Mar 2, 2012 9:54 AM
Humming/Noise from HD500
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I have been experiencing a lot of background noise ever since I've began to use the HD500. I have an X3 Live and I have no problems with it at all. I just recently upgraded to the HD500, but every single amp model contains a background noise especially when I begin to add compression pedals. The noise is present when I gear up in the live setting at my church as well as at home through head phones. I've tried changing cables and guitars...I've also tried hooking up my X3 to all of the same configurations and it gets no noise at all. I love the tones that I'm getting with the HD500 but the noise makes it unusable in a live setting right now. I know it sounds like a ground loop issue, just can't figure out why my X3 would be experiencing no problems while the HD500 is struggling. Could it be a faulty unit...I've only had it for three days.
Hi
How do you have the HD500 grounded and are you connected to a computer when you get this noise? - I know that's less likely to be the case when you are playing live, but some people dorun a computer even when live.
Nick
i assume you're using analog audio outputs (1/4" unbalanceds, XLR outs, headphones). In this case, what is your Master KNOB set to? It should be at 100% for the best SNR, because I believe it controls the output of the main analog amplifier.
I usually keep my master volume set to 75%ish. I've always done that on the X3 and I've never had a noise issue, the HD500 on the other hand has a dominant drone in in it. I don't have the HD500 plugged into any other devices...just my PRS, analysis plus yellow oval cable, and headphones or front of house board. Again, switching back and forth between the X3 and the HD500 eliminates the noise when playing through the X3. Are there any initial setup options or tips/tricks that I may have missed because again, I've only had the HD500 for a couple days not and I could have messed something up on the setup.
So to be clear, if you have the following hookup you get noise ...
Guitar --> HD500 --> Headphones
With no other connections or cables you get plugged in, you still get noise?
Nothing in the FX Loop? No FX Loop Block in the effects chain?
Can you check with another guitar and cable? I know that in theory this should not make a difference but it may be worth a try.
Probably worth setting Input 1 = Guitar, Input 2 = Variax to reduce any noise coming into the HD but it should not be that dramatic.
I think I narrowed the problem down to my guitar itself. When I plug my acoustic into the same line running all of the same pedals I don't get any noise at all. Similarly, when i unplug the guitar line from the 500 itself and just listen in the headphones, the noise is eliminated. I guess there is possibly some faulty wiring in my PRS Starla. The X3 doesn't seem to broadcast the noise much at all, but on the HD the tones are unusable because of the buzz. I can hear the buzz enter and lessen as I adjust my tone pod up and down. Think there's something I can do about that or is it simply the natural noise my guitar puts out?
Does this occur with ALL amp models or are you predominantly using a particularly high gain amp model like Treadplate?
Also, physically where is the power supply in relation to your signal cable? I'm only thinking along the lines of where you might possibly have your POD mounted on an FX board with a power strip. I don't think this is particularly likely, but am just ruling it out.
And one final thought.... Does your POD use the correct DC-3g PSU which should have input specs of 100v AC to 240v AC at 50/60Hz and an output spec of 9v DC at 3 Amps or has someone possibly substituted the older PX2 PSU which gives out 9v AC at 2000mA? The HD500 PSU and X3 Live PSU are NOT the same! Your unit might work for a short while with the wrong PSU giving out 9v AC surprisingly, but it will end up damaging your POD and importantly it would cause an underlying hum on everything as would an underrated DC PSU. I'm mentioning this because there have been a few instances reported where retailers have borrowed the correct PSU from an unopened boxed unit to maybe replace another user's faulty PSU and then mistakenly replaced it with the incorrect older AC PSU before sale.
Nick
Yes, it's the correct PSU. Good thought though. Is it just something in the new amp modeling that captures more of that hum in the pickups? Man I love the amp models and the new characteristics of my sound, but I have to put some serious noise gate on all my sounds...which I normally do, but not to the extent that I have to with the HD500 - the point where the tone starts to suffer. If I don't gate then there's no way I could use the tones live. So am I just going to have to finding ways around the noise or could I have a faulty unit??
There is a setting in System Setup to change hum between 50Hz and 60Hz, but I don't think that's your problem really. Given that using a Gate shuts the hum off, more or less shows the cause to be external and yes it could be your guitar needs better on-board shielding and grounding. Single coil pickup guitars are much more prone to background hum and shielding problems than humbucker models, but even they don't get off Scott free. The higher gain the amp model used (i.e. - something like the Treadplate) you will notice background hum more, but you shouldn't really experience much noticeable hum when using say one of the cleaner Fender models. The Hard Gate gate is the better gate to use IMO.
Nick
Thanks a lot for your help guys. I'm still having the buzzing issue, but I am finding some work-arounds for them by using noise gates & hard gates. I hate the tone you loose on the attack though when using a gate. I'm going to have one of my friends who is a studio artist play around with my PRS and see if he thinks there's a problem there...still not understanding why I don't have the same issue on the X3. So far, the main amps I'm using are the AC30 TB, Gibson EH 185, Fender Blackface. Do all these amps have an inherent amp buzz in them anyway?
All said, I'm really excited about the hd500. Each time I sit down to familiarize myself with it I'm liking it more and more...if only I could tidy up that nasty buzz. It's most noticeable when I'm doing swells or ambient sounds and I leave the tone hanging out there for a while - as it dies down the buzz sneaks out of hiding.
Those are pretty much all the amps I don't use a whole lot - occasionally yes, but not a lot. Some of those amps do hum in real life, but your issue seems to be external to the POD as gating the input gets rid of the buzz for you. What you could do to ensure your guitar gets a good ground is to connect one of the HD500's output jacks to an amp that is grounded by being plugged into the wall but not switched on, as there can be grounding issues caused by using balanced XLR cables that are wired with the cable 'shield' braid connected to the casing of the XLR plugs at both ends. Not all XLR cables have the little link connection soldered in place, but mic cables tend to because of electrical safety concerns when handling a microphone. Having the XLR plug casings connected to the cable shield wire at both ends can defeat whatever the XLR Ground Lift switch is set to on the POD as you don't have true isolation of the balanced wiring that way and hum can occur. I'm not encouraging you to snip any links in your XLR cables here - that's up to you as long as you keep things electrically safe at all times by other means if necessary, but rather trying to explain (and maybe not too clearly - sorry) what might be contributing to your hum/buzz issue. Have you tried just using a standard 1/4" output to connect the POD to your PA instead of XLR? You might find that passes a better ground for your guitar than the XLR route is doing.
What exactly are you plugging your POD HD into and what else is plugged into that circuit? I had the same problem but there is a very easy fix.
I'm plugging the HD500 into my living room receptacle or my theater room receptace so I can run them through my different speaker systems to set tones. The other place I use the HD500 (and most important) is at my church for live sound. All areas of use exhibit the buzz that I've talking about through this thread. On my circuits at the house there are TVs, Blu Ray players, Amps. etc., there could possibly be a refrigerator on one of the circuits...but I don't get the buzz from the X3 (at least as much) from any of these circuits. Again, there's always a little bit of fizz or small amount of fuzz in almost any tone without a noise gate or hard gate if you want it to be dead silent, but the issue a hand with my new HD500 is very much amplified.
Colin - what is the easy fix that you had?? You said you had the same problem, what did you do?
Nick - I did check many more of the other amp models and the noise is present in all models.
Dude, I had the same problem with my silverstar guitar..I replace the tone pot and the ground wire.All things solved..This is regarding the guitar (if this is a guitar problem)
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