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Single Coil pickup buzzing problem!

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    Posted: 10 April 2015 at 11:54pm
Greetings!

At the club I work there has been aproblem with a "buzzing" sound whenever single coil mics are used on a guitar. There is no problem with humbucker mics.

The stage has a metal screen going around it,but it is not causing it.

Everything has been tried in the club for example taking electricity from another place etc and there is still the buzz when using single coil mics on guitars.

In the nearby building there is a big metal screening covering a "concert hall",they also have a slight problem with single coil mics but not as bad as our club has.

What do you guys think would be the reason why single coil mics have this buzzing sound?

What could cause the buzz when using single coil mics?

edit.word change





Edited by app - 11 April 2015 at 1:59am
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote djeddie Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11 April 2015 at 12:46am
By single chord mics do you mean unbalanced?
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote app Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11 April 2015 at 1:17am
Sorry I misspelled. I mean single coil mics!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Phil B Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11 April 2015 at 1:23am
Think you mean single coil pickups.....
Mostly harmless.... except if catering is shut.

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Centauri Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11 April 2015 at 1:47am
Single coil pickups will always pick up all the electromagnetic interference around - the severity depends on building wiring locations, lighting types, proximity of various equipment such as dimmers etc etc.  Only real cure is a noise reduction system installed in the guitar - these work VERY well :
http://www.ilitchelectronics.com/hum-canceling-systems/



Edited by Centauri - 11 April 2015 at 1:48am
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote app Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11 April 2015 at 1:51am
Originally posted by Phil B Phil B wrote:

Think you mean single coil pickups.....


LOL yes pickups,single coil pickups...

Wow, this thread is about to fail so bad Big smile

No but seriously its a weird thing. No one seems to know the answer the guys have ruled out a lot possible reasons for the buzz but nothing works.

Is it an impossible thing to get rid off? How and why does the "buzz" occur in certain places?
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote app Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11 April 2015 at 1:59am
Originally posted by Centauri Centauri wrote:

Single coil pickups will always pick up all the electromagnetic interference around - the severity depends on building wiring locations, lighting types, proximity of various equipment such as dimmers etc etc.  Only real cure is a noise reduction system installed in the guitar - these work VERY well :
http://www.ilitchelectronics.com/hum-canceling-systems/



So its basically a real mess to find out the cause...

Bands come from where ever and its not possible to ask anyone to use humbuckers. Its a tricky thing,it has gone for years and there are people still tryin to find out what causes it. I dont know what kinda things has been tried.

Its quite a loud "buzz"...Could something like wlan cause it?


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote shagnasty Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11 April 2015 at 2:28am
the raseon the "humbucker" was made was to "buck" hum...
 
I would Eq the guitar with one of these :-
 
before holding a gun to the guys head if he doesn't get one of these with the bridge pickup selected!!!
 
 
 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote ceharden Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11 April 2015 at 10:21am
Guitar pickups have to 'pick-up' very small changes in the magnetic field caused by the metal strings.  This also makes them very sensitive to magnetic fields caused by all other electrical equipment.

Other than using humbucking pickups which as mentioned above were designed to get around this problem by cancelling out interference, the only other answer is to get the guitarist to stand in the middle of a field with nothing around!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote 70,s hero Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11 April 2015 at 10:49am
Buzzing on a guitar, spend loads of time and effort trying to illuminate it or buy a noise gate.

Can be:-

bad earth on mains

Incorrect polarity

transformer inductance

unbalanced leads

Unscreened leads

Faulty leads

Leads of differing lengths

Too high gain in signal chain

Faulty Valve or other amplifier component

Inductance from any electrical source.

Crap effects pedal

Bad connectors

Faulty effects pedal.

Crap guitar

Faulty guitar wiring

Thankfully I dont have this problem unless I set my amplifier on very high gain.

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote kedwardsleisure Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11 April 2015 at 1:23pm
I suppose it's possible you have circulating earth currents in the structure of the building, inducing magnetic effects in the venue; in which case you can't stop the problem at source, only mask or hide it. Assuming you mic-up the guitar cabs, you could try noise gates, of course it won't help direct noise from the backline. There's no easy answer.
Kevin

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote kevinmcdonough Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11 April 2015 at 2:37pm
hey

main thing to do would be to get a guitarist to stand in the most hum inducing point and start turning things off.

Try stage lights first, stage power, venue lights, etc etc etc all the electrical stuff round about one at a time. Go through everything electrical around the stage. Eventually the hope is that you'll be able to narrow down what it is that's causing the problem.

It may turn out that it's something easy to fix, or it may turn out that its something thats really part of the fabric of the building and you cant change it, but at least you can narrow it down and see what's what.


k
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