Buzzing guitar!!!!

[dcaster]

I have a G&L ASAT that I LOVE dearly. It is a dream to play and sounds amazing. The other night, I took it to the bar to play and, "buuuuzzzzzzzzzz" whenever I wasn't playing. Now, I know that is characteristic of single coil pickups but, in my basement, I don't have the same problem. Now, my house is an early 1920's with old knob and tube wiring in many places and most of the outlets don't even offer a ground. The plug on my amp has had the ground lug removed by the previous owner (I assume). I realize that I don't have the same lights in my basement and that lighting does adversely affect this. I did also bring my Agile LP copy and used that as it has humbucker pickups and the problem was significantly reduced. My actual question to anyone out there is, if I put a different end on the cord so that I have a ground or replace the cord, will that reduce the amount of 60HZ buzz that I am getting? My amp is a Carvin X-100B and does not have a ground lift. I also tried going right into the amp to eliminate the possibility of the pedal board causing this. And, I don't want to use a noise reduction pedal as I HATE the way they make a guitar sound.

Any help?

Dennis

[wdelaney72]

Most guitars have a poor grounding scheme. Shield your control cavity and incoporate a star grounding layout.
http://www.guitarnuts.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Now, my house is an early 1920's with old knob and tube wiring in many places and most of the outlets don't even offer a ground

Dude, this seems really dangerous and could also be a problem with your noise.

[Grosh_Guitars]

single coils are very noisy and get a 60 cycle hum. The power in the bar could be dirty power as well. You really should have a ground on that amp. You could try using Dimarzio virtual vintage pickups, or when you are not playing you should turn down that volume knob. that's what is there for.

[dcaster]

I am familiar with using the volume know. Not a problem. I just wanted to see if anyone had any good advise on correcting it or theories. I am going to put a new plug on the end of the cord soon and carry with me an isolator for the times that I need to do a ground lift for the places that don't know enough to use the same plug for the amps as the band is using on stage. I hate getting shocked.

[dcaster]

Well, I toted the gear to a different bar and there was absolutely no issue with buzzing. I guess I just need to make mental notes as to where I get buzzing and where I don't. One thing I did do was put a different end on the cord so there is actually a ground on my amp now when I play out. I still don't have one in my house but I don't have a buzzing issue there except when I stand next to the computer monitor and that is to be expected.

[fillmore nyc]

My actual question to anyone out there is, if I put a different end on the cord so that I have a ground or replace the cord, will that reduce the amount of 60HZ buzz that I am getting? My amp is a Carvin X-100B and does not have a ground lift. I also tried going right into the amp to eliminate the possibility of the pedal board causing this. And, I don't want to use a noise reduction pedal as I HATE the way they make a guitar sound.

Any help?

Dennis

Doesnt your Carvin already have a 3 prong plug? I cant imagine that your amp doesnt have a grounded plug. (PLEASE dont tell me that you're using one of those 3 prong to 2 prong adapters cause of your house outlets... THATS a recipe for trouble-- ). Even if it doesnt have a 3rd prong, adding one with the ground lug to the chassis really isnt gonna help much, but it WILL make playing the rig safer, and if you dont already have one, I think it would be a REALLY good idea to hook one up... like today.

The problem is the same that everyone that loves single coils has... they're noisy, and the proof is that your humbucking guitars dont have the problem!! To get that single coil tone, ya sorta gotta live with the noise, or do as "Grosh" said... use DiMarzio Virtuals. They arent 100% single coil sounding, but they're really close, like 90% there. They're definitely close enough to make them well worth using for sure. The slight trade off in tone is more than worth it when you crank up that Carvin's gain, and have less noise than a full size humbucker. I use Virtuals in my Strat, and they work great. No noise & real nice tone.
Again, a Fralin WILL kick its ass tone-wise, but that silence in the quiet breaks in a song is GOLDEN!!!

/

[Grosh_Guitars]

My actual question to anyone out there is, if I put a different end on the cord so that I have a ground or replace the cord, will that reduce the amount of 60HZ buzz that I am getting? My amp is a Carvin X-100B and does not have a ground lift. I also tried going right into the amp to eliminate the possibility of the pedal board causing this. And, I don't want to use a noise reduction pedal as I HATE the way they make a guitar sound.

Any help?

Dennis

Doesnt your Carvin already have a 3 prong plug? I cant imagine that your amp doesnt have a grounded plug. (PLEASE dont tell me that you're using one of those 3 prong to 2 prong adapters cause of your house outlets... THATS a recipe for trouble-- ). Even if it doesnt have a 3rd prong, adding one with the ground lug to the chassis really isnt gonna help much, but it WILL make playing the rig safer, and if you dont already have one, I think it would be a REALLY good idea to hook one up... like today.

The problem is the same that everyone that loves single coils has... they're noisy, and the proof is that your humbucking guitars dont have the problem!! To get that single coil tone, ya sorta gotta live with the noise, or do as "Grosh" said... use DiMarzio Virtuals. They arent 100% single coil sounding, but they're really close, like 90% there. They're definitely close enough to make them well worth using for sure. The slight trade off in tone is more than worth it when you crank up that Carvin's gain, and have less noise than a full size humbucker. I use Virtuals in my Strat, and they work great. No noise & real nice tone.
Again, a Fralin WILL kick its ass tone-wise, but that silence in the quiet breaks in a song is GOLDEN!!!

/

+1 I agree as well. I play gigs in a lot of different clubs and get all kinds of weird noises. you just have to learn to live with it and adapt and overcome. It's all part of gigging. I can't count how many times I have argued with club owners and sound guys about the power being bad or there power strips being bad with them telling me how it's my amp or guitar and not there power only to be proven wrong every time.

[dcaster]

Played at the same bar that my guitar showed buzzing before and had the same problem even after replacing the end of the cord. Did the same thing I did the last time, played my Les Paul copy and it was fine. The sound guy said that other players have the same issue there that try to use single coils. Fortunately, I like both of my guitars so it really wasn't an issue.