Any Ideas - Single Coil Buzz/Interference

[Paragon]

The guitar strings (which are grounded to the bridge) are acting like an antennae.. it is not the internals of the guitar. My guitar is shielded inside, pots grounded to the foil int he pickguard, Lace Sensors so those are shielded.. If I stand next to the TV or amp or computer, I will get buzz. Just the way it is.


I highly doubt the new cable will do anything.

What you need to do is make a faraday cage for you and the amp.

[Linty7]

The guitar strings (which are grounded to the bridge) are acting like an antennae.. it is not the internals of the guitar. My guitar is shielded inside, pots grounded to the foil int he pickguard, Lace Sensors so those are shielded.. If I stand next to the TV or amp or computer, I will get buzz. Just the way it is.


I highly doubt the new cable will do anything.

What you need to do is make a faraday cage for you and the amp.

Thank you Paragon... Yes you are right, I've got the new cable and it's made no difference. Saying that, at least I know I'm not losing anything with the cable now and it does seem that I've got improved definition and tone, all be it marginal. It's a much more flexible cable than my Fender one too, the Fender one was quite stiff, so at least I don't keep getting it tangled around my feet now

I've been playing around with the amp quite a bit and I've found some settings I'm quite happy with which don't emphasize the buzz too much, also by playing around with the guitar volume seems to help a little too.

At least I now know that everything, grounds, screening, mains quality and cables are all at their best and have no problems. I'll get the Hum Debugger next, it's something I'll then have for ever more and I'm sure it won't be a waste of money. After that I may replace the pickups in one of my guitars to noiseless, it's just a matter of which guitar gets the treatment. My favourite and the guitar I instinctively pick up first, is my Cort G260 superstrat and I do like the tone of the Duncan Designed single coils. The guitar that more warrants the expense is my MIJ Strat but I play it less. You never know I may come across a pickup bargain which will help make my decision....lol.

[cosmicrepairdude]

First of all, I'm assuming you don't have this problem with your gear in other houses, just your own.

3 of your guitars, the Corts, all have at least 1 humbucker, is that correct? Noiseless and humbucker are the same thing. Fender Noiseless pickups, for example, are stacked humbuckers. The 2 coils are stacked vertically instead of side by side. I'm really surprised your humbuckers aren't quieter. Are they wired up properly for humbucking?

Is your house very old? If so, does it have proper, modern wiring? If not, I'd look into that.

I have similar problems in parts of my house, due to the fact that it is very old and still has some wiring that is 2-conductor (not grounded/earthed) and "knob and tube" in some places. Knob and tube means the conductors are physically separated by a few inches, rather than all in the same sheath, as in modern wiring. That can cause stray electromagnetic fields. Plus I have an aquarium with little motors running pumps. I have a Yamaha Pacifica 604W that came with 2 single coils and a humbucker. The buzz and interference was horrible in the 1, 3, and 4 positions and relatively quiet in the 2 and 5 positions (1=neck, 5=bridge). That's because 5 is humbucking and 2 is an out of phase combination of the 2 single coils, which turns them into a humbucker. The noise would change depending on which direction I aimed the guitar - I could make it louder or quieter, and if I switched pickups, I sometimes had to change my position again.

My 1st solution was to replace the 2 SCs with stacked HBs (specifically a Tom Anderson, the black neck PU in my picture, and a Seymour Duncan, the white middle). Now, in my living room which is in the old wiring area and has the aquarium, I still get a little noise, but much less. My upstairs den which had been noisy but not quite as bad, became much better. I then grounded/earthed the circuit in the den and that got rid of the last of the noise.

If you're replacing pickups, you have to make sure that adjacent pickups are electrically out of phase with each other to have all 5 positions noise free. It's complicated, because not all manufacturers do things the same way, but usually at least one pickup has to be "reverse wound". There's a lot of info about this on some of the pickup manufacturers' web sites and elsewhere online.

PS: I improved the sound and eliminated the hum on a friend's Japanese Strat by replacing the 3 pickups with a Lace, a Fender Noiseless and a Dimarzio.

I bought all these pickups on eBay for very good prices after reading reviews online.

[Paragon]

A strat in pos 2 or 4 will be the same as a humbucker (in traditional wiring) and should eliminate the hum as much as it can (unless you have a hot and vintage winding together). It will get to a point where there is so much interference that you will buzz no matter what.

[cosmicrepairdude]

Hi Linty7,
Any updates to your situation?

[Linty7]

Hi Linty7,
Any updates to your situation?

Hi & sorry for the late reply to your post.

I never did solve the problem with the VT30. I did everything within reason which included: all guitars copper lined and fully shielded, checked house electrical grounds which are fine, good quality plug bar which eliminates noise, double screened good quality guitar lead. All of which made no difference what so ever. I never did get the Electro Harmonix Hum Debugger as the price went up to £85 & I thought that was a bit steep. It's still possible that may have cured it.

I expect to get some noise from single coils 1, 3 & 5 but this was excessive and directional, so altered drastically as you moved the direction of the guitar.

Two weeks ago I bought a new amp, a Fender Mustang 2. I've got to say it's very very impressive & for me head and shoulders over the VT30. The directional noise is still slightly there but no where near as bad as with the Vox. You can plug the Mustang into a computer and use the Fender Fuse software to control all effects, download and save presets, control amps and noise gate. The noise gate is very controllable and that has reduced any remaining noise to a pleasing level.

I was going to hang onto the VT30 but to be honest I can't really see me using it again now. This Mustang has just blown me away, it really is that good.

[jack trent]

You are so right and thanks for the information….





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[Voxman]

I was very impressed with the Mustang III & I much preferred it the VT40+ I had on loan - only reason I didn't keep it was that it had no extn cab out which I needed.