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Post subject: Strange Amp Buzz
Posted: Thu May 26, 2011 8:08 pm
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Location: Natural Bridge, Virginia
My BDRI has a strange buzz. It sounds like a bad ground. It is a fairly loud, brittle buzz. The amp is plugged into an inexpensive Rotel power conditioner. I have tried several different cables to no effect. I occurs with all three of my guitars. it is definitely the amp.

Now, here is the strange part: It only occurs around 11:00 PM and later. It has never happened during the day. I spent several hours playing this afternoon (I am home recovering from a bout with pneumonia) with no noise. I plugged in just a few minutes ago and it started buzzing. When I practice in the early evening there is no buzz. But almost every night around 11:00, it starts.

Any ideas?

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Post subject: Re: Strange Amp Buzz
Posted: Thu May 26, 2011 9:30 pm
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Bill, I had the same thing happen to me when stationed at Ft. Meade, MD back in the early '80s. I was never able to precisely track the cause down but a neighbor assigned to a certain federal agency obliquely indicated that they downloaded data nightly from an "orbital platform" at the exact time my Fender Twin Reverb would begin buzzing. As I recollect, the anomaly persisted for some two hours and twenty-five minutes each evening. It was not AC-power related.

Hope you recover from the pneumonia quickly, sir.

Arjay

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Post subject: Re: Strange Amp Buzz
Posted: Fri May 27, 2011 3:15 am
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Buxx with or without guitar plugged ?

No guitar and buzz;

Probably a "bad" wiring layout. I had that in a amp last week. I replace wiring and everyting fine.


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Post subject: Re: Strange Amp Buzz
Posted: Fri May 27, 2011 4:53 am
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Buzz ???? Is it hum or noise ?

On top of Retro and Stratele advices:
If it is an Radiated EMC issue, try to turn the amp by 15° up to 180°.
If it is a conducted EMC issue (not the case of Retro), try filters on AC plug (really not easy since you don't have the spectrum analysis and the frequencies to reject).

// At last, the final solution that I don't recommand is to play on accoustic guitar (kidding :lol: :lol: ) //

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Post subject: Re: Strange Amp Buzz
Posted: Fri May 27, 2011 5:01 am
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It sounds kinda wacko but did you try it without the cheap power conditioner


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Post subject: Re: Strange Amp Buzz
Posted: Fri May 27, 2011 6:44 am
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Retroverbial wrote:
Bill, I had the same thing happen to me when stationed at Ft. Meade, MD back in the early '80s. I was never able to precisely track the cause down but a neighbor assigned to a certain federal agency obliquely indicated that they downloaded data nightly from an "orbital platform" at the exact time my Fender Twin Reverb would begin buzzing. As I recollect, the anomaly persisted for some two hours and twenty-five minutes each evening. It was not AC-power related.

Hope you recover from the pneumonia quickly, sir.

Arjay


I have considered something like that. I live just a few miles down the road from the National Reconnaissance Office headquarters. Cell phone service in the area is horrible with lots of digital noise. The guitar seems to act as an antenna as the noise changes as the guitar position changes.

Thanks. Yesteday was the first day I was able to play in about a week without worrying about sweating all over the guitar and shorting it out. :lol:

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Last edited by bluesky636 on Fri May 27, 2011 6:58 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Post subject: Re: Strange Amp Buzz
Posted: Fri May 27, 2011 6:47 am
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stratele52 wrote:
Buxx with or without guitar plugged ?

No guitar and buzz;

Probably a "bad" wiring layout. I had that in a amp last week. I replace wiring and everyting fine.


Buzz is not present whe the guitar is unpluged. Buzz is present with any guitar plugged in through any cable.

Not sure what "wiring" you are referring to. Since the amp is PCB based and the problem only occurs at night, replacing the amp wiring is not realy an option.

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Post subject: Re: Strange Amp Buzz
Posted: Fri May 27, 2011 6:51 am
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Location: Natural Bridge, Virginia
Tis-san wrote:
Buzz ???? Is it hum or noise ?

On top of Retro and Stratele advices:
If it is an Radiated EMC issue, try to turn the amp by 15° up to 180°.
If it is a conducted EMC issue (not the case of Retro), try filters on AC plug (really not easy since you don't have the spectrum analysis and the frequencies to reject).

// At last, the final solution that I don't recommand is to play on accoustic guitar (kidding :lol: :lol: ) //


It is a "buzz saw" noise.

Turning the amp is not really practical due to the amp location and room layout. Moving the guitar around (as mentioned in my comments to Arjay) does affect the noise (and even any normal, residual amp noise) and I have found the best spot to sit and play in relation to the amp to reduce normal noise. This noise is well above normal levels.

The power conditioner contains line filters.

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Post subject: Re: Strange Amp Buzz
Posted: Fri May 27, 2011 6:56 am
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joncarr1979 wrote:
It sounds kinda wacko but did you try it without the cheap power conditioner


Yes, I did. Made no difference.

I use the same type power conditioner with my home theater system and have no problem at any time, day or night. I did find that I had to plug the conditioner into a different outlet than the one that my powerline ethernet router is plugged into. In the same outlet, the eithernet router would induce noise in the amp whenever an HD movie was being downloaded over the Internet. Plugging into different outlets solved that problem.

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Post subject: Re: Strange Amp Buzz
Posted: Fri May 27, 2011 9:35 am
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So it 's not your amp if no buzz without any guitar. It come from the guitar. What is your guitar, and it is stock, pickups , electronic ?


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Post subject: Re: Strange Amp Buzz
Posted: Fri May 27, 2011 9:52 am
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stratele52 wrote:
So it 's not your amp if no buzz without any guitar. It come from the guitar. What is your guitar, and it is stock, pickups , electronic ?


The buzz occurs with ALL of my guitars using ANY of my cables. I am not so sure that it is power line induced. I should note that a friend of mine a few blocks from me runs a fairly high power short wave rig with a very large antenna. I'll have to ask when he usually transmits. I believe the guitars are acting as antennas.

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Post subject: Re: Strange Amp Buzz
Posted: Fri May 27, 2011 10:03 am
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Try arranging a time when the Ham Dude is off the air. Then try the amp out. See if that changes anything.

Good luck!


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Post subject: Re: Strange Amp Buzz
Posted: Fri May 27, 2011 10:04 am
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A Strat and/or amp can pickup many types of RF or similar interference noises, it is very common. I have heard truckers on CB coming in through my amp, even with the guitar volume turned down (I thought that my amp had been possessed, it scared me at first). Recently I was playing my BJr and Am Std Strat with the stereo playing in the other room. I noticed that when I wasn't playing, with the Strat volume turned up, the stereo was coming in through my amp when I stood close to the wall next to the stereo. I remember listening to a CD of a Jimi Hendrix concert where the police radios were coming in through the amp, some of it sounded cool. I bet that if you lived in Alaska, HAARP would really interfere with an amp/guitar....maybe you can get JV to go up to the gate and make them shut it off when you want to play. :lol:

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Post subject: Re: Strange Amp Buzz
Posted: Fri May 27, 2011 10:18 am
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BMW2002Ti wrote:
Try arranging a time when the Ham Dude is off the air. Then try the amp out. See if that changes anything.

Good luck!


You have it backwards. I don't know when he is on the air. As it is, 99.9% of the time there is no noise. I would have to ask him to bring his rig up at an agreed upon time and see if that is indeed the probem.

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Post subject: Re: Strange Amp Buzz
Posted: Fri May 27, 2011 10:20 am
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shimmilou wrote:
A Strat and/or amp can pickup many types of RF or similar interference noises, it is very common. I have heard truckers on CB coming in through my amp, even with the guitar volume turned down (I thought that my amp had been possessed, it scared me at first). Recently I was playing my BJr and Am Std Strat with the stereo playing in the other room. I noticed that when I wasn't playing, with the Strat volume turned up, the stereo was coming in through my amp when I stood close to the wall next to the stereo. I remember listening to a CD of a Jimi Hendrix concert where the police radios were coming in through the amp, some of it sounded cool. I bet that if you lived in Alaska, HAARP would really interfere with an amp/guitar....maybe you can get JV to go up to the gate and make them shut it off when you want to play. :lol:


Yes, I have had strange interferences in the past with other equipment.

Who is "JV"?

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