Buzzing Sound with HD 500

[EarthyMusic]

I'm having trouble with a buzzing sound on my HD 500.  On a clean setting, it's more of a hiss, but once you turn on distortion, it's more of a buzz (or buzz kill, as the case may be!).

 

It seems like a grounding issue with the device.  No matter where I'm playing--at home, in the rehearsal studio, or at gigs--it's the same thing.  This leads me to think it's not a problem with the quality of the electricity. 

 

I play through a few different amps, from tube to solid state, depending on the situation.  Always the same problem.  Also, I still get it using different guitars--Les Paul or Strat, it's the same thing.

 

The buzzing is worse when I have the USB cable connected.  It's also worse when I use distortion--the more distortion, the worse it is. 

 

I was doing some searches on this, and I see that other people have similar problems.  I've tried re-setting the global settings, but no joy. 

 

I'm using the 1/4" input. 

 

Anyone have any ideas? 

[Brazzy]

Are you around something that may be injecting RF into the mix? I had this symptom once, reinstalled the firmware without saving patches and it was fine after that. Don't ask me why 'cause I don't know. Maybe a bad patch corrupted the brain.

[EarthyMusic]

Thanks.  I tried reinstalling the firmware, but it didn't work.  As I was saying, I get this sound wherever I am so I don't think it's caused by RF interference from my computer monitor or something like that.  Maybe there's a physical issue with my board? 

[Brazzy]

Oh, it could be as simple as a bad cable, cable end, or jack.

[pfsmith0]

Do you get the buzz when nothing is plugged in?