my bass amp is haunted by cheesy mexican music

[dalconthenovice]

so i know this is a tech problem but because i thought it was as funny as crap i thought i'd post it here first

so me and my keyboardist friend were jammin away in my new apartment for a little bit and when we stopped to chill and watch our favorite show "arrested development" and knock back some shots of bourbon and turkey we started hearing like crazy cheesy ass mexican music

now thats like a reoccuring theme in arrested development and we were nice and hammered and thought it was part of the show till we got bored and turned it off to pass out for the night

...but it was still goin...

the search was on to find out what was making this godawful music

we turned like EVERYTIME off, even the microwaves because we had a half hour long argument about whether or not microwaves can turn into radios magically

we tracked it down like drunken bloodhounds and found it was my bass amp since i accidently left it on

that happened about a week ago and it hasn't stopped! everytime i turn that thing on it goes right back to making me feel like i should learn spanish and go down to mexico... or at least my local mexican restaurant...

WHAT IS THIS???? is my bass haunted?

[Deathblade Eric]

Oh dear, I fear it'll take more than a bit of copper shielding tape & a soldering iron to sort this...

Sadly, yes it is haunted - probably by the Inca demon PoptheKettlon. You must draw a circle around it in salt, leave it an offering of Tequila & Nachos and repaint it in loud, garish, & above all clashing colours. On no account attempt to switch it off otherwise you're likely to cause an inter-dimensional time rip & things with tentacles will eat your face. Learning Spanish Flea might help placate it. That or petrol.

Beware the UnBelievers who'll allege that the issue lies with either faulty outlet wiring or a shielding/earth fault in your amp or bass. Such gainsayers are usually in thrall to the Things with Tentacles & are trying to instigate armageddon under the guise of Science. I mean, we've all seen that documentary about that kid who's car radio only played 50s Rock 'n' Roll & look how that ended.

[S.Harrison]

I was going to reply that my very first amp (purchased through Sears) did the same thing. But Eric's reply was much more entertaining.

Brainwashing.

[dalconthenovice]

GODS BELOW!!!

fear has stricken thee!

[chuck3]

"while my guitarron gently weeps"

[pie_man_25]

Originally Posted by dalconthenovice

we turned like EVERYTIME off, even the microwaves because we had a half hour long argument about whether or not microwaves can turn into radios magically

haha, wow, I could see me doing that after a few brews too!

but on a serious note, I'm not sure exactly what caused it, though I'm going to go with faulty grounding, or faulty shielding. Radios are essentially amplifiers that pick up radio waves through an antenna, which would barely be a signal at all if you were to hook it right up to a speaker so there needs to be amplification there. I have a number of old tube amps that do the same if you leave them on and not use them long enough. I'm really not sure how to fix it, but I'm sure somebody else will.

[Ric5]

Is it the amp or is it the cables and effects plugged into the amp. turn the amp on and unplug all of the inputs and see if it still acts like a radio.

[shadowtippy]

Get rid of that amp at once! Send it to me for proper exorcism and disposal.

[xxfaux_punkxx]

I had this happen to me.

If there's a radio station nearby your amp picks up the station. The best solutiion is go through and fix all your shielding. A short cable will help as well. However in the end if you're like super close (I lived like 3 miles away from one) the only solution is a new address lol.

[eyeballkid]

weird!! so is my neighbor's house and car!!!

[5StringBlues]

Someone had to do it....



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V04IBsz-9Wo

[MNAirHead]

My ampeg would pick up televangelists.. kind of funny when I used the said amp for church gigs.

[Baron Von Vik]

Maybe you have an infestation of mariachis... spray for them quick! They multiply

What kind of amp is it?

[Bardley]

In college there was a certain building that whenever our touring choir set up our sound system we also picked up a mexican radio station in the band's headphone system. It has to do with the wiring of the building and shielding of a part of the signal chain. The building right next door was fine with the same equipment.

The orchestra pit monitors at church used to pick up an old gospel radio station until we changed the graphic EQ in the amp rack. Problem solved.

[JMac4strngr]

My first guitar amp was an old Gibson that would sometimes pickup this creepy "snake handling" church station. I allways found it somewhat entertaining to have the breaks between me playing filled with a guy screaming about "hellfire, damnation, and salvation". Rather creepy, to say the least.

[Chowowbus]

This thread has major potential!

[Blacksack]

Originally Posted by Chowowbus

This thread has major potential!

+1 i'd reach for the popcorn but i feel nacho's are more suited

[rageatmachine14]

My Hughes & Kettner guitar amp does the same thing but only when my guitar volume is totally off, it for some reason only picks up church services?

[OPBASSMAN1994]

It's happened to me, only it was Christmas music. I walked out to look at our family tree, leaving the amp on, and I start hearing the Grinch. i walked in and it was coming from amp. I immediately called an exorcist and problem solved.

[s_mcsleazy]

at my practace space my bass amp is haunted by the sound of the manager coming in yelling "SEAN I KNOW ITS YOU, EVERYTIME YOUR IN HERE YOU SHAKE MY BLOODY OFFICE NOW TURN IT DOWN AND STOP SHAKING KIT KATS OUT OF THE VENDIES"