I'm a long time surfer and first time poster. I did some searching on the site and could not find a direct answer to my problem so here goes.
I have a Fender HD amp and a Fender Strat guitar. After I warm up the tubes and switch off of standby I have this hum coming through the amp. When the guitar is plugged in and I'm not touching any metal on it the hum is there. As soon as I touch the strings, bridge, etc...(metal) it stops or is reduced dramatically. With the guitar unplugged and just the cable inserted the problem is still there. With the amp on and cable not inserted the noise is gone.
I've plugged the amp into a different outlet. Same thing. I can take the cable and guitar close to a table lamp, t.v. etc... and the hum is highlighted, which leads me to believe what I am hearing is a the 60 cycle hum associated with the 110 voltage. Is this something I have to live with?
I just recently replaced the tubes with a fresh set from Eurotubes. Prior to that the hum was very pronounced. The new set seemed to calm it a bit. I also tried a different/cheaper cable. Same results. Thanks in advance for the help.
The first thing to check is that ALL the sockets you are using are grounded - don't ever connect an amp to a non-earthed socket.
The noise appears to be caused by either the cable or the guitar. On the face of it the problem seems to be more to do with earthing (grounding) than 60Hz hum.
The first place that I would look is the jack socket, in the amp, it's just possible that the connectors need some attention, producing a poor earth connection.
Failing that, I'd test the cable. If the jack plugs aren't moulded on, check that the wires are connected properly. You can fold the cable up and tie it into a knot, before putting on of the jack plugs into the amp socket (poorly screened cables act like an antenna and tying the cable into a knot destroys this ability. If that's the problem, get a new cable.
Remove the backplate from your guitar and make sure that the earth lead, from the pickups/shielding/pots is firmly attached to the vibrato chassis. Connect it if it's not already.
Take the scratch guard off and check all the connections, particularly any wires connected to shielding and the vibrato (the other end of the wire that should be connected to your vibrato should also be connected to ground, either on one of the pots or to a star ground (collecting point for ground connections) nearby. If you don't have any shielding - get some (it's well worth it)!
I started with nothing - and I've still got most of it left.
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Thanks for the tips. The amp was plugged into grounded circuits at all times. The use of the guitar and amp have less that 20 hrs on each. I will start from one end to the next and see if the problem is solved. Thanks much.
Does the Amp have a polarity switch on it. Also what about the guitar cable? Is it a good quality cable.
Joe
I have a very good quality cable. I did some prodding and found that if I press, pull or wiggle a band of wires in the back of the amp, the sound dissappears and then reappears a short time later. It seems to be a problem in the wires. They were zip tied together and I cut the tie. The color of wires are green and green with yellow stripes. Any ideas? Looks like it is going in for a service call.
Sounds like a poor connection on one of the wires.
I started with nothing - and I've still got most of it left.
Did you know that the word "gullible" is not in any dictionary?
Greybeard's Pages
My Articles & Reviews on GN
