another guitar question

[Special K]

Ok, so I finally got all of my gear today. When I have the amp on, I can hear a faint buzzing noise in the background. It is much more audible when I use the distortion channel, and also depends on which pickups I am using. Is this normal or is there something wrong with the amp? I have a fender standard strat and a marshall mg15cdr (little 15W practice amp). I realize the distortion on a practice amp isn't supposed to be that good, but should there be an audible buzz in the background?

 

Are you sitting near the monitor or a TV?

 

[Special K]

Yup, amp is plugged in right next to my pc and monitor, and im sitting in my chair across from the screen while I'm playing... hmm maybe I should move

 

Yeah. You will get noise, especially on the overdrive channel when you are near a monitor. When I record to the PC I need to shut it off before I start or it ends up on the recording.

 

[Fritzo]

This is common, especially on single coil pickups. Are you using any effects pedals? You might be getting dirty power to them- try a filtered power supply. Also bad cables can cause this. Some buzzing is normal depending on your setup, but it shouldn't be so loud it's distracting.

 

[Rudee]

I play electric guitar, and there's a chance you have a grounding problem. How are the cables? Does it do it in all outlets? How high is your reverb set? When does it buzz? Does the buzz go away when you touch the strings?

 

[Special K]

I moved the amp into another room and at first nothing seemed to change. Then I started messing around and found that the angle I hold the guitar at, where I am touching the strings at, and other weird things like that have an effect on the amount of buzzing coming through the amp. I was able to nearly eliminate it by holding my guitar at a certain angle. What is going on here? Do I need a new cable? The guy who sold me the guitar included a cable he said was a cheap one, and recommended I buy a monster cable. From reading the posts here, I gathered that monster cable was way overpriced, so I didn't get one. Should I get a new cable? Also I wasn't using any effects pedals, btw.

 

[Eli]

No, no no.

It is completely normal and is a symptom of your single-coil pickups.

There is nothing you can do about it. You will get used to it. It shouldn't detract from the sound while you're playing.

 

[Special K]

Originally posted by: Rudee
I play electric guitar, and there's a chance you have a grounding problem. How are the cables? Does it do it in all outlets? How high is your reverb set? When does it buzz? Does the buzz go away when you touch the strings?

Reverb is at 50%, but doesn't seem to have an effect on the amount of buzzing. Placing my hand over the strings at any fret pretty much eliminates the buzzing no matter how high the gain is set.

 

[Harvey]

It could be a grounding problem. If your amp has a "Ground" switch, try moving it to the other position. If it doesn't, and it's a two wire plug, try turning the plug over. Even if it's a three wire plug, some older buildings are not wired correctly, and it still may need the ground reversal.

 

[Rudee]

Originally posted by: SpecialK

Originally posted by: Rudee
I play electric guitar, and there's a chance you have a grounding problem. How are the cables? Does it do it in all outlets? How high is your reverb set? When does it buzz? Does the buzz go away when you touch the strings?

Reverb is at 50%, but doesn't seem to have an effect on the amount of buzzing. Placing my hand over the strings at any fret pretty much eliminates the buzzing no matter how high the gain is set.

Have you tried it in different outlets? If the buzzing goes away when your fingers on the strings it's a grounding problem. I've experienced buzz just by facing a certain direction, or the placement of my gear.

 

[Eli]

Originally posted by: Rudee

Originally posted by: SpecialK

Originally posted by: Rudee
I play electric guitar, and there's a chance you have a grounding problem. How are the cables? Does it do it in all outlets? How high is your reverb set? When does it buzz? Does the buzz go away when you touch the strings?

Reverb is at 50%, but doesn't seem to have an effect on the amount of buzzing. Placing my hand over the strings at any fret pretty much eliminates the buzzing no matter how high the gain is set.

Have you tried it in different outlets? If the buzzing goes away when your fingers on the strings it's a grounding problem.

If he has single coil pickups he will never be able to get rid of the buzzing.

Does it completely go away, or does it just diminish when you have your hands on the strings?

My Fender Strat is the same way. Why do you think they're called humbuckers? The extra coil cancels out the 60hz buzz.

 

[Scarpozzi]

Not sure what you have on the practice amp for knobs, but you can turn your gain down some and volume up and it will clear a little of the buzz up.... Otherwise, play on and get used to it. 😉

 

[Rudee]

Originally posted by: Eli

Originally posted by: Rudee

Originally posted by: SpecialK

Originally posted by: Rudee
I play electric guitar, and there's a chance you have a grounding problem. How are the cables? Does it do it in all outlets? How high is your reverb set? When does it buzz? Does the buzz go away when you touch the strings?

Reverb is at 50%, but doesn't seem to have an effect on the amount of buzzing. Placing my hand over the strings at any fret pretty much eliminates the buzzing no matter how high the gain is set.

Have you tried it in different outlets? If the buzzing goes away when your fingers on the strings it's a grounding problem.

If he has single coil pickups he will never be able to get rid of the buzzing.

Does it completely go away, or does it just diminish when you have your hands on the strings?

My Fender Strat is the same way. Why do you think they're called humbuckers? The extra coil cancels out the 60hz buzz.

I'm assuming it's a rather harsh buzz. He needs to isolate the guitar, amp and the cord. Could even be a poorly shielded cord. But yeah, single coil guitars will hum, but they shouldn't buzz like that. a 50 or 60hz noisy line in can definitely give you some annoyance. Stay away from flourescent light, tv's and pc's and see what happens.

I can pretty much play my strat at high gain in front of my pc, and she's very quiet. Very good shielding.

 

[Special K]

Originally posted by: Eli

Originally posted by: Rudee

Originally posted by: SpecialK

Originally posted by: Rudee
I play electric guitar, and there's a chance you have a grounding problem. How are the cables? Does it do it in all outlets? How high is your reverb set? When does it buzz? Does the buzz go away when you touch the strings?

Reverb is at 50%, but doesn't seem to have an effect on the amount of buzzing. Placing my hand over the strings at any fret pretty much eliminates the buzzing no matter how high the gain is set.

Have you tried it in different outlets? If the buzzing goes away when your fingers on the strings it's a grounding problem.

If he has single coil pickups he will never be able to get rid of the buzzing.

Does it completely go away, or does it just diminish when you have your hands on the strings?

My Fender Strat is the same way. Why do you think they're called humbuckers? The extra coil cancels out the 60hz buzz.

It just diminishes, although it's barely audible and you're right, I really don't notice it anyway when I'm playing. Just out of curiosity, why is there that buzz, and why does adding another pickup to make a humbucker cancel the hum out? Also when I go to concerts and see guys playing guitars with single coils, shouldn't I be hearing a really loud buzzing coming out of their stacks of amps when they're not actually playing?

 

[Rudee]

Originally posted by: SpecialK

Originally posted by: Eli

Originally posted by: Rudee

Originally posted by: SpecialK

Originally posted by: Rudee
I play electric guitar, and there's a chance you have a grounding problem. How are the cables? Does it do it in all outlets? How high is your reverb set? When does it buzz? Does the buzz go away when you touch the strings?

Reverb is at 50%, but doesn't seem to have an effect on the amount of buzzing. Placing my hand over the strings at any fret pretty much eliminates the buzzing no matter how high the gain is set.

Have you tried it in different outlets? If the buzzing goes away when your fingers on the strings it's a grounding problem.

If he has single coil pickups he will never be able to get rid of the buzzing.

Does it completely go away, or does it just diminish when you have your hands on the strings?

My Fender Strat is the same way. Why do you think they're called humbuckers? The extra coil cancels out the 60hz buzz.

It just diminishes, although it's barely audible and you're right, I really don't notice it anyway when I'm playing. Just out of curiosity, why is there that buzz, and why does adding another pickup to make a humbucker cancel the hum out? Also when I go to concerts and see guys playing guitars with single coils, shouldn't I be hearing a really loud buzzing coming out of their stacks of amps when they're not actually playing?

in a humbucker the 2 coils basically cancel each other out, thus neither reacts to the magnetic field from the pickup. You should be able to get a different pickup which should help, but it will sacrifice a bit of that single coil sound. The rockers yuu see at concerts most likely use aftermarket pickups, or do some serious wiring mods.

 

[silverpig]

Move your guitar away from the monitor. Doesn't really matter about the amp. Or turn the monitor off. I had the same problem with my Les Paul and realized it was the monitor.