Amp noise . . . voltage issue?

[jhan]

Funny thing. I have a practice amp that's noisy as hell in my apartment, but I when I used it at my guitarist's house, hardly any noise at all.

I live in a very old brownstone building, so I'm assuming that has something to do with it. I'm sure the electrical system dates back to Thomas Edison.

Anyone else have that experience?

 

[Stuka]

Sounds like it has something to do with some weird electrical issue.. Try different poweroutlets around your appartment, maybe adding ground will help?

 

[seamonkey]

Does it still happen when you don't plug your bass, or any cable into the amp?

 

[jhan]

Does it still happen when you don't plug your bass, or any cable into the amp?

Actually, yes. And it happens when I plug headphones into my effects loop.

And I have tried every outlet in the place.

 

[bongomania]

Yep, very old wiring = noisy amp IME.

 

[Rick Auricchio]

And most likely no grounds anywhere either. Most electrical equipment and appliances tend to shove noise onto the third-wire ground (here in the US). If your home has two-prong outlets, you use the "cheater" adapters, which just float the ground prong.

In some cases, three-wire outlets are added with a separate ground wire, which makes them proper. Because this is an expensive job, it's rarely done.

It's possible that someone installed grounded outlets and simply jumpered the ground prong to the neutral (white) wire. This would put all the ground noise onto the line, rather than into the earth. I don't know if this wiring trick is even permitted by the National Electrical Code, but people do all sorts of odd things.

 

[BassmanPaul]

And most likely no grounds anywhere either. Most electrical equipment and appliances tend to shove noise onto the third-wire ground (here in the US). If your home has two-prong outlets, you use the "cheater" adapters, which just float the ground prong.

In some cases, three-wire outlets are added with a separate ground wire, which makes them proper. Because this is an expensive job, it's rarely done.

It's possible that someone installed grounded outlets and simply jumpered the ground prong to the neutral (white) wire. This would put all the ground noise onto the line, rather than into the earth. I don't know if this wiring trick is even permitted by the National Electrical Code, but people do all sorts of odd things.

It's against code up here. Old knob and tube wiring has to be replaced if new electrical work is done.

Paul