I am new to guitar and strats. Sometimes I plug in and it is very quiet - other times there is a LOUD BUZZ.

What causes the differences ..?

_________________
billritt

Am Std Strat
Am Std Tele
Martin D-18
Vibro Champ XD & Mustang I

You mean humming from the amp speakers?

Yes .... humming from the single coils. I have the Vibro Champ XD. Sometimes there is no sound other times it is has a loud HUMMMM.

_________________
billritt

Am Std Strat
Am Std Tele
Martin D-18
Vibro Champ XD & Mustang I

The position of your guitar. Move around in a circle and you'll see there are certain spots where the buzz is much less noticeable.

Is your "buzz" pedal acting up? Just wondering because my "suck" pedal seems to be stuck in full force lately

Sounds like 60 cycle hum. Normal in varying degrees with single coil pups.

I assume your strat has a 5 position hat switch, the hum should be little to none in positions 2 and 4 because the middle pup is revers wound so the two pickups (bridge and middle or middle and neck) act as a sort of humbucker.

Little things like:
Are you playing next to a computer?
Are you using a power strip with other things besides the amp plugged in?
Does your guitar cable lay over the top of your amp power chord?

All of these things can play a part in the hum. Mitigating hum seems to be a holy grail adventure for a lot of SSS players.

_________________
http://www.facebook.com/UCtheband
2012 American Standard Strat Charcoal Froast
2009 Standard Strat Sunburst Brown
Blues Junior Tweed NOS
2007 Line6 Spider Jam

Not all middle pickups are reverse wound however, so your 2 and 4 positions may not be hum cancelling. It sounds however that what you are experiencing is normal.

If you want to reduce the hum while using single pick up you can do is turn down the volume on the guitar probably around 8 should be okay.

but want it as high as possible to have high signal to noise ratio (noise coming from cable/amplifier)

max volume should be fine when running it on 2 or 4 setting (when using 2 pick ups).

Also i noticed your amplifier has a gain setting this could also be making it worse if the gain is very high try about half way or lower and see if that helps. and use volume control on the amplifier instead to get the volume desired.

Stephen

_________________
Fender American Standard 2009 (Sienna Sunburst /w Rosewood Neck)
Fender Blacktop Telecaster '10 (Black Maple)
Fender Bassman 100 (Rola 12UX)
Fender Twin Reverb '77 Ultralinear

thanks for the reply's. The kids were playing playstation and wii in the game room where the guitars are. When they left, I turned off the video games and the tv and it darn near eliminated every bit of the 'buzz / humm.'

Those single coils are pretty sensitive.

_________________
billritt

Am Std Strat
Am Std Tele
Martin D-18
Vibro Champ XD & Mustang I