Urgent help needed, I think my house is frying my amps

Have you tried a different venue? Neighbors house?

=wr=

 

IMO, it's not likely. especially if your TV and other aplliances work properly. i'd just measure the voltage at you AC outlets with a volt meter

 

What kind of buzzing is it? Like a 60 cycle hum? Could it just be a cause of electrical interference like a TV, fluorescent lightbulbs, dimmers, etc?

 

is the buzz there when you unplug your patch cable from the input of the amp? If so then the buzz is coming from the instrument or cable, and the amp is doing its job, it's amplifying it!

If the buzz is there even with nothing plugged in, then that's another story.

 

does it sound like a jazz bass with one pick-up soloed?

 

Have you tried turning off all of the lights in your house and everything electrical you can and seeing if it goes away? My amp buzzed like crazy. Then I tried turning off the three fluorescent lightbulbs off in my room and voila, silence.

 

Try an un-shielded cable. I dumped my monster cable for a cheap live wire because capacitance in a cable can act as an antenna.

 

?????????????!!!!

 

Rest assured that the amp isn't the problem. Your bass or cable is picking up some stray interference that probably doesn't exist at your friends house. Or a ground solder joint in your bass may have become disconnected in your bass since you jammed at your friends house.

If you turn you body 9as if to face another direction) while the bass is plugged in, does the noise get louder and softer? if you have two pickups and you put them both at full does the noise go away? What type of bass are you u sing and what is the control layout?

If you have a pan pot set it to the middle(center detent). if you have active preamps set them all to flat (center detent). still gotta noise?

does the noise get louder if you let go of the strings? if you're using a laptop unplug the charger, does the noise go away?

 

if it gets louder as you approach the amp it's because your bass or cable isn't shielded.

 

Unshielded acts as an antenna as well???
If you have a multi meter check your wall voltage. See if you're at 120V AC +/- 5v respectively. You may have a grounding issue as well. Depending if you have fuses or breakers, proper ground rods/grounding, or can be getting dirty energy from your power company. If you can, try it on another outlet that you know is on a SEPERATE breaker/fuse. For instance, the kitchen (That's supposed to be on it's own, if your house is newer.)

 

The buzz goes away when he unplugs the bass, the issue is either with the cable or the bass, what brand and model of bass and cable are you using?

 

I still think it's some sort of interference. Maybe your house went through an upgrade of lightbulbs, or you got some pedals, or a laptop, dimmer switches... There could be lots of things done that have caused this suddenly to happen. It doesn't take much really.

You should have heard how loud the buzzing got the other day when the lights in the basement got turned on. I couldn't believe it. Like Drosko asked. If you stand with your bass plugged in and you turn around and face different directions, does the buzzing get louder/softer?

Also, my bass doesn't do this in other houses either, but my house doesn't have the best wiring.

 

There is one club/ dive downtown montreal where the buzzing is so bad that you can hear the hockey game through everyone's gear. Sometimes even songs from the radio. But other clubs I play at on the same block have no issue whatsoever. it may be your wiring, but it may also be a cable / shielding issue. However i don't thing that your amp is in danger.