Amp Buzz

I have a 15R that i bought at guitar center almost a year ago and it too developed the same problem. when id hit the bass strings itd begin to buzz a lot. now even the distortion sounds funky. not nearly as bright and powerful as it used to. im really hoping its not the guitar. anyways, i took it to GC and they threw it back in my face, telling me i was a stupid rookie wasting their time. but i know theres a buzz. other people have told me. and it occurs on the clean channel! im just gonna save up and get myself something nice in the future, maybe like a marshall or something that will last.

I've heard and seen this time and again from the smaller fender amps creating a rattle or buzz. They where making the cabinets for those amps out of partical board. Seems after awhile they start making noise. mostly from the ones I looked at if I ran them below 4 they sounded just fine. Don't think theres much you can do. Best advice I could offer would be to start thinking creatively on away to getting a small all tube amp.

I picked up an Epiphone Galaxie 10 a week or two back for $105.00 u.s.

Joe

It's hard to believe it's the cabinet. I've built Sub-Woofer (used for strickly BASS!!!!!! the kind of bass that makes your heart skip a beat) cabinets out of partical board before and I still have had NO problems. I can understand if it was made cheaply but there should be a way you could fix it.

Is there a way you can get inside the cabinet to do a little glueing and caulking? If so, glue and/or caulk.... let it set-up for 24 hours and you should be all set..... if it was the cabinet itself.

Vic --

You realize that only positions 2 and 4 are humcancelling, right? Also, an acoustic with a piezo bridge pup will rarely pick up magnetic interference.

This all suggests that the problem might not be in the amp, but that your guitar is now picking up more magnetic interference for one of these reasons:

* You now play in a different place or position than you used to. Proximity to house wiring, computers, motors (fans), some lamps and the like will all induce hum in single-coil pups (except when in humcancelling mode, e.g., positions 2 and 4 on a Strat.) If you really never much used 1, 3 & 5 positions before, then maybe you just never noticed the hum.

* You have developed a shielding fault in your guitar or lead.

* You are playing with more gain than you used to -- booster, distortion pedal. While giving you a new tone, this will also boost any hum that was always there.

There is a chance it is the amp, but based on your description, I'd bet it's the first point above. For example, if you've started recording recently and set up near a PC to do so, that would be the culprit.

Good luck -- Greg

The really big hum producer around a PC is the deflection coils in the CRT monitor. Remember all the hoopla about "electromagnetic fields" about 15 years ago? Well, they probably don't cause cancer, but they darn sure do make single coil pickups hum! You're going to have to get way away from monitors, TVs and flourescent lights to keep the hum down.

"like a marshall or something that will last."

Key word OR. :D

I've had the same problem actually with my amp, its not a fender amp, its a really shite 15watt amp from an encore starter pack. I opened up the lead plugs and found that the wires were fraying all over the place, i resoldered them and i dont get the buzz anymore.

so, check the lead first, cause its a cheap repair

I think Greg's nailed it......yes, I mostly use the amp in here, couple of feet away from the PC, couple of feet away from TV......so took it downstairs, plugged it in, no buzz whatsoever......wherever the PU switch is set......Tried it again up here, with the TV (which hasn't been in here very long, about as long as the buzz in my amp........hmmm!) switched off instead of stand-by mode.....no buzz...so the PC doesn't seem to affect it, only the TV........

Thanks for advice guys.......

Vic

it's not a problem at all. all it is is that those are single coil positions wich dont have 2 magnets to cancel out the hum. this should't be to much of a problem because it won't be very annoying when your playing because you will play over the sound. but if this is really annoying you can get a noise gate wich should remove the hum.

note: it won't matter what amp you play through you will still get that hum unless the amp has a built in gate.

That hum cancelling will only work if one of the pickups in a 2 pickup system or the middle one in a 3 pickup system is reversely polarized and reversely wound in relation to the other(s). Not always the case. But setting up single coil pickups that way effectively makes a parallel-wired humbucker when two are hooked together. (Or they could be in series, but most commonly the switches on guitars hook 'em up in parallel.)

I can at least offer my own observations. I have the Frontman 15G from the squire pak and noticed a hum/buzz when I wasn't touching the strings or metal on the guitar. I just got a new Roland Cube 60 amp and same guitars plugged in the Roland produce no noise or so little that I don't notice it. My conclusion is the Frontman is a great little practice/starter amp but is cheaply made for whatever is causing my buzz/hum in the Frontman doesn't follow to the Roland.

Denis

Guys, I think he solved it, or rather him and Greg ;)

It was the TV that was effecting it.