Why do we still deal with 60 cycle hum?

[sawzalot]

We have had the answer for decades. Just use humbucking pickups.

 

[tpaul]

I thought Seth Lover solved that problem around 1955.

 

[tpaul]

We have had the answer for decades. Just use humbucking pickups.

Damn. Posted while I was still typing. I gotta get up earlier.

 

[Dirk Diggler]

Because proper grounding is still the only solution, as said above, we all live with 50's 60's technology still.
As a temporary solution you can always try one of these.

Has worked for years and despite some folks fear of it, it really quiets things nicely.

 

[Aberdumbie]

Because proper grounding is still the only solution, as said above, we all live with 50's 60's technology still.
As a temporary solution you can always try one of these.

Has worked for years and despite some folks fear of it, it really quiets things nicely.

Just NO! It was exactly one of these that caused a guitar player and myself to knock each other to the ground in a blue crack of thunder. I could smell burning hair in my nose for two days after that.

 

[brianrost]

Most of the 50/60 hz hum problems are poor grounding in the gear we plug into.

Then there’s RFI (radio frequency interface) which is the whine you hear when you get your bass too close to a computer or cell phone. That’s a result of poor shielding and grounding.

With computer noise, I've found Apple machines don’t often create the same noises that Wintel machines do. I ran sound on some shows where a Windows laptop was plugged into the board and it was a noisy mess until I disconnected the power supply and let it run on batteries. Noise from USB connections can be fixed by lifting the shielding connection on one end of the cable, just like ground lifts on DI boxes.

 

[LanciaY10]

WE definitly get hum in the UK. Being a little lower should make it I little easier to filter out of guitars, but I think the big difference is that because the UK is 240v we take electrical safety and grounding a little more seriously. The idea that live and neutral could be reversed on a socket (or that you could plug an amp in "the wrong way around" and make the chases live!) just doesn't happen here. Every socket has an earth. The plugs are individually fused (in addition to the devices own fuse, and the mains circuit fuse). Pretty much everywhere has electronic fuses which trip if there's the slightest imbalance in the circuit, so if anything is connected incorrectly or develops a fault the whole system is shut down.

60 or 50hz will kill you pretty much identically. It's the voltage that matters:

240v can kill you. 110v can also kill you but you stand a bit of a better chance.

Same in France, my housing building in under rehabilitation works since a year, and they've checked EVERYTHING in ALL the building.

The main issue is electrical safety norms are not the same in Europe, UK included, and the US, I mean... they don't even have rolling shutters and when they see one in Euroe they're in awe lol. But some britons are still thinking UK electrics are bad

 

[ardgedee]

Because proper grounding is still the only solution, as said above, we all live with 50's 60's technology still.
As a temporary solution you can always try one of these.

Has worked for years and despite some folks fear of it, it really quiets things nicely.

That's pretty much the opposite of proper grounding unless you've got a screw threaded through that tab into the outlet and the outlet's frame is grounded.

 

[socknroll1]

Because we are, for the most part, still playing instruments with 1950's tech, its ridiculous how low-tech basses and guitars are compared to the device you are viewing this thread on, inexcusable, really.

For me, low-tech and being reminiscent of the 1950s and 1960s is a big part of why I love playing bass. Vintage colors...Fender-shaped objects...old time rock 'n roll...instruments with only a limited number of things that can break or malfunction...just things that I love. I hope they're available forever.

 

[MonetBass]

We tolerate it because (1) we (particularly me) like the sound of single-coil pickups, and (2) in the mix of a band, you can't hear it at all.

 

[bassdude51]

I have a bunch of Jimi Hendrix live Lps! During breaks between songs, 60 cycle hum!!!!! While he and the band are playing, the 60 can't be heard.

I like single coils! Yes, they hum. But, I also roll off some of my high end on my bass with the passive tone control. The 60 can hardly be heard.

60 cycle hum = real and organic.

IMHO

 

[gormsby]

Because we are, for the most part, still playing instruments with 1950's tech, its ridiculous how low-tech basses and guitars are compared to the device you are viewing this thread on, inexcusable, really. I'm kind of amused at the newish tech integrated into turntables to cancel out the inevitable pops and hisses inherent to vinyl records, which are slowly destroyed by the simple act of playng them. I grew up with vinyl, and no, it doesn't sound better than CD's, it sounds progressively worse over time, but it was cool having the big album cover for art work, or for cleaning weed, but you can keep the vinyl otherwise. Anybody rocking wax Edison cylinders out there? Another example of advanced tech thrown at a problem that shouldn't really exist in the first place, when there are so many better solutions out there. In the menatime, fully shield the bass, and get a noise gate, I guess.The only thing that makes my fully shielded basses hum at home is one particular LED light, not sure why. Is that RF interference?

80s kid/Gen Xer here, and totally on Team CD. I'm watching the Kids These Days and their infatuation with the cassette tape format with horror. My standard response to the vinyl zealots is that if I want the classic LP sound, I can always play a CD and run a white noise generator next to it to add the hiss back in.

 

[Gilmourisgod]

I'm a 60-70's kid. I had a friend in College who studied Electrical Engineering and worked for years in high-end Audio Engineering for stuff like studio recording equipment. When MP3's first came out, a big section of the market, and his job, went pfffffftttttt. People traded convenience (and the ability to simply steal your entire music catalog off Napster) for what was objectively a really BAD sounding format. You still notice what a crude sampling that is when you slow down MP3's. That tech has improved hugely since, but just goes to illustrate that technological improvement is not always linear, sometimes it get worse, at least temporarily. But..... I do miss the album covers.

 

[Gilmourisgod]

For me, low-tech and being reminiscent of the 1950s and 1960s is a big part of why I love playing bass. Vintage colors...Fender-shaped objects...old time rock 'n roll...instruments with only a limited number of things that can break or malfunction...just things that I love. I hope they're available forever.

Don't get me wrong, I have the same low-tech in my basses that everyone else has, and I can appreciate the nostalgic charm of an old design, but it comes with a price. For instance, the cars of the 50's-60's are some of the coolest looking vehicles ever built, particularly the whole Jetson's space-age aesthetic, but by modern standards, they were dangerous to drive, got terrible gas mileage, and spewed aerosolized lead and other filth out the exhaust pipe all day long. I've always wondered why, with a few minor exceptions, nobody ever reproduced some of those incredibly cool car designs with modern safety features and powerplant. Guess there was just never enough market for it, and in the end Fashion Rules. In the world of basses, the original Steinberger L2 solved most, if not all, of most common gripes people apply to basses, but the moment it became "too 80's looking" it tanked. Fashion.

 

[Geogio]

That is completely false, and really dangerous misinformation. In most cases, 50 Hz comes out of the wall at about twice the voltage, which means it's far MORE deadly. European plugs are better at keeping your fingers away from line voltage than what we use in the US, which they kind have to be, given the higher voltage - that is the chief reason you might be safer around European power.

60hz stops the heart. 50hz does not

 

[mambo4]

Audio technology has advanced a lot since pickups were invented.

Not all building wiring has been updated since then, though.

 

[ardgedee]

60hz stops the heart. 50hz does not

That is not true.

 

[JazznFunk]

80s kid/Gen Xer here, and totally on Team CD. I'm watching the Kids These Days and their infatuation with the cassette tape format with horror. My standard response to the vinyl zealots is that if I want the classic LP sound, I can always play a CD and run a white noise generator next to it to add the hiss back in.

Team CD *and* vinyl here. In the case of both mediums, it's how it's mastered for the format and the quality of equipment on which you're playing it. CDs are the best overall compromise in terms of audio quality and longevity, absolutely agreed.... if the audio is prepared properly for the format. Vinyl is inherently lossy each time you play it, but if you are maintaining your equipment (and replacing needles before they become worn) then the 'damage' to the vinyl is minimal. Most of the warranted ire directed at newer vinyl adherents is because they're listening to vinyl on absolute crap, bottom of the barrel turntables (Crosley, etc) with subpar needles and tonearms which can cause damage to the vinyl or give a really poor playback. Garbage in, garbage out. Proper turntables won't do that. I own the same recordings on CD and vinyl and in some cases, there's a definite difference to the depth of sound and warmth of vinyl.... but not always.

 

[IanStephenson]

60hz stops the heart. 50hz does not

I dare you to come over here, and try it...

Don't worry about the cost - you can put a one way ticket on your credit card. You won't need a return flight and you won't be around to make the payment.

As a few posts have said, UK/EU electrics are safer because they have to be. UK/EU voltages are higher and more dangerous, so we don't mess around with it the way you Americans do with your low powered, third world system (no offence to those of you in the US who have upgraded to modern electrics with earthed sockets, and RCB's. Those of you who have kit with the chassis wired to neutral, and non-polarised sockets are just crazy people).

But if you ever come into contact with 240v/50Hz, I it can very definitely kill you.

 

[pbass2]

Because proper grounding is still the only solution, as said above, we all live with 50's 60's technology still.
As a temporary solution you can always try one of these.

Has worked for years and despite some folks fear of it, it really quiets things nicely.

I remember being a kid learning to play in the 70's, always thought I was kitted up so pro keeping one of those in my bag, or a pair of pliers to pull the ground from a 3-prong cable. Glad I survived.