humm/buzz from dimmer switches, knob and tube wiring, etc.....

[Jared Purdy]

I would seem to be coming from a couple of places. When I sit down about five feet from the amp (my usual position), the hum is the least noticeable. When I stand up and move about eight feet from the amp towards a small wall that is in the centre of the hall (it contains the heating duct that goes upstairs) it gets much worse, and I believe there is wiring inside there as well. Also, if I move towards the stereo, which is close to a lamp that has a compact florescent in it, and there is also a cordless phone with answering machine it gets worse.

I checked the light with the compact florescent, it didn't make any difference to the hum when I turned the light off and on. There is a lso a dimmer switch in the living room which controls the light over where I sit. However, it is basically never on. The other day I turned it on, with the amp on and the guitar around my neck. If I held the the dimmer knob with it partially on, I could hear a bit of noise, a buzz, but a different frequency than the type that I am normally experiencing. When I took my hand off the dimmer, the frequency that the dimmer switch would generate with my hand on it, would go away, and things were back to normal. In other words, whethere the dimmer switch is on or off makes no difference, so long as I'm not touching the actual switch.

I will continue with this mystery today. I am off all week so I'm going to go buy a ground tester, and I'm going to move the amp around to every room in the house and see what comes of it. I think that I'll also take it outside and plug it in the porch socket, which is new and properly wired.

Oh ya, and with the guitar parked beside the amp (6" from it) and the amp on, it makes slightly more noise than when I pick it up and take it to my seat, about 5 feet away. When I sit down and put my hands on the strings, the buzz is still there, but it is almost competely gone. I'll be back!

[guitarmike2107]

Go to your RCD/fuse box and turn off all the RCD/fuses for the whole house except leave the socket circuit that the amp is plugged into on.

Make sure the only thing you have plugged into that socket circuit is the amp and turn it on to test for the buzz.

Do you get any buzz now?
If you do have buzz it may be something to do with that circuit line, try another or it's probably got nothing to do with house wiring.
check your cables wiring etc

if you didn't have any buzz put on each RCD one at a time and test to find when the buzz starts again.
When the buzz starts you at least know the circuit its on and can trace it that way.

[Jared Purdy]

That's a hell of an idea! It'll have to wait until tomorrow as my wife is also home today and she won't put up with my experimenting! Thanks for that though, tomorrow for sure.

[J M Fahey]

That's a hell of an idea!

+1

[Jared Purdy]

Further developments in the quest for the source of the humm/buzz. This is what I learned today:

1. I spoke with a guitar tech at Yorkville sound, the Canadian authorized distributor and repair centre for Gibson guitars (and the manufacturer of Traynor amps). He told me that all Gibson LPs in the wrong place will hum/buzz, some worse that others. He mentioned several bars in the Toronto area, as well as residences around the CN Tower that have varying degrees of humm/buzz all of the time. Humbuckers are not designed to eliminate RF or EMF frequencies.

2. I took my guitar into the Twelfth Fret today (google it) and the guitar is perfect and was as quiet as a mouse in the repair shop. However, when I went down staris and grabbed a couple of LPs off the wall and plugged them into a Fender HRDx III, all of them hummd/buzzed, and it was much worse there than what I get in my house.

3. I took my Swart and LP to my neighbour's two doors down. He lives in a detached house, same age as mine, but in the fall it was gutted and completely re-wired - all new, no knob and tube. It was dead silent!!

4. I bought a ground tester today and checked the sockets on the main floor (where I play). The ground on all of them is good.

So, at least I have eliminated a few things!!

[Jazz P Bass]

Start throwing breakers.