Help me fix a buzz

[jcn37203]

Ok, this is small fries compared to what you guys normally work with, but I'm goin' nuts here. My guitar gear has a buzz somewhere along the line, and I can't figure it out. This is no minor buzz. At times it is as loud as the guitar itself.

 

Basically, it appears that any effects pedal that affects volume results in a pretty hellacious buzzing noise. My Linear Power Booster buzzes when it's on, my wah pedal buzzes (it has a gain knob) and now my new Guyatone Slow Volume buzzes (worst of all).

 

I've tried them all with batteries, and they buzz. So that would tell me that it's not a problem with my powered pedal board or wiring in my apartment.

 

I've tried them through two different amps and directly into my line mixer, still with the buzzing.

 

The Slow Volume thing is weird, because the buzzing increases or decreases based on where it is in the chain. At the front (where I want it) it buzzes the worst, at the end it's still bad but not as bad.

 

My first instinct tells me it's the pedal, but since it is three pedals, that seems unlikely that three different pedals (two of which were bought brand new) would have bad grounds or something. Plus I wouldnt even think grounding would be an issue when using batteries.

 

So last night I tried a different experiment and came up with baffling results. I plugged directly into the slow volume (the worst buzzer) and went straight from there to the amp, and tried walking around the room while playing. The buzzing definitely changed in volume and frequency as I moved around, though not in a predicatble way. So standing in one corner would make it quieter, but leaving and going back to that corner would not always result in less buzzing. So based on that, I figured the guitar needs to be shielded or something.

 

But then I tried moving the slow volume pedal around, and it was the same deal. Setting it up on a desk resulted in less buzzing, putting it down on the floor increased the buzzing, but the results were not always predicatble.

 

So now that would sway me back towards suspecting the pedal was screwed.

 

So, essentially I'm at a loss.

 

I've replaced practically all of my cables to resolve this, and the buzzing is less, but still way louder than it should be. Also, at moderate gain levels, I get better radio reception through my guitar than I get in my car.

 

I'm thinking my next step is to apply the "Quieting the beast" mod detailed at guitarnuts.com. But I don't want to go through all that trouble if its not the guitar.

 

So, can anyone help? Did anyone even read this far?

 

 

I'm beginning to wonder if I don't live directly in the path of some Martian tractor beam or something.

 

PS: If it matters, I'll lay out the set up below. If it doesn't help, ignore it.

 

Washburn MG-30 (two single coils and a bucker. Completely stock with the original electronics, the pots are scratchy. 8 years old) -> Guyatone Slow VOlume -> Guyatone Wah Rocker -> Electro Harmonix Linear Power Booster -> Dan-o Fish & Chips EQ -> Snarling Dogs Black Bawl wah -> Peavey Dirty Dog Distortion -> Boss BD-2 (Blues Driver) -> Boss RV-3 (delay/reverb) - Marshall Vibratrem ->MXR Chorus -> Ross Flanger -> Boss RC-20 Loopstation -> Peavey Backstage Plus practice amp (alternatively a Peavey Rage 158 practice amp) -> (from power amp out) Behringer UB802 line mixer, Channel 1 -> Headphones.

[RickJ]

Could be a neighbor's computer or a fluorescent light in one of the other apartments. They spew all kinds of RF interference that could be picked up by your pups. The fact that it disappears as you move around the room points to the guitar pups and not a ground loop.

 

If you plug the guitar directly into the amp does it still buzz? It probably won't be as loud because you're not overdriving the original signal as much as you do when you use those pedals.

 

Does it still happen if you only use the humbucker?

[jcn37203]

Thanks for the reply.

 

I don't hear any buzzing when I plug into the amp directly, but it's a pretty weak-in-the-pants amp. It might be buzzing, just too quietly to hear. I've never totally cranked the amp, I usually leave it on about 3 and use OD to get louder.

 

Switching pickups has no noticable difference. The bucker buzzes as bad as any through the slow volume and wah and LPB. However, when running the guitar through only overdrive, it acts like I would expect, hums in the 1 & 3 position, less hum in 2 & 4 and little to no hum in 5.

 

I was thinking, as an experiment, what if I put the Slow Volume pedal in a cardboard box, and covered it with aluminium foil, only running one cable in from the guitar and one cable out to the amp. Would this tell me anything? Like if the buzzing stops, maybe the pedal is not shielded properly, if it continues then I'm still left with either a ground in the pedal, or a RF problem in the guitar. Though the entire housing of the pedal is metal, so I cant imagine it being improperly shielded.

 

 

Originally posted by RickJ Could be a neighbor's computer or a fluorescent light in one of the other apartments. They spew all kinds of RF interference that could be picked up by your pups. The fact that it disappears as you move around the room points to the guitar pups and not a ground loop. If you plug the guitar directly into the amp does it still buzz? It probably won't be as loud because you're not overdriving the original signal as much as you do when you use those pedals. Does it still happen if you only use the humbucker?

 

[multitracker]

I agree it sounds more like the guitar. Just a shot in the dark here but make sure your bridge is tied to the ground/common in your guitar. If the bridge and strings are floating you can get noise even through a 'bucker.

 

You could also try another guitar just to help isolate the source of the noise.

[jcn37203]

The only other guitar I have right now is an acoustic. I tried it with one of those Dean Markley pickups you stick in the sound hole, and it buzzed really bad too, but that thing has always buzzed like crazy. So thats not a good indicator I don't think.

 

I'll try running my Korg EA-1 synth through it tonight. That should tell the tale.