Troubleshooting a Noisy Guitar Amp
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Troubleshooting a Noisy Guitar Amp
A Fender Blues Jr., to be specific. Trying to do some home recording, and It's driving me crazy - great tone, but tones of background noise. Guitar has humbucking pickups.
What are the potential causes, and how can I test each? Bad tube? fuzzy power lines in the room? (it is track lighting on rheostats, but turning them off doesn't seem to help).
Love to hear some ideas!
What are the potential causes, and how can I test each? Bad tube? fuzzy power lines in the room? (it is track lighting on rheostats, but turning them off doesn't seem to help).
Love to hear some ideas!
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IS it 60hz type noise or something else? did the noise come on strong after being quiet previously, or emerge slowly with time? has the amp been modded or worked on recently?
I can think of a few things- dirty or damaged input jack, bad power supply caps (unlikely in a newish amp) but more info would help.
David
I can think of a few things- dirty or damaged input jack, bad power supply caps (unlikely in a newish amp) but more info would help.
David
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That could be symptomatic of the "ground" being improperly connected inside the guitar wiring harness. Ground could be flipped somewhere, left partially hanging, or not connected to all the shield points. 70's les paul humbuckers aren't known for being unusually noisy.davidhoffmanmusic wrote:It's definitely a 60hz-type hum. Only happens when the guitar is plugged in and turned up, so it might very well be noisy pickups - they're from a 70's Les Paul.
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hmmm
Take all of the resistors out of the amp. Resolder them in backwards. That won't do anything, but you will have a few hours of quiet while working on the amp.
Seriously, try a different guitar. A different guitar cord. A different room.
Guitar amps are noisy - they need all of that gain to sound right.
Seriously, try a different guitar. A different guitar cord. A different room.
Guitar amps are noisy - they need all of that gain to sound right.
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