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Delayed Echo/noise After Palm Muting From New Spider Iv Hd 150


CaliHalo
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Hey all short time reader first time poster!

 

Just want to say I am so glad there are these forums for us to discuss our Spider IV and Line 6 stuff, I have already read through 5 pages of these forums and am very greatful for the mature responses from some of the posters, as well as the good information that I have already come upon regarding my Line 6 Head.

 

So now onto my problem...

 

I am quite an experienced guitar player, not so much experienced with effects. Wanted an all-in-1 that I could "grow" with, so I decided to buy a brand new Spider IV HD 150 last week with the FBV shortboard and I love almost everything about it. My head has only been sitting in my room and hasn't been moved at all since I took it out of the box. While playing riffs/songs with the presets like Aracnaphobia/Black/Buttah I have noticed quite an annoying hum/echo noise through my cab or headphones right after I come to a stop and palm mute my strings. It happens with both of my guitars so I'm certain it has to be the head.

 

The only way I can describe the sound is an electrical feedback "echo" that has a "frequency" or "not properly grounded" noise from the head when right when I stop strumming and try to go to complete silence. Even if I, say, hit one chord real quick and then mute the strings, the feedback echo happens. This is with all the preset settings, I haven't touched any of the other stuff. I am kind of a audiophile, which is why I bought this head in the firstplace, so it's super annoying to hear, and its actually quite noticeable with the volume 1/4 of the way up.

 

So when I come to a stop, the guitar and effects will silence, but then a split second after the head makes this electrical hum noise, almost like a "up and down" or a "feedback fixer" kind of faint echo noise for 1 second. The noise sounds nothing like the notes or tones of the guitar. After the second of echo it does go silent, but that doesn't work for me. When I stop playing I don't want anymore noise!

 

I'm just annoyed (1) because I just bought this and can't believe this would be something standard on this head and (2) because I intended to record with this head and can't have this noise recording every single time there is a break of silence in the riff, or if the song is over and I need it to be completely quiet.

 

Thanks in advance for reading my post, and any response or advice or settings adjustments suggestions I might want to take into account or consider are greatly appreciated! I apologize for the somewhat lengthy post, but wanted to be descriptive as possible in explaining my issue in hopes someone would understand and/or recognize the issue that I'm talking about.

 

Anyway I do like a lot of things about  this head and hope this problem can be fixed so I can continue guitaring happily while keeping this head!

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What kind of pickups.Active?  new Battery?

 

try a new Guitar Cable?

 

Anything near the amp head?  Phone, wireless device that could cause a issue.  remember this is a solid state I have had my phone site on the head and cause strange sounds.

 

Also what Channel some of them you will always get some noise since they are distorting it to make it heavy.  Is this happening on a clean channel?

 

Also what Cab are you using?  Correct OHM?  stock cables from head to CAB?

 

Also are the FX on or off.

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You mentioned presets - as Nate suggests, try on manual settings, do you still get this sound?  Try another guitar, another cable. 

 

Have you up updated the firmware by connecting via the FBV to your computer and Line 6 Monkey?

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Thanks you two for the quick responses...I will try to answer all your questions...

 

What kind of pickups.Active?  new Battery?

 

try a new Guitar Cable?

 

Anything near the amp head?  Phone, wireless device that could cause a issue.  remember this is a solid state I have had my phone site on the head and cause strange sounds.

 

Also what Channel some of them you will always get some noise since they are distorting it to make it heavy.  Is this happening on a clean channel?

 

Also what Cab are you using?  Correct OHM?  stock cables from head to CAB?

 

Also are the FX on or off.

 

-Active pickups have fresh 9V's, but even on my guitar without active pickups this still happens

-I use Monster Gold Tipped cables and have used both of the ones I have

-Nothing on or near the amp head

-Using the Preset A,B,C Channels Arachnophobia/Black/Buttah and all have this issue, even on the clean. Also tried Manual per fflbrgst's suggestion and it actually got worse. So much so that I made a video of the sound, uploaded it and posted it below.

-Using an AVT 4x12 Marshall Cab, its beat but sounds great and like I said, it's not the Cab because when I plug my headphones in the noise still happens.

-When trying to diagnose this problem, I shut off all FX for the Preset Channels including delay and reverb.

 

 

You mentioned presets - as Nate suggests, try on manual settings, do you still get this sound?  Try another guitar, another cable. 

 

Have you up updated the firmware by connecting via the FBV to your computer and Line 6 Monkey?

 

Was a good idea, so I actually did try the manual and like I said above, the noise gets worse. Have tried 3 of my guitars (1 w/out active pickups), and 2 gold tipped Monster cables.

 

I have NOT updated my firmware, mostly because I have no idea how to do it. I believe I have the correct USB cable (kind of an outdated size) but I don't know how to load the updates, or what website to go to, or what affect it my have on my head (will I lose manufacture settings?, etc.).

 

I am also kinda afraid of updating it if I have to return this head to Guitar Center. I'm still within my 30 days and if I can't fix this I'm thinking about exchanging it for a new one or returning it for something else. It's upsetting because I fell in love with this head and I want to keep it! But I can't deal with this noise if I'm recording!

 

As mentioned above, I have made a video of the sound and am going to upload it to YouTube and post it here.

 

Also kinda important, trying to deduce what the problem is, I did a test by hitting a chord and turning down the volume knob on my guitar after I hit the notes, and the noise STILL happens. It's something in the head, some kind of electrical hum or reverb. It's driving me nuts!!

 

Here's the video I made, but like I said this happens on ALL channels, clean, etc., some are worse than others. This sound was the most obvious one so I chose to record it so you all could hear what I was talking about. You can hear after I palm mute the noise comes up, gets loud, then goes silent in about a second.

 

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I'm at work so can't watch/listen to the video now, but it sounds like you have done all the checks needed to make sure it is the amp itself that is the problem.

 

Ok, next step:  do a factory reset.  Unfortunately, this will remove any custom tone patches you have saved (if you have saved any yet).  You can back these up, but that is through the computer connection, which we'll address next.   Spider Edit is the software used to save your patches.

 

Push and hold the 'A' preset button while turning on the amp and hold for 5-8 seconds.  This will perform a factory reset.  Try it out.

 

If the problem noise is still there, next step is to update the firmware.  This will not affect the amp in any bad way, and will not void the 30 day return policy of the store.

First you need to update the firmware on the FBV Shortboard.

1) Go to Line6.com, sign in to your account and go to 'Downloads'  Under Free Software Downloads select Line 6 Monkey and your computer OS.  Follow instructions to download and install Monkey.

2) Use your USB cable to connect your FBV Shortboard to your computer (do not plug the amp into the FBV at this time).   Start up Monkey.  Hopefully it will recognize the Shortboard and and then you can have it check and install updated firmware, if needed.  Once done, turn off Monkey.

4) Plug your amp into the FBV Shortboard with the supplied CAT5 cable.

5) Load up Monkey, it should now recognize both the FBV and the amp.  Have it check the firmware for the amp and update.  Once done, turn off Monkey, then unplug the USB cable.

6) Turn off the amp, then turn it on again.  Try it out.

 

If the noise is still there, unplug everything and head back to the store for replacement!

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Your not playing on a Line6 CAB.  When you plug in the head phones are you still plugged into the CAB?

 

I think you can use head phones with out being plugged into the CAB.  The CAB has to be the correct OHM or you will fry the amp just a FYI.

 

I couldn't really listen to it loud since I am at work I will take another look at the video when I get home.

 

Do a reset and then update it.  Will not void the warranty it is a software update from the Company.   Really simple and you get a ton more FX.

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Anybody get a chance to listen to the video have the same problem or a solution?

 

Mine does the same thing. I notice it mostly on the mid-gain amp models. I messed around with the built in noise gate settings and made it better.

 

Thanks for the post. I tried to mess around with the noise gate setting by holding the tap and turning the reverb (what I read) but that doesn't seem to do anything.

 

Is there another way to do it that I'm not aware of?

 

I can't decide if I should take this back if the replacement is just going to do the same thing. Love a lot of things about this head but am bummed about this noise. Don't want to have to "edit" out the reverb/hum in the editing software for each silence. I thought this would be everything I need and am now kinda dissapointed.

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Is there another way to do it that I'm not aware of?

 

Push the "Settings" knob on the amp, then arrow left or right on the directional pad until you see "GATE". Then you can arrow up or down through the settings. You can set the mode, threshold, and decay, just as you would on a pedal or rack mount noise gate. I hope this helps!!

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  • 4 weeks later...

Hello there...

I'm having the exact same problem you've described and shown in your posted video.

 

All my Firmware has been updated to the latest versions on both amp and footpedal.

 

Like "jjack972", I have been adjusting the Noise Gate settings in an attempt to resolve this problem, with at least some improvement of the original condition, but it seems there is still some noticeable - I would describe it as a decaying drum cymbal like sound after silencing the guitar strings, particularly with mid to high gain ( FX1) settings.

 

I'm going to keep trying different noise gate settings adjustments, and also am going to switch to a Furman EMI/RFI/Surge (SS-6B) strip from a standard generic surge protector to see if that helps the problem.

 

I'll let you know if any of that helps.

 

 

 

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Some guitar/amp/power combinations can be a bit noisy.  It sounds like the GATE is taking care of the noise, but is not re-engaging quick enough after you stop playing.  Noise gates are not engaged while your guitar sound is coming through, but is designed to clamp down on noise when you are not playing.

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I tried the above mentioned steps and have not alleviated the problem any further without degradation of gain (FX1) effects.

 

If I really clamp the noise gate threshold down on the signal to minimize the problem, It really sounds like it starts cutting into the gain (FX1).

 

It seems the problem stems mostly from adding (FX1) gain effects to the signal path.

 

I'm thinking this just may be an unfortunate characteristic of the amp.

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