dirt effects hum,....

[theunknowndude]

Hey people....

just a quick question,....
i always get hum through my dirt pedals, ok theyre not the best being the TZ-2 and the PD7 but is this is what s expected?

at practice when running through my rig (ashdown eb180 head through 2X10) I have to compete with two really loud guitarists and a loud drummer,... everything is turned pretty much up to noon on pedals and all knobs to hear myself,...

if im not touching my strings (I think, cant really remember if that stiops the hum... its alot more prominent through having my weeping demon turned on) I get a very annoying hum that sounds like static,... goes away if I turn pedal off...

my pedalboard is a gator pedal tote with the pedal bus power supply underneath (more than enough power to power all 7 pedals with most of them low drainage) and I'm using the planet wave pedalboard cable station kit to plug it all in (was advised supposed to be better cos its more shielded than the cheap patch cables),... don't have any problems with any other pedal except these two,... is it normal or am I basically running everything so high that I can expect that?

the ibanez k5 is silent too, and using shortish fender cables to plug in, so im assuming everything is 'shielded' enough,... is there anything else I can do?

it doesn't pop up when playing and it doesn't occur on held notes etc... just means I have to be jumping on the pedals ASAP to stop the hum and what not but when we play live I don't really want to sound like a beginner with 5$ pedals and no technique,... try to put a bit of a professional air on so to speak...

Cheers
Tim

[rcubed]

Hum/noise/etc. is to be expected with gain pedals that are not gated. You're taking a signal, no matter how small and and boosting the level of it.

[asherthemachine]

does your guitar hum when the pedals are off? even just a little?

[Jebus_]

Originally Posted by theunknowndude

if im not touching my strings I get a very annoying hum that sounds like static,...

That's how it goes if you use passive bass. You are the part that grounds the bass, so if you don't touch the strings, bass is not properly grounded -> hum. Pedals that boost the signal will also boost the hum.

Bass with active circuit doesn't have this problem because they are not grounded via strings.

[JanusZarate]

Originally Posted by Jebus_

Bass with active circuit doesn't have this problem because they are not grounded via strings.

Not true, actually. Even active basses can have hum (I know from experience). There are more factors involved than just proper grounding.

Anyhow... while it's normal to get some noise from high-gain pedals, some will be noisier than others.

In your case, I would also cite your rig as a contribution. A smaller, lower-power rig will have to be pushed much harder to compete volume-wise... and as a result, you're raising your rig's noise floor. Higher treble settings will make hum more prominent. Additionally... I'm not sure if your cab has a tweeter, but that'll make hum more prominent as well if it's turned up.

[Jebus_]

Originally Posted by MysticBoo

Not true, actually. Even active basses can have hum (I know from experience). There are more factors involved than just proper grounding.

That's true, active basses may also hum. But they do not stop humming when you touch the strings..

[JanusZarate]

Originally Posted by Jebus_

That's true, active basses may also hum. But they do not stop humming when you touch the strings..

Still not true in all cases, actually.

The exception I've found is with EMG active pickups, but it has largely to do with the fact that the pickups themselves require power to operate, have integrated preamps, and do not need to be grounded to the bridge.

Traditional active basses have passive pickups, and active preamps mounted in the body cavity.

My Stingray is an incredibly silent bass, but with certain pedals I've owned in the past, it can cause a mild hum that stops when I touch the strings. Nothing in my current rig presents such a problem - I have "silent" gear now, and my Stingray is practically noiseless.

Often, basses that wouldn't normally hum can be provoked to hum in certain environments - i.e., shoddy fluorescent lighting, poor grounding in a venue (although normally, the real threat there is for the singer ), etc.

[theunknowndude]

Originally Posted by MysticBoo

Still not true in all cases, actually.

The exception I've found is with EMG active pickups, but it has largely to do with the fact that the pickups themselves require power to operate, have integrated preamps, and do not need to be grounded to the bridge.

Traditional active basses have passive pickups, and active preamps mounted in the body cavity.

My Stingray is an incredibly silent bass, but with certain pedals I've owned in the past, it can cause a mild hum that stops when I touch the strings. Nothing in my current rig presents such a problem - I have "silent" gear now, and my Stingray is practically noiseless.

Often, basses that wouldn't normally hum can be provoked to hum in certain environments - i.e., shoddy fluorescent lighting, poor grounding in a venue (although normally, the real threat there is for the singer ), etc.

Thanks for the replies all!
boo to the rescue again? hehe

yeah the K5 is usually silent as but not with these pedals on,... im getting a 300w head and 4X10 soon so I will see if that helps,...

edit: and yes I have a tweeter in the ashdown 2X10 deep cab, never really noticed it cos I turn treble down or leave at noon,... but I guess could be contributing, unfortunately theres no 'off switch' for the tweeter!

[JanusZarate]

Originally Posted by theunknowndude

edit: and yes I have a tweeter in the ashdown 2X10 deep cab, never really noticed it cos I turn treble down or leave at noon,... but I guess could be contributing, unfortunately theres no 'off switch' for the tweeter!

There should be a passive attenuator (probably looks like a big wheel) in the back of the cab. Use it!

[rcubed]

Originally Posted by MysticBoo

There should be a passive attenuator (probably looks like a big wheel) in the back of the cab. Use it!

Turn it as low as possible! Stupid bass cabs and their tweeters.

[JanusZarate]

Originally Posted by rcubed

Turn it as low as possible! Stupid bass cabs and their tweeters.

Tweeters can be useful sometimes, but cheap cabs rarely come with non-noisy ones. Not to mention, a lot of bass players have no practical use for the extra high end detail provided by a tweeter.

[*insertcoolname]

Sometimes just tweaking the settings on the pedal helps. I run an ODB-3 (yes, there is one bassist who owns this pedal...) and that thing can get really noisey if I want a lot of crunch. I find if I tweak some of the parameters a little bit I can keep the same amount of crunch and much less hiss. Maybe just play around with the settings and see what you can come up with.

[theunknowndude]

I'll have a hunt on the back of the cab,... cheers for that
hum wasn't so bad today but noticed it was still very 'staticy' when had the weeping demon on as well...

practice today didn't go so well,... power blackout so had pizza till power came back on then for some reason my amp was cutting out in volume in patches,... still had volume but very low... then it would come back to full power again,... all I can think of and I'm very mucha hoping its just one of my leads between either bass and pedal board or board and amp is getting old and dodgy,...

can't wait till my 300w and 4X10 come in, then I won't have to struggle in the mix! (and out of defense, im always very watchful of keeping the input low enough with dirt on so that I don't go into the red and harm the speakers but I've heard u can damage speakers without even doing that if you have the right frequencies too loud or something,...)

[fightthepower]

Originally Posted by MysticBoo

Still not true in all cases, actually.

The exception I've found is with EMG active pickups, but it has largely to do with the fact that the pickups themselves require power to operate, have integrated preamps, and do not need to be grounded to the bridge.

Traditional active basses have passive pickups, and active preamps mounted in the body cavity.

My Stingray is an incredibly silent bass, but with certain pedals I've owned in the past, it can cause a mild hum that stops when I touch the strings. Nothing in my current rig presents such a problem - I have "silent" gear now, and my Stingray is practically noiseless.

Often, basses that wouldn't normally hum can be provoked to hum in certain environments - i.e., shoddy fluorescent lighting, poor grounding in a venue (although normally, the real threat there is for the singer ), etc.

My passive Pbass has been perfectly quiet, but I had issues (nightmare..) with my active jazzV that developed noise issues when I received it back after waiting 3 months to have a faulty neck replaced... When I got it back it had a buzz/hum that only went away if I covered the strings and other metal parts of the bass. They replaced the circuit and pickups and it still had issues... and they ultimately gave me a new bass (which I just sold), but the moral of the story is: +1 to MysticBoo's post

[Jared Lash]

Well, I find that when dirt pedals hum it usually just means that they just don't know the words.

[theunknowndude]

Originally Posted by TheBigO

Well, I find that when dirt pedals hum it usually just means that they just don't know the words.

hahaha, I made them sing the words by detuning to ADGCF...

[JanusZarate]

Originally Posted by TheBigO

Well, I find that when dirt pedals hum it usually just means that they just don't know the words.

Sigged.

[erik281]

possible solution:

if you are worried about it just making noise when not playing you could always run a volume pedal before the effects. that would kill the hum and it would keep you from hittin the pedals every time.

[theunknowndude]

Originally Posted by erik281

possible solution:

if you are worried about it just making noise when not playing you could always run a volume pedal before the effects. that would kill the hum and it would keep you from hittin the pedals every time.

thanks, using the boss tuner would work
by the way, looks like the ashdown 210T cab I have has no attentuator or anything, the back just has inserts for cables and an information sticker and the two ports