Guitar Amp noise...Argh!!!

[SHIRK]

I'm working with a band and the lead guitarist uses a Rivera Quiana Studio combo. He likes the super crunch on this amp that he gets buy activating the gain boost on channel 1 (lead channel) However, when this is engaged, the hum/noise is insane. Guitars with humbuckers are an improvement, but he really wants to use his G&L ASAT with two single coils for a few songs.

My studio is located in an industrial area. I'm on the third floor and outside of the exterior brick wall there are three large power transformers (big 3 foot tall cans) on a pole. Howerver, the live room in my space is about 40-50 feet away from these transformers. The band is convinced it's those transformers outside the building causing some kind of huge magnetic field. While it seems possible, I'm thinking it's the amp and the ultra high gain settings he's using. I haven't had this bad of a problem with my other amps (90's Mesa Boogie DC-5 and modded Fender Twin silver face. )

I tell the guitarist to swing his guitar around on axis and find the quietest position....but with the single coils on the ASAT..it's still pretty unbearable.

I realize that I can use NR plugins to clean things up. I personally don't mind a little guitar amp noise (adds some character, I think) but to eah their own on that one.

I've also tried moving the amp to another room and pluggining in directly to my Furman IT1220 Balance Isolation Transformer and it didn't yield any improvements.

Any thoughts or solutions on this?

Thanks

[Gear Tramp]

Well, aside from having him play something with 'buckers... noise gate!

The cheaper ones will suck a little bit of tone, but it won't suck as much as a noisy track would.

[ribteen]

i feel your pain,
for live gigs i use a danelectro u2 through a fender vibroking. most of the time it's pretty quiet but every so often in certain rooms it buzzes like crazy making me loco...maybe a ground lift. once, while tracking at a friends studio, things were very noisy and the engineer removed the input jack on my guitar took a large washer and some copper wire, wrapped it around the threaded sleeve of the jack, replaced the input jack and put the other end of the copper wire in my shoe. i can't remember if it worked...
do they have this same kinda noise at other locations? is the amp buzzy with no guitar plugged in? maybe try moving the amp 360 and find the sweetspot there as well as the player? best of luck...

[theblue1]

People who like single coils and don't like humbuckers (like me) must certainly be the bain of many engineers.

In fact, not only do I decidedly NOT like the sound of humbuckers -- I don't much care for my Strat's "in-between" settings (some folks like that phasey sound; I don't; still I like it better than the buckers on my Gibson ES-325).


And, because my amp is a Fender, as well... I'm just an antenna for all the hum in the world.

[Groove Dog]

i personally like the naturalness of pickup buzz. but check this out - click on "quietening the beast". it's a pretty great solution.

cheers!

[Deadmeat]

I have some pretty noisy amps and what worked for me was a combination of an Ebtech HumX (Plugs into the wall and reduces hum – worth a try for $60) and the Furman Power Factor Pro (supplies clean, stable power). Really quieted things down – even single-coils.

[Kiwiburger]

Fender should be ashamed of themselves. The accountants are just trading on the fact that the brand name still has some value. But basically, the state of electric guitar building is shabby.

Shielding an electric guitar properly should be mandatory. This could be so easily tackled with a little applied design. It isn't rocket science, and this IS 2007. For example, the pickup, pots and switches of a guitar could be built into a shielded aluminum box. It would cost about as much as a beer can, and it could solve 90% of hum and buzz issues. Swapping out new pickups could become as simple as snapping in a new assembly. A whole industry of tasty, versatile guitars could be built, and we could use single coils again.

Shielding isn't a difficult concept for a guitar builder to grasp. So why are they so f'ng lame?? Do they think they can fool us with a little metalic paint that fails 10 seconds out of the shop? Do they really think that using unshield wires to the pots and switches is going to work??

Are they just stupid? Or do they hope they can then sell 'noiseless' pickups to make more profit? Are guitars off the shelf "fit for purpose"? Should there be class actions against incompetent guitar makers??

It annoys me.

[Fruition2k]

A friend of mine added copper foil/tape in the cavities and back plate tremelo
spring area of my '79 Strat and of course connected all to ground. Its better
than it was but still isnt perfect like a humbucker.
You can also look into Chris Kinman pickups, they are supposed to be the true
answer and have that vintage tone to them...

Best of luck...