Soundproofing room from radio signals

[MachTy]

In the midst of recording my guitar amp I started receiving radio signals broadcasting the news

and stock prices

Any way to get rid of that crap?

[ctmsound]

Is there a ground switch on your amp? Flip it. If not, go to home depot and get the power plug adapter that gets rid of the ground pin on your IEC cable to the amp.

[Mark Alan Miller]

Egad! Be super careful when fooling around with ground. A good way to get hurt.

Check first to actually make sure all grounding is intact in your system (flipping the ground switch on some amps disables ground altogether, while other positions/amps will invert the polarity of the hot/neutral lines on the ac cord.) Get a AC ground tester and make sure your ac lines are properly wired, too.

Check also that your guitar/bass is wired correctly for proper grounding/sheilding. Some pickups are more sensitive to RFI than others, too. Oh, and make sure your cables are in good condition as well. Try different cables and guitars and see if that changes things.

You may want to build a Faraday cage around your recording room. I joke not - it may be the only way to get rid of that stubborn RFI stain. Not easy, but often the only real solution.

Keep us posted.

[jtienhaara]

I agree with Cowtrax 100%. I've taken that 110 volt duck in the face on numerous occasions and it SUCKS. Chances are good that your amp chassis is tied to ground. If you flip a ground switch to hot then as long as you're touching the flip switch, you are the ground channel.

Is the amp power supply even grounded to earth? Is it three prong? 2 prong polarized? Or 2 prong non-polar? For safety's sake, make sure the damned thing is properly grounded. 3 pin or 2 pin polar only!

Also since you didn't specify... Is the RFI coming from the amp? Or is it just in the recorded signal when you play it back? (World of difference.)

Do you have a DI from the amp, too? That would be a great source of ground loop. (A ground loop is an antenna.)

You may just be unlucky and be in the vicinity of a radio station or something. If that's the case, Cowtrax's cable suggestion is sound. Get better cables -- 20 AWF (thicker than your typical 22) and better shielding. Get foil shielding if there is such a thing in guitar cables.

Cheers,

Johann

[monkeyboy]

To truly block radio waves you would need to build a
Faraday cage.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faraday_cage

So looking into to correcting your ground or shielding problem is a little easier.
Also Radio signals are received due to improper shielding of cables or
abnormally long cable lengths. If you have a cut in a cable where part
of the shielding or inner core is exposed this is known to happen.
I have found switching out cables or eliminating pedals that are not
needed sometimes alleviates this problem.

The usual culprit? The Dunlop Crybaby. I'm positive the local latino station has to shut down whenever I plug that thing in and start "broadcasting".

[vvv]

I just use a tin-foil hat.

[I'm Painting Again]

if its the cables you use to wire your mics or gear quad cable helps a good deal..