Bad hum in just one club with a Strat!

[Chuck H]

Buzz inferno if he tries to do the same with a $6.95 WalMart one.
The ones which weigh an ounce each.

I wonder if it's possible to build one like that, whether FET oscillator or actual divider type, through careful circuit design, could be made to emit two opposing phase EMF's rather than one noisy one. Seems like a good idea if possible.

EDIT: I did something like this with a reactive load attenuator circuit. One of the inductors was air core and emitted a very strong EMF. You couldn't get within ten feet of it with single coil pickups or it would whistle. Humbuckers were fine. To solve the problem I stacked two inductors of half value with a layer of insulator and copper between them. With the inductors wired in series and out of phase the EMF radiating from the attenuator as a whole was nulled. The insulator/copper sandwich I placed between the close proximity inductors kept the coils from talking to each other and cancelling inductance. I was so proud it worked that I told anyone smart enough to understand that would listen

[J M Fahey]

What you did is right.
Not exactly my field, but I´ve seen "balancing/cancelling/whatever" inductors counterwound in line filters; I think it´s about what you say, it sort of cancels the magnetic field irradiated by inductors.
But what mainly causes havoc on the places we´re talking about is the steep rise time of current passing through the load (lamps).
The many yards of wire, from the utility company meter to the actual lamp work as a very efficient antenna which, to worsen things, surrounds us.

[Chuck H]

Sure. But I veered from the topic. A dimmer that was both affordable and EMF cancelling would probably have a market.

[J M Fahey]

You bet.
So far I only know the brute force method, with big inductors which smooth the output waveform, but I can imagine a sophisticated one which somehow outputs a special waveform which has lower average current (so it *does* dim the lamp) but without sharp edges, which are the ones which cause trouble.
I´ve worked with Opera Theaters, and they *still* use very linear interference interference free Variacs ... which of course always supply sinewaves .
There´s a small clicking sound when moving them, since you jump from turn to turn, but the steps are very small and the noise is easy to filter.
They´re the Rolls Royce of dimmers .... with matching prices.

[Brad1]

Another thing to look for ALL around that club is to glance up and see if there any high-power high-tension lines nearby? Is there a pole with a few transformers humming away right outside? Not a whole lot you could do about those, without doing something that costs money for you, or the club owner. Or, is it all just underground wiring, with big green boxes buzzing?

First thing is to see if the source can be identified. Without knowing that, everything else is just a wild guess, and you could be wasting good money on bad solutions in the quest to de-buzz.

Obi-Wan: "The Force is what gives a Strat its buzz. It's an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us. It binds the galaxy together."

Darth Vader: "The Force is strong with this one."

Brad1

[big_teee]

Another thing to look for ALL around that club is to glance up and see if there any high-power high-tension lines nearby? Is there a pole with a few transformers humming away right outside? Not a whole lot you could do about those, without doing something that costs money for you, or the club owner. Or, is it all just underground wiring, with big green boxes buzzing?

First thing is to see if the source can be identified. Without knowing that, everything else is just a wild guess, and you could be wasting good money on bad solutions in the quest to de-buzz.

Obi-Wan: "The Force is what gives a Strat its buzz. It's an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us. It binds the galaxy together."

Darth Vader: "The Force is strong with this one."

Brad1

Good Points.
You can take a small portable radio on AM, tune it to no station.
Walk around and listen to the Amplitude buzz to get louder, when you get near the source.
T

[J M Fahey]

AM radio: *excellent* (ugh ) buzz detector.
Specially when listening to a bloodcurling match ending on a faraway, very weak station.

[olddawg]

The interesting thing is the owner just spent a small fortune in electrical and lights in this club. It has the new LED stage lights which I have never seen before. I had them cut the power to the whole system. My Strat still buzzed like he'll. I'm sure it's radiating from the gas station or there's a 15kv transformer about somewhere. I think the club owner was told the light dimmers in his old system were the problem and he bought this new LED system. The cans look like something out of a SiFi movie. The intensity is varied by the number of LEDs switched on in each can. It really tripped me out the first night.

[David Schwab]

I sometimes play with a band with an LED stage light setup. They can do all kinds of effects.

It wont be long until you never see another incandescent bulb again! Even automobile taillights and street traffic lights are switching to LEDs.

We have exactly two incandescent bulbs in our apartment. One is a night light, and the other is in the 'fridge! Everything else are compact florescents.

[J M Fahey]

I´ll try to buy some leftover pack of 60 to 100W incandescents, *exclusively* for my bench Lamp Bulb Limiter.
The thin filament provides an excellent visual cue.

[olddawg]

I sometimes play with a band with an LED stage light setup. They can do all kinds of effects.

It wont be long until you never see another incandescent bulb again! Even automobile taillights and street traffic lights are switching to LEDs.

We have exactly two incandescent bulbs in our apartment. One is a night light, and the other is in the 'fridge! Everything else are compact florescents.

The best thing about LED stage lights is that they don't give off a lot of heat. But I was getting hypnotized the first night with them.

[Chuck H]

The best thing about LED stage lights is that they don't give off a lot of heat. But I was getting hypnotized the first night with them.

"THEY" wanted you to say that.

[David Schwab]

"THEY" wanted you to say that.

They is the plural of he, she and it. "They" may be masculine, feminine or gender neutral, and can be used to describe animate or inanimate objects. It is a 3rd-person plural.

So you can say "they" and be referring to inanimate objects.

[big_teee]

The best thing about LED stage lights is that they don't give off a lot of heat. But I was getting hypnotized the first night with them.

LED must Now be the Greatest thing since Sliced Bread.
All the new TVs have LED Screens now.
B_T
** Thread Officially HiJacked!