I don't know where you are in relationship to the PA or are you using a direct out from the amp? If there is a monitor in front of you, the pickups might, maybe pick up something,but very little.

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Stevebest2

Hey, stevebest2. The amp is miked. Which kind of makes it double worse because the mic should be catching my sound to run through the P.A, but the guitar is getting muddied up and lost because of the vocals/keyboard coming through the amp.

The stage is kind of small, so we're all kind of crammed in there on top of each other and on top of everything. The stage is split into 3 platforms: 1st platform-vocals/worship leader, 2nd really small platform- keyboard player and a huge P.A monitor on a tripod stand, 3rd platform is 2 guitarists-a bass player-an overzealous drummer-and a conga player. As it turns out, I'm stuck(or my amp is stuck) right behind/beside the huge tripod monitor. The platforms are each higher up than the previous one, so my amp and the monitor are on an almost level plain, as is my guitar. The monitor is turned away from the guitarists, so it's pretty obvious when it starts coming through my amp.

On the plus side, my BJ has a lot less hum than it did before it went to the shop. Tube amps are never really "quiet", at least none that I've played, but the BJ is certainly quieter. Donnie.

It's a strange problem!I hope everything works out!

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Stevebest2

Alright guys. I got to play my BJ during service last night. I switched places with the other guitarist on stage to see if it was a location issue. The bad news is that the P.A still came through my amp. The good news is that is was a LOT quieter. It was still there, but no where near as much as it was.

I swapped guitars with the other guitarist during sound check. He has an American Std. Strat with a Tone Zone for strat in the bridge position, and single coils in the neck and middle. Well, on his single coil pickups, it did the same thing: P.A. came through. On the ToneZone, made like a Seymour Duncan Hot Rail in case anyone is wondering, it was dead quiet: No P.A. came through.

I tried the foil lined cardboard baffle, which had no effect whatsoever. Which leads me to think it is something to do with single coil pickups and that stage space, since the ToneZone humbucker didn't allow the P.A to come through.

I'm wondering, and will try to find out, if they are using a wireless system to get the input from the direct boxes to the mixing board, and if is possible that the single coils are more sensitive to this type of UHF transmission. All the cables lead under the first/bottom platform, but no wires come out from that platform. The youth service is held in the church's gym, so you'd think cables leading back to the mixing board would be easy to spot. I haven't seen any, but I'll double check.

So, with that theory, would shielding the guitar help. I have a foil lined pickguard, but would lining the cavities help? At least with the move on stage the sound coming out of the amp is at a level even I can put up with, so if there's no solid fix, the change from bad to better is something I can live with. I'm no longer thinking it's the amp, but something to do with the single coil pickups. What do you guys think? Thanks for all your help. Donnie.

I would try changing the pickups. I have a 50's reissue Esquire (Mexican) and it plays nice but the pickup was thin sounding and noisy. I put a set of Lindy Fralin Blues specials (converted it to a Tele!) and it sounds amazing! Their Strat pickups are also great! You can pick them up on Ebay for $70 to $80 each and they are well worth it!

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Stevebest2

Hey, SteveBest2. I really like the Custom Shop '54 pickups. Very clear with a lot of bite. They cut through a mix really well. If I need a little warmer tone, I just back off on the tone control a little.

I just got this message from Fender Customer Service, and it looks like my idea about the wireless system has some merit. Here's what they said:

Hello Donnie,
Thanks for writing in. Is someone in the church using a wireless
microphone for the PA system? If so, that could be the problem. Single
coil pickups are notorious for picking up certain radio frequencies. For
example, when I play at my friend's house, I can pick up cordless
telephone conversations through my pickups and hear the whole
conversation through the amp. While it is annoying, there really isn't
anything I can do about it. When you use overdrive, that will just boost
whatever is coming through, thus making it worse. That is probably what
you are hearing. I hope this will help you out.

Best Regards,

Jeff Krause
Fender Musical Instruments Corporation
Consumer Relations Department
(480) 596-7195
www.fender.com

So, wireless with single coils is the problem. Not the amp. Which is good news in a way, but sucks that I just spend a load of $$$ on Custom Shop single coil pickups and really like the way they sound. Oh, well. Moving further back on the stage seemed to help a lot, so I'll just have to live with it. At least until I get the Vintage Noiseless pickups for my Standard Tele. Thanks to everyone who replied and helped me figure this thing out. I'm very grateful, Donnie.

Ha! How fascinating: thank you for telling us.

At any rate, that's a very easy issue to check out. When you hear the problem starting get the singer to swap in a mic with a cord and see if that solves it. If so: you nailed it.

Be so interested to hear if you can conclusively identify this as the source of the problem...

Best of luck! - C