I could use some help for my first gig next saturday...

[RickDavis]

Hi guys,

I’m playing a ’79 Fender Musicmaster bass for a few years now, which I really like and upgraded with an Aero Musicmasterer pickup. I play it through an Ashdown Studio 12 and only use the clean setting and a tuner pedal.

Because the bass guitar only has one single coil pickup, I usually get some amount of single coil hum. Since I shielded the guitar, it's generally not that disturbing.

I started a band with a few colleagues a couple of months ago and recently bought myself an EHX Hum Debugger pedal. Most of our rehearsels took place at home, where the pedal does exactly what it is supposed to do. Without it there is the typical light hum, but when engaged it is completely quiet.

But... next saturday we will have our very first try-out gig at the office. We had our last few rehearsals at that location and I immediately noticed a much stronger, disturbing noise, depending on where and in which direction I was standing. With the tone almost completely rolled off or the high frequencies EQ-ed out on the amp, the noise is gone. And the weird thing is, at the office the EHX Hum Debugger even seems to boost the hum and make things worse...

I also tried a ground lift, but that makes no difference either.

I find it very strange that I only have a very light hum at home rehearsals and even dead silence with the EHX Hum Debugger, while at the office I have a lot of noise and it gets worse with the pedal.

Will my only option be to EQ out my treble and high-miss or roll down my tone almost completely? Or does anyone have any other suggestions I can try?

Thanks very much in advance!

 

[Engle]

Your office has a lot more going on electrically than your house and it could be noise on the power. Do you have a power tester like this? If not, its worth having.

I also suggest getting one of these:
https://furmanpower.com/product/6-outlet-2x3-pro-surge-suppressor-strip/
I used to get really bad noise from LED stage lights and running all the audio gear through a couple of SS-6Bs reduced it almost completely.
Of course it's impossible to diagnose noise issues over the internet, and this may not be the solution. But a 6 outlet power bar with a 15ft cord, surge suppression, and noise reduction is good to have. I bring at least one to every gig.

 

[Killing Floor]

Where you work is almost certainly 277V lighting. Unless it’s a very new building it’s either fluorescent lighting or worse, converted to LED without appropriate control for the more efficacious load. Try the ground lift, try a DI, during sound check take a minute to see if there are certain positions or orientation that helps reduce the noise. And X mark those spots.

 

[s0c9]

Where you work is almost certainly 277V lighting. Unless it’s a very new building it’s either fluorescent lighting or worse, converted to LED without appropriate control for the more efficacious load. Try the ground lift, try a DI, during sound check take a minute to see if there are certain positions or orientation that helps reduce the noise. And X mark those spots.

Do NOT EVER GROUND-LIFT a TUBE amp… there are voltages/currents in that will terminate you quickly-if it goes to ground thru you!
The office lights will not be an easy fix.

 

[RickDavis]

Thank you all for your quick reply.
I forgot to mention I also tried a Behringer HD400, which should remove ground loops as well as hum and noise from mains. Unfortunately, that didn’t make any difference either (except for a noticeable signal drop)…
Would a SS-6B still be able to make a difference in this case?

 

[BassBrass]

well your notes, and the band's sound are louder than the hiss, so if it's in the way so much to be noticable, use a volume pedal to shut the line down when not playing. Offices often have leaky lines and electronic devices and there may by no way to change that.

 

[Low End Scum]

Engle and Killing Floor hit the nail on the head. Not only can that lighting cause an issue, I've had reverse polarity open grounded outlets cause hum and buzz issues. In addition to that issue, I've been shocked from it with a '74 bassman that also had it's polarity switch still active. I kept one of those outlet testers in my bass case by default and always recommend the same for others. It's cheap, it's not complicated so it doesn't have much in the way of parts to break, and it's instant to check.

 

[Engle]

Thank you all for your quick reply.
I forgot to mention I also tried a Behringer HD400, which should remove ground loops as well as hum and noise from mains. Unfortunately, that didn’t make any difference either (except for a noticeable signal drop)…
Would a SS-6B still be able to make a difference in this case?

The SS-6B will hopefully eliminate noise before it gets into your equipment on the power rather than trying to get noise out of your signal chain.
But I can’t tell you it will work, just that it helped me and IMO it’s a good thing to have for gigs.

 

[ThirstyMonkey]

Agree with the others, it's likely the commercial lighting at the office causing issues. Also like others' said, simply bring ing volume down between songs is the easy fix for this gig (can use pedal as suggested or just turning volume knob down on bass after song ends). Another solution would be a noise gate, but I wouldn't run out and buy one just for this gig.

Also, congrats on the first gig. I hope you and your band kill it and it's the first of many to come!

 

[ddnidd1]

IIRC The EHX has narrow EQ dips at 60Hz, 120, 240, 480, etc. The harmonics of 60Hz. If the interference is a different frequency, the pedal may not attenuate it.

 

[Bass4ThePublic]

maybe a tuner pedal to act as a mute. keep time in between songs short like less than 30 seconds. as long as the hum is not as loud as your band (99% chance wont be) youll be ok. Have a fun time!

 

[Stewie]

Dont know if this applies here. But my single coil P Bass hums. When I use my Line-6 G10 wireless, the hum goes almost completely away
I guess a lot of the problem is the guitar cable itself

 

[christopea]

Where you work is almost certainly 277V lighting. Unless it’s a very new building it’s either fluorescent lighting or worse, converted to LED without appropriate control for the more efficacious load. Try the ground lift, try a DI, during sound check take a minute to see if there are certain positions or orientation that helps reduce the noise. And X mark those spots.

I second this advice. Note the spaces where the noise is diminished and position yourself there. Sometimesneven just reorienting your body position in one spot can help. A noise gate can help too. The SS-6B might help.

I suspect the problem you're dealing with there is RF and/or other types of interference, and probably not a ground loop. Fluorescent lighting has often caused me problems, as do circuits with any kind of dimmer switch. That's mostly been my experience in stage environments. Usually a ground lift or transformer isolation doesn't help with that kind of interference, the environmental kind that is being introduced in your signal path as early as your pickups.

I prefer playing a J style bass usually; I feel your pain. I have found well shielded cavities to help a lot with these problems, but in some environments—especially older buildings with bad/dirty power—there's not much I've found in the the way of solutions to this. It's just a problem in some environments.

Whenever I've had to play regularly in such an environment for a while my easy solution has been to use a bass with humbuckers, which helps a lot, but doesn't eradicate it. Short of that, I use a noise gate, or ride my volume between songs (do that usually regardless), and position myself where the interference is minimized.

Congrats on your first gig! I hope it goes well and you have a great time.

 

[bcbassman]

Plus one on the current tester. The outlet that you are using could be wired wrong but its not likely if you are in a newer building. Hum really doesn't get noticed when a band is playing live, it matters between songs and you can always turn down your volume control when not playing.
You absolutely want to make sure that you and any microphone/ PA system or other guitar amp are on the same circuit so you don't get shocked when playing. Otherwise -have a great time at your first gig. Good luck to you.

 

[Bar Band Bassman]

Yeah, office lighting puts out a ton of "hash" that can really be noisy. Wishing you the best. Wait until you do a club gig with crap wiring and light dimmers! Big time fun!

The Bar Band Bassman

 

[bherman]

My advice - you're not going to solve any electrical noise issues in your office, do as others have said and dial the volume off as you end each song. No one will notice a bit of noise during the song while you are playing. And if it continues to be a problem, you might need to think about a different bass.

 

[themickster]

Hi guys,

I’m playing a ’79 Fender Musicmaster bass for a few years now, which I really like and upgraded with an Aero Musicmasterer pickup. I play it through an Ashdown Studio 12 and only use the clean setting and a tuner pedal.

Because the bass guitar only has one single coil pickup, I usually get some amount of single coil hum. Since I shielded the guitar, it's generally not that disturbing.

I started a band with a few colleagues a couple of months ago and recently bought myself an EHX Hum Debugger pedal. Most of our rehearsels took place at home, where the pedal does exactly what it is supposed to do. Without it there is the typical light hum, but when engaged it is completely quiet.

But... next saturday we will have our very first try-out gig at the office. We had our last few rehearsals at that location and I immediately noticed a much stronger, disturbing noise, depending on where and in which direction I was standing. With the tone almost completely rolled off or the high frequencies EQ-ed out on the amp, the noise is gone. And the weird thing is, at the office the EHX Hum Debugger even seems to boost the hum and make things worse...

I also tried a ground lift, but that makes no difference either.

I find it very strange that I only have a very light hum at home rehearsals and even dead silence with the EHX Hum Debugger, while at the office I have a lot of noise and it gets worse with the pedal.

Will my only option be to EQ out my treble and high-miss or roll down my tone almost completely? Or does anyone have any other suggestions I can try?

Thanks very much in advance!

Maybe a humbucker made to fit a single-coil slot would do it for you

 

[Topkat13]

Marvelous bro! Go and enjoy!!!

 

[Spidey2112]

Good luck with the gig, breaux!

 

[fhm555]

...Whenever I've had to play regularly in such an environment for a while my easy solution has been to use a bass with humbuckers, which helps a lot, but doesn't eradicate it...

...Congrats on your first gig! I hope it goes well and you have a great time.

Yep. I've got a single coil(s) Highway 1, but I've also got an MIM J bass with DiMarzio Model Js and another one with Ultra Js. I have the model js for god of thunder needs and the ultras for when I need a single coil and there's dirty power. It's really close to a hot wound single coil, but with the ability to be (mostly) quiet under less than ideal circumstances.