Killing High-Gain Single Coil Hum

[gsteph22]

Hey there,

 

I'm sure this is much-discussed, but search seems to be awfully dodgy for me.

 

I'm playing a G&L Legend (amazing guitar) with a Bareknuckle Sinner single-coil pickup. They're pretty high-gain. My amp is a Carvin V3.

 

I love to play 80's metal, but the hum on the thing is insanely loud. Yes, I play in an office with computers n' monitors n' stuff, but even turning that all off doesn't solve the problem much.

 

There's a TC Nova in my fx loop, it has a noise gate -- doesn't seem to do anything.

 

Suggestions? Is this something I can fix with going crazy on shielding, or is there a magic pedal to make my life better?

[CoqBelliqueux]

Many high gain users keep a second noise gate right after the guitar, not just one in the loop. Of course, that's if you mean there's hum when you're not playing.

[gsteph22]

Yeah, there's tons o' hum when I'm not playing. I was thinking of an ISP Decimator -- what affordable noise gates/reducers are recommended by the hivemind?

[normh]

You say you are playing in an office. Most offices use florescent lighting. That is a big noise source.

 

You can fix most of the problem with shielding but some hum will remain. One adaption to a high noise environment is to remove the covers of the pups and wrap copper foil around the outside of the pups, ground that shielding and replace the pup covers. Also shield the control and pup cavities.

[Snowcow]

If the hum is coming from your guitar a noise gate in the amp's effects loop isn't much good.

 

Put a Boss NS-2 between the guitar and the amp (at the end of any other pedals).

 

[gsteph22]

Sweet. There any good guides to shielding a single-coil?

 

Also, I've read the NS-2 is more for silencing your pedalboard than your guitar. Any truth to that?

[wimpy77]

yngwie malmsteen swears by his his.

[twotimingpete]

here's a trick I learned.

 

turn that {censored} up and let it {censored}ing squeal and stop being a {censored}.

[CoqBelliqueux]

Yeah, there's tons o' hum when I'm not playing. I was thinking of an ISP Decimator -- what affordable noise gates/reducers are recommended by the hivemind?

That one seems to be one of the best.

[fulcrumpoint]

ISP for the win. I run one in my pedal chain and can cook single coils without any 60 cycle.

 

Downfall, at certain volumes you will find the ISP can start to kill overall tone. So it is a give and take. Just takes a little time to get your settings down.

[gsteph22]

 

ISP for the win. I run one in my pedal chain and can cook single coils without any 60 cycle. Downfall, at certain volumes you will find the ISP can start to kill overall tone. So it is a give and take. Just takes a little time to get your settings down.

 

 

 

Cool, thanks!