getting rid of noise from a guitar amp

[AngusHastie]

Getting OT now, I admit, but Deknow, seeing as you seem to know about these things, do you have any suggestions for getting rid of noise from a guitar amp caused by fx pedals?

My setup is:
- Fender Vibrolux Reverb Amp (one of the reissue tube amps - unfortunately, although I use it pretty exclusively in the UK, I bought it in the US so I have to power it through a big, heavy step-down transformer - maybe I'll look into getting the power rating changed in the amp itself...)
- FX chain that goes guitar (usually noiseless pickup strat or PRS) -> vox wah -> BOSS tuner -> BOSS compressor -> Ibanez tube screamer -> Line6 echo park delay -> amp (no fx loop). I have to power the delay pedal from a different power source from the rest of my pedals, which I daisy chain, because it creates a terrible noise otherwise.
But I still get a lot of noise from my amp that I don't get if I take the pedals out of the chain. Is there any way I can cut this down?
angus

Editor's note: I split the topic from http://electro-music.com/forum/topic-8837.html - Seraph

[Kassen]

Hmmm, could you describe the noise? You seem quite concerned about the power suplies but if those are bad then you'd get humm, probably not noise. If it is the transformers ont he pedals then it will stop being noisy if you switch those to bateries, you might want to try that to rule out the power suply. Does the noise stop if you turn off the compressor? Compressors in large signal chains can make normally inaudible noise much louder.

[phasercs101]

If it's a power thing most likely grounding issues then it will make a hummmmmmmmmmmmming noise, at a frequency at 60 Hz or sorry 50 Hz for you in England. Two easy solutions 1) Attach all your equipment to the same ground. 2) if you can live without the 50 Hz range just EQ the noise out of the recordings.

If that doesn't work it's out of my league.

[blackdiamond13]

do you think it's possible that there's a problem in the wiring with the grounding connections? someone here had a problem with his amp and he went and bought HVAC foil and the humming disappeared at 99 percent. He went to a guitar store, tried his guitar there on another amp or something and then figured out his amp was the troublemaker... maybe you can do something like that

[Mohoyoho]

I would take all the pedals out of the chain, and then try each one alone with the amp to see if the problem is with one particular FX box. If that fails to find the noise, then leave one connected to the amp and then go through the rest one by one. Once you find the culprit, double check to see if the patch cords are causing the noise. You need to isolate the problem to be able to remedy it. If you discover that one particular FX box or patch cord is not the problem, then I would bring the amp to someone reputable to fix the problem. I would also try different instruments through the setup. Single coil pickups on guitars can be quite noisey.

[blackdiamond13]

you got a really mixed bag here, bro, it could have to do with the transformer itself, come to think of it.....

[Inventor]

I'm with Mohoyoho, try to isolate the noisy one. And I'll add this:

When I brought my new amp home and hooked it up there was an approximately 2 Hz ticking sound which I eventually figured out was because I was plugged into a power strip that had the safety ground removed. I replaced the power strip and the ticking was greatly reduced.

Interestingly when I put the Strat's 5-way pickup switch on the neck+center pickup there is no ticking, but on any other setting there is a slight ticking sound. I am guessing that those two pickups are connected like a big humbucker pickup, canceling out common mode signals, but that's just a guess.

Good luck with the noise problem.

[zxmusic]

It might be a ground loop from the multiple power supplies your using. Can you battery power the pedals? if you can try it. There are also products that isolate and reduce ground-looping