Help with gain structure noise levels

[Stratotron]

I am dealing with a stage noise situation and am attempting any avenue to relieve this. Basically the Church remodeled the Sanctuary and since, the lighting has been transmitting through my pickups. I tried some expensive ground lift/isolation devices. Have replaced some pickups and even replaced a guitar.  Still there.

 

All of my signal chains start with a noise gate, so the rig of course is silent when it is not being played. On punchy driven tones it is not so apparent, but even then, it is adding another annoying/unwanted wave to the signal. The worse is quiet clean tones, if I pick a note, you can hear the buzz during the fade.

 

I watched a tone building video yesterday and was surprised to see the moderator inserting the noise gate after the drive section. I did try this today, and was surprised at how my distortion device(s) seem to require less drive. This help the distorted tones, but not the clean ones.

 

Any hints regarding ways to trouble shoot gain structure to help turn down noise? Are there hard and fast rules when building a tone to assure that it is quieter? I know this is an extremely subjective question as there are many things in a signal chain/amp relationship that would contribute. I will admit that I have, over time,turned up the Amp and Device models to get volume instead of turning up the output.

 

It has been so long since, I have played anywhere else that I am not 100% sure that my rig was quiet. I certainly used to think so.

 

Thank you, Strato.

 

 

[pfsmith0]

Basically the Church remodeled the Sanctuary and since, the lighting has been transmitting through my pickups.

 

The exact same thing happened at our church. People have dealt with in in their own ways, but one of these is the most effective (by far):

 

Rocktron Hush noise reduction pedal - don't know what they do, but it's like magic.

Shield the interior cavities and pickups of single coil guitars using one of the shielding kits available at Stewmac. This GREATLY reduces the hum to the point where it's a non-issue now.

Use guitars with humbucking pickups. That's what humbucking pickup are for.

 

Everyone else just deals with it as best they can with "non-Hush" noise gates or volume pedals, but they're only marginally effective. Both the worship leader and I use the HD500 and he went with option #3 above (humbucker) and I went with option #2 (shield the guitar guts).

 

Good luck. It's a real tough problem.

[radatats]

Basically the Church remodeled the Sanctuary and since, the lighting has been transmitting through my pickups.

 

Unfortunately, I think the problem is in the Church wiring.  They should have run the sound power circuits on a separate isolated feed circuit but instead I bet they all tie together somewhere.  They should hire a good engineer to check the circuits and get them isolated and those problems will disappear.  Until then you are stuck with it...

[innovine]

If you point your guitar in different directions, does the noise get better or worse? If so, definitely do shielding work on the guitar before you look into pedals.

 

Humbuckers can help, but mine still pick up noise from the dimmer lighting in my living room anyway, so they aren't foolproof. They also sound quite different to singles.

[jandrio]

if u have a JTV, consider using the noise-free models....

[Stratotron]

To all, Thank you in advance. The noise does change slightly depending on where I turn. I recently bought a Telly Cabronita with Fender Fideltron pickups, hoping ti would solve the problem. Earlier I had replaced the P90s in my Paul with a Stealth Version, One of my Strats has Duncan Everythig Axe set, (dual in single slots) and my other Strat has A pair of Duncan P-Rails (P90 next to a single rail in the same body). Each has a different level of the noise, the P Rails are the most quite, but I have to run them in dual mode, both coils on, the Duncans in the other Strat run a close second. I actually just sold a guitar with P-90s because stock P-90s were just un-usable on that stage.

 

I have clad the interior cavities of the Cabronita with copper foil, and will know how effective it is tomorrow at rehearsal.

 

I have been told that the cost of enginerring this out is just not in the budget...This being said, the music leader, has decided to occassionally start playing electric on a few songs and just recieved his first Telecaster Electric, with basic stock Telly pickups. We will see if the noise he gets will, how do you say...grease the wheels of progress?

 

Thanks again Hombres!