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Unexplained Whistle

L

lvbass

Guest
Jun 17, 2011
36
11
Macungie
#1
Happy New Year Everyone!

I did a gig on NYE and a strange thing happened. I have played this room before, and it is VERY live, sound bouncing everywhere, lots of glass, high ceilings, tile floor. So I wanted to be able to adjust any problems and decided to use my Fishman Pro Pre-amp. I usually use it for upright to help deal with feedback, but decided to apply it here. Anyway, during sound check, as we turned everything on, there all of a sudden appeared a loud high whistle in the PA. I was NOT going through the PA at all, there was no connection of any kind. As soon as I unplugged the Fishman it was gone completely. Had to get on with the show, so just left it out and decided it was some kind of RF issue, but I really don't know.
Any ideas on how? Why? and how to prevent going forward?
Thanks in advance.
 
#2
lvbass said:
during sound check, as we turned everything on, there all of a sudden appeared a loud high whistle in the PA. I was NOT going through the PA at all, there was no connection of any kind. As soon as I unplugged the Fishman it was gone completely.
Click to expand...
When you say no connection.. you are talking about being powered up with no XLR connection to the mixer?
loud high whistle in PA might be feedback.. caused by too much gain

Try it thru the PA at next practice and hunt it down.
 
#3
s0c9 said:
When you say no connection.. you are talking about being powered up with no XLR connection to the mixer?
loud high whistle in PA might be feedback.. caused by too much gain

Try it thru the PA at next practice and hunt it down.
Click to expand...
There was no XLR connection to the PA. That's why it seemed strange. The only thing I can think of is some kind of RF interference. Its never happened before. Maybe something in the electrical system of the venue? If its the veneue then that's not my problem unless somebody has an idea on how to tweak settings to overcome it. Just making sure its not my stuff.
 
#4
lvbass said:
There was no XLR connection to the PA. That's why it seemed strange. The only thing I can think of is some kind of RF interference. Its never happened before. Maybe something in the electrical system of the venue? If its the veneue then that's not my problem unless somebody has an idea on how to tweak settings to overcome it. Just making sure its not my stuff.
Click to expand...
With no XLR connection to the PA, that REALLY is weird!
It might be venue power related, but I have never heard of anything like that happening except from some signal-level related event... maybe some of the other SE-types here can weigh in??
 
#5
Bass>fishman>nothing?
(everything but bass)>PA
=whistle

Bass> nothing
(everything but bass)>PA
=no whistle

Yeah?


What was the fishman plugged into, if not the PA?


What else was going into the PA? Perhaps there was an air coupling between your cab and something else (archtop guitar) which was more sensitive to your preamp-enhanced signal than your unaffected signal?
 
Last edited:
#7
MattZilla said:
Bass>fishman>nothing?
(everything but bass)>PA
=whistle

Bass> nothing
(everything but bass)>PA
=no whistle

Yeah?


What was the fishman plugged into, if not the PA?


What else was going into the PA? Perhaps there was an air coupling between your cab and something else (archtop guitar) which was more sensitive to your preamp-enhanced signal than your unaffected signal?
Click to expand...
It was Bass>Preamp>Amplifier>Cabinet= Whistle
Nothing else in my amp.
A cell phone in my pocket but whistle was audible before I stood next to it.
 

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