Guitarist and I having same problem with our rigs after playing a show (6262/6505)

[AlexEdwards]

So this past weekend my band played our cd release..

The gig went well, and initially the other guitarist in our band's amp wasn't working at soundcheck. We managed to borrow another band's head. (not sure if this could be at all relevant to the problem but I thought it was worth adding) Might've been something he did wrong, but when he got home that night it was working. wasn't sure if he was having this buzzing problem or not..

Before we started, I noticed an almost electronic humming/clicking coming from my amp. I thought it was coming from my wireless unit, but it wasn't because I went straight to the head with a cable and the problem was still there. It was very hard to hear, you had to get up close to the cab to hear it. But in a silent room it sticks out like a sore thumb.

Just today me and my other guitarist got to our practice space, and lo and behold, he had the problem as well.

Some notes about the problem:

• It only happens when there's a cable in the input. Even if the guitar volume is turned down the buzzing persists. But if the cables completley out, there's no buzzing.
  
• It's almost a clickclickclickclick kind of sound. And no, it isn't normal, I know what normal amp noise is supposed to sound like and THIS isn't normal.
  
• When I turn down the volume to 0, the buzzing/clicking almost maximizes itself and is much louder than it is at a volume of 1/2
  
• It's present on both Clean channel and Lead channel, on both amps
  
• We've tried multiple speaker cables and guitar cables, the problem still persists
  We've tried several different guitars, so it definetley isn't a pickup problem.
  
• We are still able to get volume, the tubes look fine, and the tone isn't degraded or anything along those lines
  
• The noise still persists even with a gate, at the tightest threshold and decay, so the problem is somewhere within the head, after our pedalchain.

My guess is that it's either A) a grounding issue or B) a input issue, bad solder. Thought i'd get your guys input before I took it into the shop and tried to get it figured out.

The problems are pretty much identical on both of our amps, sharing similar symptoms.

And for the record, i'm running a Bugera 6262 and he's running a Peavey 6505+, both of our cabs being Mesa 4x12's.

Thanks in advance guys!

-Alex

 

[155]

this is a long shot but could it be cell phone interference?

 

[Garremony]

this is a long shot but could it be cell phone interference?

That was my first thought also...or some other type of interference maybe.

 

[Soubi7string]

dumb idea BUT have you had the amps cleaned? Peavey is notorious for having issues with their amps and a simple amp cleaning fixes them.

 

[xtrustisyoursx]

...Peavey is notorious for having issues with their amps.

 

[shanike]

ehm, amp cleaning?

 

[samincolour]

Are you running pedalboards? Our old guitarist had a similar problem, his was an issue with his pedal power supply (the issue being it was shit), so he swapped it out and the clicking disappeared

 

[samincolour]

It won't be a Peavey problem if the Bugera is doing it too!

 

[Soubi7string]

Peavey 5150, XXL, and I think the XXX have an issue where if the FX loop gets remotely dusty or anythign of the sort then they start buggin out.
A simple clean might be what you need and Bugera is known for copying schematics to the T

 

[Greatoliver]

It does sound like a grounding issue or something, as it seems like the cable would complete the circuit... I would open the amp up, and see if there is anything wrong with the jack, and spray the inputs with electrical contact cleaner.

It does kind of sound like you may be picking up signals....

 

[Moltar]

Dirty power? Do you use a power conditioner?

 

[Inazone]

Almost certainly either an electrical issue or interference, even if you aren't using a wireless. If you haven't already done so, run both amps with no cell phones on in or near the room, no fluorescent lights on, and with nothing else turned on. If the buzz is still there, plug your guitar into something that can run in the effects loop, so as to bypass the preamp section completely.

Basically, eliminate all possible sources of buzzing. My main concern would be that something happened at the gig due to power problems, and now both amps may need repair.

 

[Rook]

It's a ground problem, probably with the power supply to your rehearsal space.

The reason I reach this conclusion is because when you turn the amp volume all the way down, your signal path is shorted to ground, and if ground isn't the constant 'zero', and is changing, the changes are going to induce an audible output. As you turn the volume up, the more resistance there is between the signal path and ground, and hence the quieter the change in ground voltage will be. All voltages are relative, the 120V at the positive pin of your plug for your amp is relative to the 'negative' pin of the plug, and the audio signal as it's passed through your amp is a changing voltage relative to a zero point. If that zero point (in most amps' cases, ground) is changing, it will be amplified just like your guitar's output.

Grounding issue.

Does it do it anywhere else? Likelihood a power condition won't solve it, but the buffer of a decent power conditioner, or even the induction, might help. It'll at least reduce it. It probably won't do it anywhere else. What's causing it in the first place will probably be something switching on and off; heating, air conditioning, fridges, microwaves - if you plug a power drill in in the same room as my amp, you can hear the drill through my amp. Very weird. It won't do it when you don't have the guitar plugged in because the input stage is open.

 

[AlexEdwards]

Hey there guys.

Just got back from practice, we figured out what the problem was.

I'm pretty sure it was a grounding issue in the room. We took our amps out into his living room, plugged them in, and the buzzing/clicking wasn't there anymore.

He's got a lot of appliances in the practice space. He has like a modem, a router, a wireless printer, and a whole bunch of other shit that was probably mucking with amps. Just the other day they added some other kind of network thing in there, so that's why the problem just started happening I think.

Thanks for your help guys, i'm so thankful we figured out what the issue was!

-Alex

 

[lilpendragon]

Hey there guys.

Just got back from practice, we figured out what the problem was.

I'm pretty sure it was a grounding issue in the room. We took our amps out into his living room, plugged them in, and the buzzing/clicking wasn't there anymore.

He's got a lot of appliances in the practice space. He has like a modem, a router, a wireless printer, and a whole bunch of other shit that was probably mucking with amps. Just the other day they added some other kind of network thing in there, so that's why the problem just started happening I think.

Thanks for your help guys, i'm so thankful we figured out what the issue was!

-Alex

Good to hear. I've been to a venue once where the power in the room would blow the output transformer of any amp that didn't have a surge protector plugged in. I think something like 7 amps blew the hell up and that venue is closed now. It was an old building and they figured out it had something to do with how the building was wired. And it would only blow up high powered amps, anything over 100w would go. Weird. Every amp needed a new transformer and power tubes, some were way worse than others, completely fried a H&K solid state.

Our Laney fizzled out at a show there once and the venue owner was like 'oh yeah that's been happening a lot for some reason'. Replaced the transformer and now it's good as new. Was a little upset with the venue to say the least, for not looking into why they would lose 3 amps in one night...Always use surge protectors, and even that won't stop everything.

 

[Rick]

Nice to see it was figured out.

What's your band called? FB page available, by chance?

 

[Dead Undead]

Good to hear. I've been to a venue once where the power in the room would blow the output transformer of any amp that didn't have a surge protector plugged in. I think something like 7 amps blew the hell up and that venue is closed now. It was an old building and they figured out it had something to do with how the building was wired. And it would only blow up high powered amps, anything over 100w would go. Weird. Every amp needed a new transformer and power tubes, some were way worse than others, completely fried a H&K solid state.

Our Laney fizzled out at a show there once and the venue owner was like 'oh yeah that's been happening a lot for some reason'. Replaced the transformer and now it's good as new. Was a little upset with the venue to say the least, for not looking into why they would lose 3 amps in one night...Always use surge protectors, and even that won't stop everything.

Guess I know my next investment. Scary shit.

 

[robotsatemygma]

Good to hear. I've been to a venue once where the power in the room would blow the output transformer of any amp that didn't have a surge protector plugged in. I think something like 7 amps blew the hell up and that venue is closed now. It was an old building and they figured out it had something to do with how the building was wired. And it would only blow up high powered amps, anything over 100w would go. Weird. Every amp needed a new transformer and power tubes, some were way worse than others, completely fried a H&K solid state.

Our Laney fizzled out at a show there once and the venue owner was like 'oh yeah that's been happening a lot for some reason'. Replaced the transformer and now it's good as new. Was a little upset with the venue to say the least, for not looking into why they would lose 3 amps in one night...Always use surge protectors, and even that won't stop everything.

HA I friggin LOVE club owners. They are sometimes the biggest idiots or the biggest douchebags around. Oh your amps blew up? It's not my power I ain't paying you anymore then what we agreed on! lol

That said, I used to play a certain club frequently around here and I never trusted the electricity there. Nice people, awesome soundmen but it was an old building... anywho, my amp would always run extremely noisy even on mute. So because of that place I invested in a cheap power conditioner... took away the noise. I now never leave home without it. There's a reason touring professionals have one in their rack case.

 

[lilpendragon]

HA I friggin LOVE club owners. They are sometimes the biggest idiots or the biggest douchebags around. Oh your amps blew up? It's not my power I ain't paying you anymore then what we agreed on! lol

That said, I used to play a certain club frequently around here and I never trusted the electricity there. Nice people, awesome soundmen but it was an old building... anywho, my amp would always run extremely noisy even on mute. So because of that place I invested in a cheap power conditioner... took away the noise. I now never leave home without it. There's a reason touring professionals have one in their rack case.

Agreed. The one night I didn't pack our little power conditioner..