Best way to eliminate single coil/P90 hum??

[guitarman3001]

Gigged my LP 50s tribute for the first time last night. Sounded great but the single coil hum was insane every time I'd turn on some distortion.

 

My line 6 M13 has a built in noise gate so I was able to use that to keep it under control a little but the buzz was so bad that in order to get any kind of noise reduction, I had to turn the gate up so high that it choked out the sutain when I'd hold out notes and it also choked out the sound when I'd play clean without distortion.

 

I play with humbuckers 99% of the time so the buzz hasn't been a problem but I suspect I'll be playing with the P90s quite a bit so I need to do something about it. I don't want to change the pickups to noiseless P90s either. I like the way these sound, just need to control the hum.

 

I did a quick google search and turned up a few different possible solutions.

 

EHX hum debugger. Looks like it might work but it's expensive as hell.

 

 

 

Ebtech two channel hum eliminator.

 

 

Behringer hum destroyer. I'm assuming it's an ebtech clone.

 

 

ART clean box II hum eliminator.

 

 

 

Anyone have any experience with these? Any suggestions or recommendations? Based on the price, the behringer and ART ones would be my first choice if they work.

[Seano Porno]

I have one of those Behringers...I tried it once and it did nothing over my rig. I was actually getting loads of hum off a couple of those cheap Multi-Voltage AC adaptors...ironicly one of them powering my noise gate!!!

 

I lent it to the keys player in my Prodigy Tribute to calm his Korg Prophecy, kinda works on that. I maybe should borrow it back and see what it does with single coils...If I remember I'll bring it back and try it at rehearsal next week.

 

Cheaper option would surely be to shield the cavities of the guitar. GEt some shielding paint from Stewmac and slap it on!

[67mike]

Play unplugged.

[ballhawk]

I also think shielding might be the answer. You will always get some 60 cycle hum with an sc but shielding will help eliminate the other sources of electromagnetic interference. Of course you could always install one of the noiseless sc pups as an alternative. Might actually be the best cost/benefit for you.

[Crisco]

Lace Alumitone P-90's

feature all of the Classic Bite

without the Hum!

I Owned them and can vouch for them.

 

Aluma 90

 

The Aluma 90 is a direct drop in replacement. Featuring no hum, but all the growl, depth and sparkle that a P 90 is famous for. 70% less weight then a conventional pickup.

 

Direct drop in replacement.

 

Available: Chrome or Gold

 

?Resistance: 2.4k

?Peak frequency: 2343

?Inductance: 3.0 henries

[jrockbridge]

I have been playing my 50's TLP quite a bit and gigged it about a week ago. Out of my 3 favorite SC guitars, the TLP seems to have the least amount of hum noise. I usually roll back the volume and tone a bit (8) and that seems to cut the noise down quite a lot. Also, I have my pups adjusted slightly lower than stock and the individual pole pieces were adjusted up to help each string to ring out at the same volume.

 

If I could find a hum reducing device that didn't suck tone, I'd use it on my Am Dlx Strat and Parker Nitefly. But, most of the time, I don't notice much noise on the 50's TLP.

[Wyatt]

The EBtech isolates circuits to eliminate hum caused by Ground Loops. It does NOTHING about single-coil hum. Not sure about some of the others.

 

I think the EH is a product specifically made for single-coil hum.

[tlbonehead]

did you try different outlets? Lift the ground(not recommended for safety reasons) Did you make sure your amp/the sound weren't in the same circuit as your lighting/effects, or that there weren't neon or flourescent lights on that circuit?

[Innocent Smith]

 

The EBtech isolates circuits to eliminate hum caused by Ground Loops. It does NOTHING about single-coil hum. Not sure about some of the others.

 

 

Same with the Behringer. It actually does a great job of safely reducing ground loop hum, but won't do a thing for hum not caused by a ground loop.

[Critical Ninja]

When I play my P-90 guitar, I leave the toggle switch in the middle position, problem solved.

[mutant_guitar]

buy a humbucker. problem solved.

[Hard Truth]

 

When I play my P-90 guitar, I leave the toggle switch in the middle position, problem solved.

 

 

That is what I do also when playing high gain. You can still use the volume controls to balance the level of the pickups, although both have to be up at least a bit.

[tlbonehead]

 

When I play my P-90 guitar, I leave the toggle switch in the middle position, problem solved.

 

 

that may solve the hum prob, but it also means you are stuck with the tone of the middle position. Which isn't a good option if that isn't the tone you are looking for. I use my P90s with a lot of gain on occasion and there is only one room I can think of where noise is an issue. Can't use any of my singles, or split positions in that room.

[guitarman3001]

 

When I play my P-90 guitar, I leave the toggle switch in the middle position, problem solved.

 

 

I actually tried that. Still got the hum. I'm playing another gig on Saturday so I'll be able to figure out if maybe it was just the room last night that had something in it that was causing it.

 

btw, I noticed that if I turned sideways and held the guitar at a 90 degree angle to the amp, the hum went away. Not sure if that helps isolate the cause any, although I think the cause was just your regular single coil hum. I have a tele and a strat and they buzz too.

[Saturn]

Sounds like you may have some grounding issues but if you are going down the noise suppressor road check out the Rocktron Hush. I use one and it takes the hiss from my noisy pedals away.

[ashasha]

I had the hum debugger, don't even bother with it. It works, but it does so much to your tone in the process that it isn't worth it.

 

There is another one, the ISP Decimator. This one gets closer, but if you are playing with a lot of dynamics (especially low levels) it starts to sound like it's got quantization error or something (granulation noise) and could probably use a dither generator or something. It was a lot better than the EH, but still not good enough to keep me from just buying noiseless single coils for just about everything.

[Flatspotter]

The only real practical way around this is noiseless single coils or P90s, at the sacrifice of a little tone (or a lot, depending on who you ask).

[Bro Blue]

If you are getting this much hum you may have shielding or ground problems. Trying another outlet may help, too.

 

In the end, you are still playing single coils and you are going to have hum. You must learn the art of the volume knob. It will serve you well, young Jedi.

[scottgd]

When dealing with SC/P-90 hum the volume knob, when not actually playing, is your friend.

[Bumhucker]

Do you live in an older house? Even if you're outlets are three prong it doesn't always mean they are grounded. I have the same problem.

[Faber]

This is why they invented humbuckers.

 

On an more constructive note - I had good luck using a parametric EQ for a while. Set it for a cut in a very narrow frequency range matching your hum. Yes it changed the tone slightly, not enough that it mattered when the drummer came in.

[guitarman3001]

 

Do you live in an older house? Even if you're outlets are three prong it doesn't always mean they are grounded. I have the same problem.

 

 

condo. but so far I've gotten buzz here at home and at a gig.

[tiltsta]

Google search for 'dummy coils'. Best solution is to turn your p90 into a humbucker, but with a remote coil that has no pole pieces and doesn't pick up any sound.

[guitarman3001]

 

I had the hum debugger, don't even bother with it. It works, but it does so much to your tone in the process that it isn't worth it. There is another one, the ISP Decimator. This one gets closer, but if you are playing with a lot of dynamics (especially low levels) it starts to sound like it's got quantization error or something (granulation noise) and could probably use a dither generator or something. It was a lot better than the EH, but still not good enough to keep me from just buying noiseless single coils for just about everything.

 

 

Saw your other post on the black friday thread. Didn't want to go offtopic on that thread so I'll reply here.

 

Isn't the decimator pretty much just a noise gate? My line 6 M13 has a built in noise gate but I don't like noise gates. Too hard to find the right threshold to where the notes don't get choked out.

 

I looked at a couple of youtube vids with the EHX debugger. What I saw and what a couple of people mentioned is that depending on where you put it in the signal chain, it can create a very slight ring modulator or flangey type of sound especially on palm muted chords or sudden stops. One guy mentioned he had this problem when he put it first in the chain but then he moved it to the end of the chain or in the fx loop and it stopped happening.

 

Did you try putting yours in different places in the signal chain?

[sleewell]

 

+

 

shielding your cavities as mentioned.

 

 

is the issue between songs or does it bother you while you are playing? if its just between songs just use your volume knob or volume pedal to kill it. if its loud enough to bother you during songs or quiet parts of songs i would recommend noiseless pickups and shielding the cavities of your guitar.