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Noise Via Power Supply Until I Turn Off Power And Go To Battery.


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Hello. I have a A/B Power supply unit.

 

Once in a while, I start hearing noise, and it is making me worried. The noise seems to happen randomly and I can't control it without turning off the power.

 

Now, the A/B box still works without power, but obviously it won't give you any juice.

When I take off the power, the noise stops.

When I switch from my long planet waves cable, I THINK the noise stops as well.

 

Is my planet waves cable the problem? It sounds like the line that transfers the power might be goofy. I don't know. I hope it's not my Variax.

I tried moving my cable around but that doesn't seem to change the noise from starting or stopping. It's all random.

 

What do you guys think?

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I always run mine on the battery.  Dead quiet.

 

Is this a JTV or a Gen1 Variax? I'm talking about a Gen1 Variax, which is better to have a power supply than a battery.

 

Mine can take a 6 double A power supply, but I only have that as backup and generally use the power supply box all the time.

It hasn't made noise until recently this month or a month ago.

It happens randomly. I can't control when it stops or starts at all. It defeats the purpose of using the guitar.

 

I'd see if I could get rechargable double As but I'm not sure I can do that right now. I believe it lasts 12 hours as well just like the rechargeable JTV batteries when you use the x6 AA battery adapter.

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it happens always in the same place or elsewhere too?

 

if happens always in the same place could possibly be a ground loop or interference with any electrical devices that turns on and off automatically, as an example the engine of a refrigerator

 

I think it happened in multiple places. I'm hoping it's just a bad cable. I remember there being a tear in the cable's coating  somewhere, but I try to move that around and it doesn't seem to really change whether or not the noise is happening.

 

If it's my Variax, I'm going to be absolutely pissed.

 

Another scenario might be the power supply box being broken, but I don't know.

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I agree that the battery on the original wasn't as nice as the JTV but it works fine for me.  I have two sets of NIMH rechargables.  I don't like the power supply.  Adds noise.  I never use mine and I have had my 500 since they came out.

 

Nice. I can't afford to get rechargeables right now though. I'd have to get 2 packs if I did which would cost like 20 or 30 bucks probably. Don't really have that money right now.

 

I wonder if you could mod a JTV battery compartment on an old Variax.. 

 

Either way, I like the power supply unit. It doesn't add noise to my concern besides the obvious one I stated, but that's not noise that should happen at all.

 

Though it happens very non-frequently, it still is annoying and could ruin a live situation, and would be annoying to wait for during recording for it to stop or worse, ruin a take that I might of done good on but was ruined by the noise.

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That's a good idea - could be done  I am sure.  But the cost of a JTV battery is as much as a couple sets of  rechargables.  I always like using batteries because it is always going to be quieter than a power supply.  I always found that supply to be a hassle to use.  I only used it a few times when I first got my Variax.

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That's a good idea - could be done  I am sure.  But the cost of a JTV battery is as much as a couple sets of  rechargables.  I always like using batteries because it is always going to be quieter than a power supply.  I always found that supply to be a hassle to use.  I only used it a few times when I first got my Variax.

 

Yeah, power supplies seem to always add some additional frequencies and hum to the sound. It's really annoying. Like I said, I don't really hear noise, maybe some, but I didn't think it was from the power supply, I just thought it might be the Variax's noise floor, though I remember everyone said the Variax was incredibly silent compared to other guitars, just didn't know how silent.

 

I personally thought it was a lot more silent than my SG I have, and kind of dismissed that as the Variax being quiet.

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So I swapped my other TRS cable as fast as I can a few times when this happened and it's suggesting that it is the cable, because the noise happened again after I switched back to the planet waves cable.

 

Hopefully I can just get another planet waves cable. They're really nice. I just think I might of damaged it by rolling on it with my computer chair.

My other TRS cable sucks and picks up ANY tapping noise you do on the cable.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Noise continued on my other cable.

Either it's the power supply or the guitar.

 

I'll have to deal with this for now.

 

The only solution I can think of right now is possibly wasting money on a new XPS to find out it's my guitar, or using rechargeable batteries.

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Use the battery!  That eliminates ground loops that cause noise.  Battery will be the quietest way to run.

 

It's 12 hours on 6 double A's right? Which type should I use?

 

The reason why I'm frustrated about this is because I got the bundle with the power on ebay for a reason.

 

I use my Variax almost every single day, and I like to leave it plugged in for quiet a while, because I practice throughout the day.

It's one of the reasons I got a power supply, but I don't know.

 

If I really need a power supply, I suppose I could try to find a 9 volt power to 9 volt adapter-to-battery thing. I'd need to look into it.

 

I don't know. Just really annoying to face more problems after you think you fixed them.

The problem is rather infrequent, so I could use a power supply to lay down tracks for music, and if I ever do live, I can use rechargeable so the staticy noise doesn't interrupt performance.

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I use 2500 mAH NIMH cells in my Variax 500.  I have two sets and I keep them charged.  The old Variax probably gets 6 - 8 hours on a charge with these batteries.

 

I remember it saying 12, even on the old Variax. I don't know. 6-8 is not too bad. I just really prefer to have no interruptions, but at this point, that's what the noise is, an interruption. I can't really find a way to diagnose if it's my XPS because it seems to only happen when it's sending power to the Variax. I unplug the adapter to the XPS and my Variax goes in battery mode, but I hear no noise even when it's still plugged in the XPS. 

 

I hope it's not the "variax coffin" problem.

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You may be able to get rid of the hum if you play with where everything is plugged into AC power.  You want everything including your amp plugged into the same power strip.  I have a noise problem when I plug my X3Live into my PC via USB because of the ground loop between my PC and my Amp.  It's quiet when I unplug my USB cable so I know what is causing it but It's not convenient for me to plug my amp and X3Live into the same power as my PC.  It would be nice to have a ground isolated interface. (Optical works nice)

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You may be able to get rid of the hum if you play with where everything is plugged into AC power.  You want everything including your amp plugged into the same power strip.  I have a noise problem when I plug my X3Live into my PC via USB because of the ground loop between my PC and my Amp.  It's quiet when I unplug my USB cable so I know what is causing it but It's not convenient for me to plug my amp and X3Live into the same power as my PC.  It would be nice to have a ground isolated interface. (Optical works nice)

 

That's not the problem. The noise isn't hum or buzz or anything, it's loud static noise like as if the cable was loose. 

It sounds like the cable is loosely being jangled in the jack.

It happens randomly at least once a day. It'll stop after a few minutes (usually).

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That kind of noise should not happen with the XPS.  Sounds like a bad cable.

 

I know, but I switched my TRS cable with another and I still heard the noise.

If I unplug the AC adapter from the XPS, the static noise stops. 

 

It seems like the power connection is being wonky somewhere in the mix, if it's just fine on battery mode.

 

Luckily nothing happens other than random static noise for a minute to a few minutes. It's still very concerning though.

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