Hello, as a recent development my Samick Malibu MB-1 has gained a hum it's almost a constant feedback sound but not as ear piercing, i've been told it's because of my single coils because she only hums when she's on high gain or in an effects peddle, or basically anything that will make a heavy metal sound, on a clean channel she purs for me. The thing is she never used to do that, what would cause this seemingly out of nowhere occurrence? and what can i do to fix it?
So you're telling me i can sing AND play guitar at the same time.....? Since when?
new to the site and haven't gotten a "feel" for it yet so hope this wasn't a troll...
that said,
many possible causes... I'll list as many as I can think of.
does the hum "go away when you combine two pickups?" (ie pos 2 and 4 of 5 way switch) single coils will sound fine on clean tone but their hum becomes very apparent with anything high gain.
(single coils will hum when not combined w other rev wound singels)
does the hum "go away when you put your hands on the strings?"
(might check your ground wires for a break... check the control cavity, the jack, and especially the tremolo claw)
sheilding is also always a consideration... does the hum "go away when all appliances/tv in your house are off? how bot when you turn away from your monitor or get further from your amp?
-sounded like you were saying it's not so much a "hum" as a "squeel" but figured I'd cover all bases...
microphonic squeel is usually a symptom of pickups that weren't potted well
pickups can 'degrade' over time (especially cheap ones) and this can cause them to yield ear splitting high pitched squeel at any high gain settings. you can try re-potting them in hot wax, you could just try wrapping them in elec tape (this can ruin them if you try to take it off).
hope this helps,
cheers
Hmmm none of those are the case unfortunately :/. The position of the switch doesn't make much difference the hum/squeel just changes, when the strings aren't moving it gets worse whether i'm touching them or not. The shielding i'm not certain, it seems to have happened out of nowhere so could shielding actually be a problem? i don't want to rule it out just yet in case it could be part of the issue, and potting? i know nothing of how it works, or really what it is but i can learn if i have to. Let me throw in some more specifics if that would help: i play on a Gorrilla GG-25 with an Ibanez "Crunchy rhythm" pedal and i can't hear the buzz or hum, but i played it on my stepbrother's setup which is a half stack, i'm uncertain of the models though it's got a Fender head and Peavey cabinet, we ran it through an old effects pedal and the hum was unavoidable, though we never tried running it directly to the amp or playing it on a "Clean" effect.
So you're telling me i can sing AND play guitar at the same time.....? Since when?
could be a bad resistor in the circuit chain. or it could be ground interference. i never have to deal with this problem because every one of my amps is an old randall which have 3 way switches to reverse ground hum.
did you get any new appliances in the house lately? are you running something else on the circuit? try turning other stuff off in your house, starting with microwaves, tvs, computers, and radios. also any heaters or cold air dehumidifiers. you could try plugging the amp in at someone elses house and see if it continues to protest you.
bassist for the crux
Randall RB-125-115 120 watt 15" eminence spk.
Randall RBA 500
2X Acoustic B115's
Peavey T-40
Indiana P-bass
I had an Ibanez les paul copy that had a pickup go and I got horrendous squealing from it. I had to dial the tone knob for that particular pickup to full bass to get it to go away. So play with the tone knobs If you do have a bad Pup you have two options, Option 1. Re-pot which is very simple, but messy and time consuming and some supplies are needed. Not to mention if you live in Texas Like I do, Leaving your guitar in the garage on a hot July day can make all that hard work NULL and VOID. How do I know this? :lol:
option 2. (recommend) Buy a new set of Pups. I ended up replacing with a Seymour Duncan Jazz Kit in it before I sold it.
Anyhow good luck to you.
Ibanez Hollowbody
1993 Fender Standard
1981 Fender Super Reverb
Fender Super Champ
Peavey Delta Blues 210
"If I live this life and can only bring happiness to one person then I've made a difference, even if that one person is me."
did you get any new appliances in the house lately? are you running something else on the circuit?
+1
I have a Fender Strat all Single coil. My wife went through a massive Earth Day, Energy revolution and converted all out lights to those CFL light bulbs. I was having massive noise that was coming from my strat even with Vintage noiseless Pickups! I took everyone's advise, Amp in another room/receptacle. etc. but it wasn't until I had a eureka moment I turned off all the lights and the noise went away.
To remedy this, as previously mentioned it to shield the guitar. Simply put your appliances, neon light, CFL lights, TV, etc. All cycle at around 60Hz this "noise" is picked up in the Pickups of your guitar and electronics of you guitar. so shielding is just this. You are basically building a shield that blocks this cycle hum from entering your electronics and in the process keeping out of your signal chain.
Ibanez Hollowbody
1993 Fender Standard
1981 Fender Super Reverb
Fender Super Champ
Peavey Delta Blues 210
"If I live this life and can only bring happiness to one person then I've made a difference, even if that one person is me."
heres a good way to troubleshoot noise problems.
If the problem is in all pickups, unsolder one of the pickups..and hard wire it directly to the output jack.
Plug it in... if the hum is gone, then at least we know its not the pickups (its really unlikely that it WOULD be your pickups anyway..as for all of them to get the same fault at the same time would be rare as hell.)
If the hum remains, then I would try this.
1) take your amp to the other end of the house and plug it in there. Hum gone? then its interferance on that power socket. Hum stays.. could still be interferance... or could be your lead (try another one) or your amp..(try another one).
Its all about processes of elimination when its a "hum" or a "noise".
If the initial step made it go away... wire your pickup into the switch, then the switch hard wired into the output. If its back, your problem is your switch (unlikely again)... then try with just your volume pot wired on to the circuit, then your tones.
Each step will eaither eliminate or reinforce your problem.
All else fails... take it to a shop and as for a quote to repair. once they tell you whats wrong...come back and ask us how to fix it ...lol (im joking... dont do that)
