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Forums > Tech Tips > Can You Get Rid of That Hum?
Original message:881 days 11 hours 1 minutes ago
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Playing clubs still kids? Yeah man, many of us have, or are currently, circling the club circuit in our locale fighting the uphill, frustrating battle with 60 cycle hum. Our chance at victory, speculative at best...unless



You use batteries in all of your stomp boxes, play a guitar with hum cancelling pickups like a Les Paul or Paul Reed Smith, perhaps an Ibanez with Duncan Trembuckers? I was in the habit of bringing my '62 Telecaster to all of my rock engagements, complete with a hotrodded Twin™ (you like that?), and a pedal board from the noisiest part of Hades. Then I started using my classic T Tom Anderson with hum cancelling single coil pickups and batteries in the boxes and it took care of a great deal of noise. Whatever, I probably just Q-tipped my ears on the nights when the hum was like an angry hive. Mmmm, ear wax.
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I enjoy skinny skiing, heckling figure skaters, flamenco guitar, the blue stuff you put your combs in, good drummers, focaccia bread and coffee out of a french press
Reply:628 days 12 hours 1 minutes ago
Member: jttrussler
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honestly greg, who doesn't love the hum? doesn't it just make you think of the heaviest most dopest rock gig. don't you think it just kinda makes you think sweet...just i just totally lost my train of though. but point is please do get rid of the hum, but at the same time it can be totally sick cause it is so 100% rock n roll.
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Reply:628 days 11 hours 34 minutes ago
Member: Captain Fantastic
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I think I hear bubbles. Is that smoke coming from beneath the door. Trussler! You promised you wouldn't! I'm tellin'

I guess I can't tell if you kidding or not. If the 60 cycle is louder than the chubby chicks libido, there's a problem. When I saw King's X, both Doug and Ty were playing through fairly lengthy signal chains and not a murmur between tunes.
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I enjoy skinny skiing, heckling figure skaters, flamenco guitar, the blue stuff you put your combs in, good drummers, focaccia bread and coffee out of a french press
Reply:627 days 12 hours 40 minutes ago
Member: jttrussler
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I think I was kidding. The hum bugs me. When we played on the quad last year in spring for the contemp show (although it was a miserable show already), the volume we were playing at didn't really help the situation. plus penty of other times. then again there's no problem if maybe a group of fat chicks shows up.
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Reply:536 days 18 hours 17 minutes ago
Member: Joe Chaney
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the hum is the best, gives it the live feel y'know, music is so refined these days, its just one of those things, dont bother fighting it, just live with it, if i could choose to have it, i would
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Reply:626 days 22 hours 1 minutes ago
Member: ibzRG
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Hum bugs me too. I tonally like single coils and I like humbuckers too, but I'm a humbucker guy because of the hum.

One part of the hum is the single coils.
The other part is static. I found that NOT having the bridge ground wire connected at all keeps my signal cleaner. That is of course provided the power plug ground is good. Apparently the strings act as antennas and pick up more noise that they channel onto my signal when I take my hands off them. Quite unpleasant.
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Listen to my music!Listen to my music!
Reply:556 days 20 hours 24 minutes ago
Member: thefunkyone
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Run your own power distro and make sure everything is grounded. No more hum.
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Reply:552 days 20 hours 1 minutes ago
Member: awaywardson
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my rig is pretty quiet for the most part. I don't really change how I hook anything up, but it seems like some places we play have "dirty electricity". not only does my amp have a hum, but so does our P.A. This one place we play is awful. If I stand and face the crowd I get a HUGE BUZZ in my amp, but if I turn 90 degrees and face the drummer and bassist, it completely goes away 100%...
Reply:552 days 18 hours 52 minutes ago
Member: ibzRG
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Something interferes badly with your pickups and it is either behind the stage or in front of it...

My bedroom is like that most of the time.
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Listen to my music!Listen to my music!
Reply:552 days 6 hours 59 minutes ago
Member: Zombre
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As long as I use NO FX and avoid my ESP 7str, heh my rig is pretty consistently quiet. Except for my fretless strat too I guess..
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Nyah Nyah na naa Naaaaaaa!!!!
Reply:552 days 3 hours 18 minutes ago
Member: Reaper
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I used to get hums that is until I bought me that Roctron Hush Super C that has a cool little gate threshhold that blocks out any noise that comes from any of your equipment and a nice VHT G-2502-S power amp that I can just turn up crazy loud as apposed to setting my output too loud and distorting my sound...
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Reply:545 days 18 hours 56 minutes ago
Member: Hey Heidi Rae
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i had trouble with that too, until i got a noise suppressor. i use a boss ns-2. it works great....no more annoying hum.
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Reply:545 days 15 hours 27 minutes ago
Member: Zimo
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I've also got a Boss NS-2 and it works great. I also use hum canceling strat replacements from Dimarzio and those pretty much clear up most of the hum. They're low output though so that might be a factor as well.
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Reply:536 days 5 hours 9 minutes ago
Member: Hobo
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