Acoustic Pickup Hum, any suggestions ?
rudy nelson
I haven't noticed any problem before but recently I have
started doing some guitar recordings and it requires turning up
the volume a little more than I usually do. I have become aware
of a hum that is being generated by the pickup. It is independent
of any pre-amp or device. I can't seem to get rid of it. I don't
have any florescent lights on in the room in fact I have turned
off all lights and computers in the area, it gets better but
won't disappear completely. The pickup is sensitive to proximity
and orientation. I know noise is a constant battle for recordings
but has anyone been around on this type problem before and could
lend some advice. I'd appreciate it..... Rudy
James Coulter
>From: rudy nelson <rudy_...@ccm.hf.intel.com>
>Subject: Acoustic Pickup Hum, any suggestions ?
>Date: 29 Nov 1995 20:11:43 GMT
Rudy:
I have had this same problem with very high impedance pickups. I have found
that the situation is also aggravated by the proximity of strong AC magnetic
fields, such as those generated by large power transformers used for power
distribution as well as smaller transformers in electronic equipment, i.e.
power amplifiers etc. Fixes could include shortening the pickup cable, putting
a resistor (start with 1 megohm or 100 kilohms) across the pickup at the
amplifier end with subsequent loss of higher frequency response possible,
or just better physical seperation from these AC electrostatic and magnetic
fields. If you can't fix it, I would just get some type of humbucker pickup
or maybe have a preamp built into the guitar.
Jim
VPI&SU
StringSing
<ra...@andrew.cmu.edu> writes:
>(2) buy a double-coil pickup (humbucker). I haven't tried this either,
>but the guy at Dean Markley said it should help significantly (there is
>a double-coil Pro-Mag model - the black one, for studio use). None of
>the shops around Pittsburgh had it in stock, but they had other
>double-coils. They said the double-coil helps but does not completely
>eliminate hum, plus they felt they didn't sound as good. They also
>pointed out that the double-coil ones are more expensive, at which point
>you start weighing the option of going a little higher in price for a
>bridge pickup or something else (piezo?-type of pickup) which I guess
>doesn't hum (plus sounds a lot better).
a second consideration when going to a double coil vs. single coil pickup
is that they sound different. double coils cut out some of the highs.
Listen to the differences in electric guitars between a Les Paul and a
tele. It seems to me that one of the things that makes acoustic guitars
sound acoustic is the complexity of the higher partials that add that
*sparkle.* If the double coil removes that, your instrument will sound
less like an acoustic instrument. So... I would second the idea that if
you are looking at considerably more money (unless you need the magnetic
pickup for volume) that maybe you should look to another type of pickup.
Roy
Robert L Auger
> of a hum that is being generated by the pickup. It is independent
> of any pre-amp or device. I can't seem to get rid of it. I don't
> have any florescent lights on in the room in fact I have turned
> off all lights and computers in the area, it gets better but
> won't disappear completely. The pickup is sensitive to proximity
> and orientation. I know noise is a constant battle for recordings
> but has anyone been around on this type problem before and could
> lend some advice. I'd appreciate it..... Rudy
I had this exact problem and posted a while back about it. I even
called Dean Markley. It turns out it is indeed 60-cycle hum. It is
especially prevalent with single-coil acoustic pickups going into amps
(as opposed to PA's) and is also strongly affected by how the building
is wired (regardless of fluorescent lights, computers, dimmer switches
etc.). I've got it so bad at my house that I literally can't play
through my practice amp (well almost - I've found if I stand behind the
amp and off to the side and keep the guitar at exactly the right angle
it is bearable). The same amp played at church (same guitar and pickup
too) is almost silent, and I don't get any hum through the house PA.
Since the problem is at both the amp and the pickup there are two ways
to deal with it.
(1) make sure the amp (or PA) is completely grounded, and place it at a
position relative to the guitar to minimize the hum. A noise gate might
help too but I haven't tried that yet.
(2) buy a double-coil pickup (humbucker). I haven't tried this either,
but the guy at Dean Markley said it should help significantly (there is
a double-coil Pro-Mag model - the black one, for studio use). None of
the shops around Pittsburgh had it in stock, but they had other
double-coils. They said the double-coil helps but does not completely
eliminate hum, plus they felt they didn't sound as good. They also
pointed out that the double-coil ones are more expensive, at which point
you start weighing the option of going a little higher in price for a
bridge pickup or something else (piezo?-type of pickup) which I guess
doesn't hum (plus sounds a lot better).
Bear in mind that the Dean Markley Pro-Mag is about the cheapest
acoustic pickup out there. If you are serious about recording perhaps
you should consider a better pickup.
Good luck.
Bob Auger
AdrianLegg
<rudy_...@ccm.hf.intel.com> writes:
>I use a Talyor 412 and a Dean Markley Pro Mag sound hole pickup.
>I haven't noticed any problem before but recently I have
>started doing some guitar recordings and it requires turning up
>of any pre-amp or device.
I have just been recording using a Barcus Berry dobro pick-up as one of
several inputs to the board. Theoretically it is hum-cancelling, but
whatever we did, and wherever I sat in relation to isolate transformers,
fx p.s.u.s, the computer and so forth ( all of which radiated various
degrees of noise), we still picked up a high mains harmonic on this unit.
For the purposes of the recording sessions, we cured it, or rather
reduced it to an insignificant level even on a
flat out compressor by taping bare copper wire to the skin my leg, and
attaching the other end of it to the ground side of my input d.i. chain. I
don't think I'd do this onstage or anywhere without an isolating
transformer............
Good voodoo huh ?
Adrian
Christopher Keen
I've had the same problem with a Maton TE-sig , with what I believe to be an
LR Baggs saddle pickup [piezo?] into a guitar amp , 4 track , Zoom 9002 etc.
I took it to the factory to have it looked at , but with their setup there was
not the slightest bit of mains hum. Neither could they offer any credible
explaination, although they had seen the problem before.
It seems to me that it's an earthing problem , but I can't see what's wrong
with the earthing at my house.
I can however , second Adrian Legg's solution. I have attached a 2" screw to
one end of a piece of wire, and a bulldog clip to the other. The bulldog clip
I attach to the metal case of the phono plug on my guitar lead [ at the guitar
end ] , and the screw I shove down my undies.
Result : no more noise [ well . . . mains noise ].
This may not be possible at a nudist camp.
Chris
In article <49t3e8$p...@newsbf02.news.aol.com> adria...@aol.com (AdrianLegg)
writes:>From: adria...@aol.com (AdrianLegg)
>Subject: Re: Acoustic Pickup Hum, any suggestions ?
>Date: 3 Dec 1995 16:05:12 -0500
>In article <49iepv$8...@ornews.intel.com> rudy nelson
><rudy_...@ccm.hf.intel.com> writes:
>>I use a Talyor 412 and a Dean Markley Pro Mag sound hole pickup.
[snip]
I have become aware
>>of a hum that is being generated by the pickup. It is independent
>>of any pre-amp or device.
[snip]
Richard McCarthy
..Which raises the philosophical question: Do guitars meditate?
frivolously yours,
Richard McCarthy