pedal huuuuummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

[billsswills]

epiphone t-bird into big muff, into holy grail, into sunn sonaro. pretty simple right? not so fast... no pedals on is when the hum is the worst. just the muff makes the hum a lower pitch and less intense. just the grail and the hum disappears altogether!(?) muff+grail sounds fine, but the volume diminishes enough that i can't let it slide. i use the ehx power supplies for both of those pedals, and the cords are all a bit longer than they should be. what's so wrong with all of this that makes the hum so strange?

p.s. i know with this sort of rig there will be some noise happenin, so i don't expect it to disappear completely. it's just pretty unmanageable at this point....

 

[eddododo]

Looked into the input impedance of the pedals?

 

[billsswills]

they appear to be correct. though the muff's supply did shoot a spark at me the other day...... got a spare battery i can borrow?

 

[ZombieSpacebat]

I assume if you go bass>amp then there is no hum at all? Which would rule out the hum coming from the bass, if this is the case and the hum is being caused by the pedals I'd try batteries or a different psu.

 

[JonnyAngle]

How old is the muff and holy grail?

 

[eddododo]

If you touch any exposed metal on the pedals does it go away?

Are the amp and pedals plugged into a common circuit (use a power strip)?

 

[Unrepresented]

If you touch any exposed metal on the pedals does it go away?

Are the amp and pedals plugged into a common circuit (use a power strip)?

My first thought as well. IME Muffs don't tend to play well with other pedals if they're sharing a power supply. Isolate them if possible and see if you get any improvement.

 

[billsswills]

ohhhh let's see, both pedals are new. yeah they're all plugged into the same 6 plug wall whatchercallit, not even a power strip, which i kinda reckoned was a bad idea. gotta live on the edge though, right? yeah the bass straight into the amp is fine. i'll give batteries a shot in that muff and see if it makes things better. ain't had the gumption yet today to mess around with it. i'll let you guys know once i do though. chances are i'll have to add to this question when i slap the power wah into the chain. christ-a-mighty.....

 

[Unrepresented]

ohhhh let's see, both pedals are new. yeah they're all plugged into the same 6 plug wall whatchercallit, not even a power strip, which i kinda reckoned was a bad idea. gotta live on the edge though, right? yeah the bass straight into the amp is fine. i'll give batteries a shot in that muff and see if it makes things better. ain't had the gumption yet today to mess around with it. i'll let you guys know once i do though. chances are i'll have to add to this question when i slap the power wah into the chain. christ-a-mighty.....

Yeah, daisy chaining stuff together can increase noise issues. Separate batteries for each would work, but is expensive long term and inconvenient. If you test and find them quieter both running on batteries then you might want to invest in a power supply with isolated outlets. You'd get the same quieter performance but without the inconvenience and expense of batteries.

 

[billsswills]

batteries can kill the ol bank account alright. could you imagine if we still had to put 16 d batteries in things?

 

[billsswills]

just got done jammin around and it all sounded fine. no more hum than is to be expected, which is kinda arousin my pants a little. question is where did it come from then and when will it return? what's that hum from outside interference called? it's probably that. still want to do the things you guys suggested though

 

[JonnyAngle]

batteries can kill the ol bank account alright. could you imagine if we still had to put 16 d batteries in things?

Just wait until you have a baby. Everything takes d batteries

 

[Gadgetjunky]

just got done jammin around and it all sounded fine. no more hum than is to be expected, which is kinda arousin my pants a little. question is where did it come from then and when will it return? what's that hum from outside interference called? it's probably that. still want to do the things you guys suggested though

Sometimes a power wire laying too close the something else can cause these mystery hums. This is a major reason I went with a rack setup. I route power on one side and data (well instrument signal) on the other. But I still discovered a rouge wire causing a hum. Moving it 6" fixed it. And if you get a quality isolated power supply, you may eliminate the little bit of hum left.

 

[billsswills]

.................... i plugged the wah into the chain so it's bass-wah-muff-grail-amp......... not a single hum anywhere. everything sounds perfect. muff and power wah are notorious noise makers, right? i didn't change anything about any of it except the wah addition. clean, some of the effects, all of the effects, all fine. "true wisdom lies in knowing that you know nothing"..... guess now that the sound's perfect i can get on impressin some lassies and makin babies to spend d battery money, but that's a different story for a different forum! thanks for the help men, i could hug you all

 

[warnergt]

How were these pedals powered? If you're using a cheap,
single supply that does not have isolated grounds, you may
have had a ground loop.

Some pedals (i.e. better designed ones) isolate the input and
output to prevent ground loops; many don't.

That wah pedal may have broken your ground loop.

 

[billsswills]

the wah has it's own hardwired power cord, which rules. the other two have the designated adaptors from electro harmonix

 

[Gadgetjunky]

Well, that's as good as an isolated power supply would get. I bet you had one wire too close to another and now you have shifted it enough to fix it. One othe thing to consider is making sure your transformers are all plugged in at the same orientation to avoid phase issues, I think.

 

[billsswills]

if they give me any more lip i'll just run'em all through the dishwasher a time or two. that should orient them alright