like nothing else.
EXCEPT....! Certain ranges of volume (there are no numbers on my knobs, but for the sake of conversation, around 3-5, and 7-9) I started to get what sounded like a perfect sine wave, but was probably some sort of digital feedback. In between, and outside of the above ranges, all was quiet, but not in those ranges. No load or volume adjustments on the Hot Plate seemed to make any difference.
Now if it is in fact a pickup issue, I thought that the A16Ultra, my only I/O device, had internal measures to PREVENT feedback. So what's happening there? I also would appreciate any recommendations of low-noise strat and tele pickups. I'm not a Seymore Duncan fan, and have heard good things about the EMG pickups, but see options like magnetic coil versus ceramic, etc.
I've always been more of a computer/keyboard person and did all my guitar work on an acoustic, and am way under-educated about electric guitar tech. so any insight would be helpful.
Tonewise, I like Radiohead's Brit-Pop'y guitar sound, and Tool's wall o distortion sound. Dunno if that helps at all.
If it's an electrical issue, what can I use to test or clean the signal?
Thanks in advance,
Sam
Noisy Guitar Pickups or electrical problems?
you building may not be well grounded... your wiring may not be proper. there maybe a neighbor with a neon sign. the refrigerator may not be properly grounded. maybe you live near a military installation. ufos are beaming microwaves at your house. it's hard to say....
single coil pickups and (especially)tube high gain amplifiers are pretty susceptable to backroud radiation(radio) and grounding issues. the fact that it minimizes depending on the angle of the guitar to the amp shows this to be the case(the guitar, cable and your body are antennae). if there is a problem with the wiring or grounding in your building(an electrician would be the one to determine that), then fixing that would help. there will always be at least SOME significant amount of noise in that setup of single coil and high gain tube amp. listen to the stream of noise on the "are you experienced?" hendrix album when he footswitches in the distortion box......
single coil pickups and (especially)tube high gain amplifiers are pretty susceptable to backroud radiation(radio) and grounding issues. the fact that it minimizes depending on the angle of the guitar to the amp shows this to be the case(the guitar, cable and your body are antennae). if there is a problem with the wiring or grounding in your building(an electrician would be the one to determine that), then fixing that would help. there will always be at least SOME significant amount of noise in that setup of single coil and high gain tube amp. listen to the stream of noise on the "are you experienced?" hendrix album when he footswitches in the distortion box......