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Topic: amp hum |
Chris Erbacher
From:
Sausalito, California, USA
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Posted 13 Mar 2010 1:09 pm |
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| i have an older paramount solid state amp with reverb and tremelo from the 60's...10 inch speaker...and it has a bad hum that i think is a 60 cycle hum and i am wondering where i should look first in getting rid of it? the amp still has the two prong cord and i was thinking of replacing that first and then checking the reverb circuit for a bad connection or something...any ideas? thanks in advance... |
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Allan Munro
From:
Pennsylvania, USA and Scotland
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Posted 13 Mar 2010 1:51 pm
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Have you ever had he power supply caps checked out? After all this time that would be a worth while check. Be a great shame to loose it if that was all the problem.
Changing to a three wire cord is probably a good idea but let a pro do it for you unless you know your way about the amp. You can set up a hum loop (ground loop) if you don't find the optimum place to connect to.
_________________
Only nuts eat squirrels.
Television is the REAL opiate of the masses! |
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Dave Grafe
From:
Hudson River Valley NY
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Posted 17 Mar 2010 5:18 pm
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there are a number of possible sources of "hum" as you put it, but changing the power cord will not affect this phenomena, although reversing it in the wall socket might:
1) stray electromagnetic interference from flourescent lights, incandescent lighting dimmers, etc. - if this is the case turning them off will change the noise
2) bad cables between the guitar and the amp and/or between the amp and the internal reverb tank (especially those molded RCA plugs), also an unshielded reverb tank will pick up noise - try different cables, wiggle the RCA plugs in the tank and change the reverb settings to see if any of these affect the noise
3) more stray electromagnetic fields from building wiring or power company transformers nearby (outside your window?) reaching a single-coil pickup - if this is the case rotating the instrument in place will change the noise just like it will a telecaster
4) ground loops between different electronic devices connected together, if you are using outboard effects take it completey out of the loop and see if this helps the noise problem.
5)as alan mentions, power supply caps can go bad and add hum to the amp's output
there are other sources but these are the most common, good luck with your investigation! |
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