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Topic: Help me rid myself of this awful grinding noise! |
Adam Kurtz
From: Nashville, TN
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Posted 27 Oct 2014 12:22 pm
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Hey friends,
Thought I'd turn here for some ideas.
When i play multiple notes, particularly 3 up high, i get an awful almost digital sort of grinding sound. individual notes sound nice and creamy, but add a few together and it gets this unpleasant combination of distortion.
First noticed the distasteful sound playing my S10 through my Peavey Nash1000.
But I'm annoyed to hear the exact same break up on this Fender Pro Reverb, silverface, 70's, 45W, amp that I'm borrowing from a friend.
I am going guitar --> Hilton VP --> amp. I've tried playing thru a Lil' Izzy and without. Same noise all the time.
It's a Sierra S10 Artist with a George L pickup that came in it.
any thoughts/advice/ideas would be much appreciated!
-Adam |
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Pete Burak
From: Portland, OR USA
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Posted 27 Oct 2014 12:57 pm
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Does it do it when you go directly from the Steel to the Amp?
Also, try a different cord.
Last edited by Pete Burak on 27 Oct 2014 1:01 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Marvin Born
From: Ohio, USA
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Posted 27 Oct 2014 1:00 pm
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Play the guitar into each amp, without anything line excpt a known good cable.
Marvin |
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Adam Kurtz
From: Nashville, TN
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Posted 27 Oct 2014 1:01 pm
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Pete Burak wrote: |
Does it do it when you go directly from the Steel to the Amp? |
it does - tho i am surprised how different the tone is by simply removing the Hilton VP from the chain. Drops the volume a bunch, but then when i bring up the volume, it does make the noise. |
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Adam Kurtz
From: Nashville, TN
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Posted 27 Oct 2014 1:13 pm
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Marvin Born wrote: |
Play the guitar into each amp, without anything line excpt a known good cable.
Marvin |
Hi Marvin,
Yeah, it still does it, even when plugged in direct. |
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Pete Burak
From: Portland, OR USA
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Posted 27 Oct 2014 1:16 pm
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I would try to isoloate the problem.
Does the amp make that sound with a regular guitar?
I presume your Steel rig worked fine, and then the noise started happening recently.
What else has changed? |
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Adam Kurtz
From: Nashville, TN
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Posted 27 Oct 2014 1:25 pm
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it does not really do it with a guitar, which leads me to think it's somethign to do with a steel's pickup being hotter than a guitar pick up.
but it's not something new - i've only ever played through low-watt tube amps (Blues Jr and Classic 30) or the Nashville 1000, so going into the Pro Reverb I thought would be different. |
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Pete Burak
From: Portland, OR USA
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Posted 27 Oct 2014 1:55 pm
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Sometimes when a Steel pickup is overdriving an amps input section, you can use Input-2 instead of Input-1, to resolve the issue. |
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chris ivey
From: california (deceased)
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Posted 27 Oct 2014 3:18 pm
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it sounds like the strings aren't perfectly level with one another, and your bar hand is not firm enough. |
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Donny Hinson
From: Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.
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Posted 27 Oct 2014 3:53 pm
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Need to know how long you've been playing?
Also, the volume pot (on the bottom of the Hilton Pedal) may be turned up too high. When I first got mine, it really distorted a lot until I took a screwdriver and turned it down. Powered volume pedals, in combination with high-output pickups, can really put out a lot of signal...too much for many amps. |
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Lane Gray
From: Topeka, KS
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Posted 27 Oct 2014 6:23 pm
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Silly question time: does it do it if you use input 2, which has a resistor on it to drop the volume?
But if it still does it with the amp turned down and going straight from guitar to amp, there have been MANY recent threads covering this topic (I'm not gonna steer you to them, it'd take forever to look them up and post the URL to those threads).
LOWER YOUR PICKUP. It is possible for the strings to saturate the output of the pickup, just as some singers can overpower a microphone. Most steel pickups seem happy with about 2 quarters' distance from string to pickup. Drop it down to 4 quarters away if you have to. But I'll bet two bucks that dropping your pickup, if adjustable, will go a LONG way to cleaning it up. _________________ 2 pedal steels, a lapStrat, and an 8-string Dobro (and 3 ukes)
More amps than guitars, and not many effects |
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David Nugent
From: Gum Spring, Va.
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Posted 28 Oct 2014 3:57 am
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Do not recall, does the 'Artist' model feature the modular pickup system? If so, may try removing the pickup tray and spraying the contacts on both the guitar and tray with Deoxit or any electronic cleaner/lubricant. |
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Tony Glassman
From: The Great Northwest
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Posted 28 Oct 2014 6:01 am
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Agree w/ Lane: try lowering the treble side of your pick-up. There should be an height adjustment screw, unless it's a modular pick-up. (I left Sierra before "the Artist" was even a concept, so I'm not very familiar with that model.
If you can lower it by 1/2 turns, keep track of how many lowering turns you've made. That way, you can get back to your original height if need be.
I think you can rule-out the vol pedal being the problem if the noises was present w/o it in the sound chain. |
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Pete Burak
From: Portland, OR USA
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