5 Ways To Fix Ground Loops In a Guitar 

This is the best explanation I have heard so far on what a ground loop is. Great Work!

As a life long electronics tech/company engineer I appreciate how you explained ground loops. Of course you could have gone off way into the weeds with this one. It's interesting when you deal with voltage amplification (tubes) vs. current amplification (transistors) devices and their mixing together in circuits. Thank You, I've enjoyed your videos.

Finally someone really explaining it well, and showing why that happens. Really clear and with good details. Thanks

From Leo: good that you brought up the safety problems as well as weird hum. Our lead player had vintage amp with a two wire cord, mine was more modern with three wire. We really did not seem to have a noise problem, but if we touched each other, or he bumped his guitar against me, I would get a pretty intense shock. He said he didn't feel a thing. Some old buildings only really have two wire power without real grounds. An older church near here fried the minister when he was baptizing someone and grabbed the microphone. The shock caused cardiac arrest. One place I play has pretty fancy lighting and dimmers that cause a lot of problems with single coil guitars. I use a Rocktron Hush pedal that can be set to just barely cancel the hum and still leave most of the sound. Humbuckers are not a problem there.

when It comes to ground loop, 60cycle hum, same circuit, draw etc etc I'm the biggest "I don't get it" person out there, This is my 9th video trying to understand why my amp is humming but more so how to make it stop & finally I get it. This video explained things in a way I could understand.

Being shocked while playing guitar certainly isn't fun! Good point. However, the point of the 3-wire to 2-wire adapter isn't to drop ground, but to give you access to it in order to ground it yourself. I've fixed PA issues in temp situations by using one with lamp cord and a large screwdriver driven to ground outside the window. Very ghetto, but very effective.

Very good explanation. I thought I was going to hear againg about ground cutting on plugs, but your video is very instructive, precise and not too deep into technical things. That's a very difficult point to be, and I really appreciate it. Congratulations and greetings from Spain!

Thank you! I have been chasing signal noise for a long time. This was very informative and explained very clearly.

I believe this video was the answer to a problem with some really annoying very audible buzzing sound coming from my rig. I found out that it did not come from my pedalboard since the sound continued even though the power supply was disconnected. However when the line out in my amp was disconnected the buzzing sound stopped. I tried two different line out XLRs and in both cases there was a buzzing sound coming out. Unfortunately I couldn't fix the problem so I had to skip playing guitar for that evening. At home I have connected everything in my rig to the same outlet extension, but when setting up in another place I found it more convenient to use different outlet extensions to connect my pedalboard and my amp so this might then be the reason it is buzzing a whole lot. I look forward to see if this will fix the problem!

Thank you for this information I am going to be moving the power cables around in my home studio setup asap

Very nice. Understand the problem. Cure the illness instead of remedy. Love it. You nailed it.

Best explanation for hum noise in my guitar rig . Thank you ! Subscribed

Knowing a subject is one thing and the ability to teach is another. Amazingly, this guy combines the two. Great video this.

Thank you for stating the facts that ground loops do not exist in guitars. I've had people claim a lot of wild things about grounding within a guitar. Essentially, as long as your parts are reading 0 Ohms, it genuinely does not matter what order you ground them in.

Thanks. Last night I was only using Mac Air GarageBand->Apogee Jam (audio interface via usb) ->Guitar. It’s very noisy once the volume pot reached 10, and I am holding the strings already. Below 6 is quiet. I appreciate the advise.

I added a double converting UPS to my home studio and that cleaned up the power immensely. Has to be double converting though, a non-double converting UPS won't do it. Also, I have used the ebtech humx to eliminate the hum from a ground loop.

bro you are answering all of my questions. there are not enough videos on the basics for people with no prior knowledge of electronics or using a multimeter. Cant believe it took me this long to find this channel.

I think back and laugh at the soooooo many times, in the 80s, pretending to be the first person to touch lips to background mic as a guitarist. None of us wanted to be the guy that got shocked. It happened pretty much 50% of shows. Sometimes it hurt pretty good. But we lived through it.

This is truly informational . thank you!

This is EXACTLY what I needed to learn. Best practices for audio power.

Ok just seen this video here good topic. Personally I have 5 individual circuits for all studio gear plus I have 5 furmam power conditioners as well. And considered adding Tripp lite isolation transformers At each circuit as well. What’s your thoughts on this. Overkill or not

I had an intermittent noise issue that drove me totally nuts. The random nature of it made it that much more of nightmare to figure out let alone fix...Once I realized what it was I felt pretty dumb for not figuring it our sooner haha. But maybe this will help some of you. My setup is in a room ABOVE the garage. Half the time the 60 cycle hum was at a completely reasonable level, my tone generally stays in the overdrive spectrum and the volume is usually not high enough to piss off neighbors. but far too often and what felt wildly random and no matter what I did the level buzz would drastically increase. There is a florescent light on the ceiling of the garage right below the part of the floor where my amp sits. when the light is off level of buzz is fine, light on its not awesome. The point of all this is EMF's don't need to be in the same room to mess with your signal.

In this video you did mentioned that good qualitu isolated power supplies are strongly recommended (and I believe this is true in general). However, in a standard guitar>pedal/power supply>amp rig, a not isolated Power Supply could create a ground loop path (as the amp and power supply grounds will be connected through the energy patch cables) ? Hi Dylan, I´m a huge fan! Congrats for you great work!

No BS, just accurate and practical info. Thanks.

man this video could be refaced as if it were made for gamers who stream and you would solve a whole other world of people who have no clue why they have noise issues. No one with coherent knowledge in the gaming world understands the issue and this video is gold. Im partial because you're one of my favorite people to have explain things ever but still.

Clear and on point as usual. Thanks again!

Man you helped me out thank you

I have guitar prob with the noise at gigs but never at my studio with same volume. Gonna try going from same power strip for this one hopefully it fixes, but I heard the power at the spots we play is old and low. Always strips the tone like you say.

how many times I watch this vid, it's still awesome. thank you for the explanation. 😎👍

You got the "big blue flash (7:50). Had that a number of times. Another thing that happened to me was playing in like a basement bar type of thing. Someone spilled a drink where I was standing and when I would touch the strings on my guitar, my body grounded to the floor. YIKES! I guess there was no other grounding through the outlet and I became the ground for the whole rig. Spent the night straddling that puddle. Bad mojo. Even though ground loops don't happen inside a guitar, I noted on my Stratocaster that everything was grounded to the volume pot (star grounding). A long time ago, I realized that the pots, and switches and output jack all ground to each other through the shielding on the back of the pick guard. I removed all the ground wires except for the cavity shielding and bridge ground and tested for continuity across all components. Everything is grounded. In fact, my Jazzmaster only has the signal wire connected to the output jack. It's grounded through the shielding as well. I don't like lots of extra, unnecessary wires. Guitar sounds exactly the same.

yo you explained this so well. Thanks so much bruddah

Best video I've seen on this.

Just for the record pedals don't have a ground loop, the hum associated with pedals is ripple current (usually from a digital source or just ugly power) being amplified hence the need for isolated power. The only exception is stereo pedals in which case everything you said is correct. The way I solved my ground loop was a radial engineering stage bug but, I'm still on the search for the right power supply.

Home studio and DBX286s was noisy as hell when I hooked up the line out to my interface or to the line in on my PC. Unhook the line out and no noise YET the two devices were on the same strip (tried various strips) side by side. I even went so far as to pull them out of the strip and plug them into the same socket one on top of the other. What gives? Advice given was to remove the ground from the DBX286s since it is grounded to the PC that is grounded to the wall so only one ground is shared. The line out (TRS) is where they would share the ground.

I really would like some help. Lately I've experienced great hum on my gigs. I freelance with artists and am in a couple of bands. As you can imagine there is a wide variations of scenes with not so great electrical engineering going on. How do I minimize the problem. Can I cut my self free from any type of fault with some kind of hub with outlets I'll always bring with me? Line box DI? My pedal board has a Carl Martin DC factory power supply with digital switchers and it's guaranteed hum free. Or can there have occurred something with the unit so it's no longer doing so well? I always go direct and my pedal board is as this, from right to left. Guitar-Korg pitch black tuner custom-Xotic SP Compressor-Jan Ray OD-Carl Martin DC drive OD-UA Dream 65 amp sim-Nux Atlantic Delay/reverb-MXR micro amp Boost-Mixer (FOH)....

You can definitely have a ground loop in a guitar, if a component has multiple paths to the star point on the jack, they form a one turn inductor, that picks up EMI and introduces it into the signal path, which on a passive guitar is more of a problem than on an active guitar since the signal level is so low so your signal to noise ratio is going to be low. However, star grounding is probably the least of your worries, proper shielding, grounding everything including the strings etc is probably a lot more worthwhile endeavor compared to star grounding, but it’s still a good idea to be mindful of it and avoid multiple grounds as much as possible.

Nice VID as always. Any thoughts on Grounding strings on an acoustic with passive Piezo under saddle pickup? I use my tructy old FISHMAN EQ PRO II. Would a DI box make a difference. I never really understood them.

I'm just a home guitar hobbiest and my simple rig used near my PC is a Blackstar HT-1R combo and 250-style overdrive pedal. I have the amp and pedal One-Spot plugged into a Furman SS-6B surge protector with EMI/RFI filtering. That's plugged into a separate wall outlet with nothing else on the circuit. I do have my PC on anothher outlet circuit along withh my printer and display. Sometimes I connect an audio cable to the PC from the amp's emulated output with a Y-splitter to my monitoring headphones so I can play along withh guitar leesson videos and songs without disturbing my wife. That being said, I mostly play the amp with headphones and no PC connection. Either way I get this high pitch chirping noise in the background like SOS morse code. With humbuckers I get no low hum but single coils are well single coils as I just got an HSS guitar too. I also have a USB connected Focusrite Scarlett Solo interface but I can't record with this noise. I'm considering a SS-6B replacement like the Black Lion Audio PG-P Portable Power Conditioner which looks similar but boasts studio power conditioning using panasonic caps and 3x quieter than equal-priced competion. I don't know how true that is or maybe it's sales hype. My row-house in Maryland was built in 1957.

this is really helps me..

You should do a video one guitar cables that use the screen as a conductor, vs cables that have 2 conductors and the screen only connected to ground at one end. That one was doing the rounds a while back

Extremely helpful! Thanks!

Really great presentation. My two cents: How do I know if I'm on "one circuit"? Here's how I do it. Tools needed: Two extensions cords and one volt meter. The process: First of all, some electrical facts for home and small business (single phase) voltages are ( leg one= 120v) (leg two= 120v) (leg three is a neutral = 0 volts). Combine leg #one (120v) with leg #two (120v), you get 240v total with your volt meter between the two (hot) legs. This means anywhere in your home or small business (USA), the outlet plugs deliver 120v (+ - 5volts tolerance) of power (nothing to do with amps yet). Your typical wall outlet plug has three holes (like two eyes and a round mouth). Top right (eye) is 120v. Top left eye is a neutral (= Zero volts). Bottom (round mouth) is a Ground (= Zero volts). Back to the process: Take out your two extension cords. Pick any available outlet and plug in an extension cord. Pick any OTHER available outlet in the room and plug in the OTHER extension cord. Use your volt meter and carefully insert one of the leads into the top right (eye) hole on the extension cord. Then CAREFULLY insert the remaining volt meter lead into the top right (eye) hole OF THE OTHER extension cord. If you get Zero volts (no voltage), its the SAME circuit. If you get 240v , the circuits are of DIFFERENTcircuits. It's that simple. You can actually go all around the room (or your entire home) and mark the outlets with (Circuit A or B) or (Circuit 1 or 2) or (Circuit Red or Blue) whatever works for you. NOTE: Large business's, large venues and even a few huge homes have 3 phase services. The voltages in those three phase services can be different , but the process of circuit identification is the same. It's electricity, AND IT CAN KILL YOU ! BE CAREFUL and DON'T GET CARELESS ! Live to play another day! I hope this may help some of my fellow musicians.

I only watched 4 minutes and problem solved. Thank you so much! My guitar electrocuted me and people said i needed to get it grounded and bla bla. Turns out like you said i have my ps4, the monitor screen and the amplifier all connected together when it was the amp only nothing was wrong. Thank you so much

Hi Dylan! Trust your are doing well. Very nice video and explanation, how about electro magnetic wave? I am using Furman power conditioner but still get buzz noise, the noise is dynamic depends on the guitar direction, some position have lower noise. Please advise. Thanks!

I like the kobalt power supply. It has rubber plug covers attached for the unused plugs.

One suggestion (I'm an electrician some of the time)...if it's practical/affordable run a dedicated radial circuit from your main switch box/fuse board/consumer unit or what ever you call it to your studio then star wire all the outlets from a junction box. This should eliminate loops within the studio and minimise noise from devices in the rest of the building. And a question for you...which pickup gives the widest frequency and dynamic range? Cheers rich

My studio is upstairs above the kitchen with recessed florecent lighting. I didn’t put two & two together right away. My wife would go into the kitchen and turn the light on then leave and turn it off and I didn’t know she was in there. My guitar stand was over the lightning fixture unbeknownst to me. Spent an hour or so going through everything. Then she came up with some snacks and a light went off in my head. Took the fixture out and put in two track lighting fixtures and now we are both happy.

Greatly informative and easy to understand, thank you my friend

Would a DI box be worth it if it connects to an audio interface? (Guit.>DI box>Audio Interface>PC Daw)

on a 2 humbuckers guitar, could i youse a wood bridge like a jazz type of bridge or is it necessary to have a grouded bridge kinda like a LesPaul?

Praise the algorithm gods for sending me this. This was driving me crazy for like two weeks. Thank you!

Would an insulating or voltage matt prevent electric shock due to an improper ground condition? Lets say a guitar player is standing on this type of matt, then while touching the guitar strings he touches a mic thats not grounded properly. Would a properly rated insulating matt prevent being shocked or worse.

Hello, Dylan. What products would recommend (to do and products)? Trying to record an electric guitar i have lots of noise. To minimize it i have to find a certain position, i have to face away from computer, hold a guitar in unnatural position (not even 90 degrees, more like 100-110 degrees), and any deviation from that "safe zone" causes noise in my headphones (monitors are off, of course). It is either with single-coiled pickups or humbuckers (the first ones, obviously, worse). The StudioOne shows quite a high level of noise on a recording channel /quite hearable -33 to -44dB/ even with no sound coming through (when i don't produce sounds on guitar and/or when guitar is in "safe from noise" area). I am thinking about getting Electro-Harmonix Hum Debugger pedal... (?) That's the main question. Also... ~ I have too much noise when i turn the mix (comp/in) knob towards instrument (1) and a very little headroom for recording, either the signal is too weak or, after moving the gain knob just one little degree, i get distortion, noise and clipping (2). It is either with single-coiled pickups or humbuckers (the first ones, obviously, worse). PreSonus iTwo has a very little headroom, but i suspect that this is not the sole cause: maybe by increasing the gain i increase the noise (interface limitations+ground loop). (1) - waiting for a new interface Topping E2x2 (could/can't record anything with PreSonus iTwo or, recently, SSL2...SSL2 supposed to have a very low noise, but in my case (? why) i had even more noise...returned it while i could). (2) - waiting for a new interface and a ground loop breaker usb power injector for the interface C-port. For recording with a physical amp (Katana) i plan to get a Morley Humno Noise Eliminator. DI boxes (active and passive) seems like do nothing in my case (or make things worse): Behringer active DI20 gave lots of noise; DI Dolamo a bit Increases the noise compared to direct connection (TRS a bit more compared to XLR), but in nut-shell, it does not decrease the noise. Don't have any Gate pedal and not planning because it is tricky and i hardly play heavy music. In recorded track the noise is increasing in quiet times. I have a power conditioner Furman m8x, everything is connected there and it goes to one outlet. No noise-cancelling devices for pc or USB ports or 9V supply. All my guitars are in tact (grounded and shielded). The lights: no lights, some lights, big lights - not much difference. Thank you, Dylan!

Thanks for this. Very informative and helpful. I'm putting all new controls and pickups in my tele and was concerned that my obsessive ground/shielding could backfire, but I'm not too worried now. Also, back in my youth(circa1980) we had this old Ampeg amp that rotated amongst our garage band members that had only a two prong plug(probably not the original) and had jolted us a few times when we bumped while jamming. Luckily we all survived that amp and lived long enough to be old rockers with tales to tell. A little stupid but lucky.

I belive faraday cage and star ground is far crucial in active guitar/bass circuits, as the circuit amplifies signal AND noise/hum in an early stage. EMG active pickups are the safest option to avoid electroshock.

So! In my case probably it is the audio interface and the computer produce this ground loop?

That happened to me too one time to Dylan... I was playing guitar and went to sing and wham everything went all white for a split second and my bottom lip got burnt. I had no idea, someone else had cut their ground off. It wasn't fun.

I have read some guys on the internet disconnect the shield wires inside the patch cable, essentially 'ground lift' the cable. That is, only the tip of the TS jacks is connected and the sleeve is not. Is it safe to do so?

Questions/Problems (more). * Opening a project i got message that 970 files are missing. With Search i found some missing files, it became 270, and these can't be found anywhere (i've searched all folders /sub..sub_subs/ in my big folder dedicated only for StudioOne, all back up /mirror/ folders on 2 external drives). It is an old and very extensive 'precious to me' project, and ridiculous thing is, for example there is a guitar solo, i splat it at some points to get rid of some noise when i was not playing, now the solo is there only in pieces; all channels are ripped off here and there. Plus other issues. * Yes, as a rule i have a 25 minutes save; "use cached plug-in data on save"; "ask to copy external files when saving document" all on/checked. * I didn't change nor names, nor locations of working folders and files (though i have this project saved under different names as versions). * What i did is: i replayed some important stuff on left-overs and added two old stereo mix tracks of this project/song with different EQ settings (and with mistakes, quite unbalanced, but it is better something than nothing, there is no way i'd re-do everything due to circumstances and unrepeatable settings and instruments). I aligned everything nicely (time, buses, volume,..), corrected, blended everything nicely, and put vocals at the right level (up and with different settings, that's why mainly came back to this project), clicked "save". Logically, the DAW asked me "do i want to add these two stereo tracks/files", obviously, i clicked "yes" and...1475 files for each added stereo track started copying. In panic i pressed "cancel", but it was too late. Where these files are from, why?! Why these stereo tracks came with so many files? Where they went to? I checked the media folder to look for duplicates: no duplicates, but there are about 6000 files there (and some of them are not from this project). * But this is not all: i had plenty enough of memory space (workable 450-500GB free), now i am in the end of red zone with 78GB left. Agh.. * But this is not all again: i started clearing up the space on pc and the more i delete or move ...the lesser space i get on computer...now it is 50GB. * To free space and continue working (without interruptions and CPU overload) i thought that i would mirror the path, create the same folders in external drive, link the project to media files there, But i am afraid to make things worse in this and other projects (especially considering that freeing the space now works for me the opposite way). * What is wrong? How can i fix all that mess?

Are the Morley Hot spot things that you plug in the wall with your amp dangerous in a live setting?

Thanks for the clarification on ground loops ad why guitar circuits cant have them. Is it also correct that ground loops are mainly to do with AC circuits (like the power circuit in your house) and not DC circuits (like the circuit in your guitar) ?

I have a voodoo lab power supply. Would replacing it be a good idea but the one that you are recommending? Or does the voodoo lab power supplies have the same quality isolation as the one that you are recommended.

Why is it that my guitar with a P90 and bass with P style pickups pick up electrical humming frequencies but my guitars with humbuckers are radio silent when using an audio interface? Is that ground loop or something else completely? Neither of those guitars hum when plugged into an amp.

12:12 am. EST. Can't sleep.. have some problems.. you know.. job related.. worries.. etc.. but I am sleepless thinking how can I solve my noise problem in my guitar rig. You Sir jist gave me the first step to take. Thanks!.. (Rig. Gibson Explorer, Gibson Firebird, Epiphone Les Paul Classic, Gretch Electromatic, Fender Telecaster Humbucker at Neck, Fender Telecaster Single coil, JCM800 2204 /1986, Vox AC30 with ext cabinet, Peavey 5150/ 1993 with Atlas cabinet. OCD/BIG MUFF/MXR PHASER ,CHORUS ,VOX WHA, DD500, EH CANYON, BOSS SY300, Boss EQ200...almost all controlled by Voodoo labs Ground control and switcher) .. will let you know how I fix the problem! Thanks again

Just put any good quality ground isolation transfromer any where with in the signal chain. This will eliminate any ground loop noise. Make sure it is a quality ground isolation transformer.

Great, Dylan. Thank you. I'll try those things and maybe a new power supply for the pedal board. What if I keep good batteries in all my pedals and don't plug them into the wall? Would that keep ground loop problems out of my pedal board?

Thanks for sharing your knowledge. It’s difficult to understand at first because how can you tell electrons to go only on this path or such path is one way only. Now I need to rewire my guitar because I added extra wire connections that are not typically on schematics to make sure they all have common ground. I even put two cable set going from volume pot to output jack to ensure that if 1 fail, i have a back up. The electrons wont care which wire they would go, it’s all randomly scattering/ travelling am I right?

Good video. If I plug all my audio equipment in the same outlet having its own circuit, would using a receptacle with isolated ground be better?

So please explain it then. Why do I have noise with one of the guitars and not any with the other one with similar environment? What happens: slowly the hum increases till I touch the strings that eliminates the noise. It's a Les Paul with humbuckers, in theory they should cancel noise within the pickups. Do wires pickup noise like antennas? Or something else?

So what is the Solution? I have a decent Fender Mustang amp with that basic hum ! Specially when I turn in a certain angle.

I bring foam windscreens to every gig for exactly this reason. Been shocked too many times in cheap venues.

Why does my Strat make a lot less noise (buzz) when I touch the strings (and makes noise again when I let go of the fretboard)? (It has noiseless pickups, FYI.) My other Strat (also with noiseless pickups) doesn't do that (and is in the same room, amp, power, etc.), and is quieter to begin with.

I have an overdrive pedal that feeds back is there anything I can do?

That thumbnail tho hahaha

If i plug into pedals(w/isolated power supply) with my acoustic, into a direct box, then to the board, do I need to ground or lift the direct box?

I'm using an amp simulator and when I touch the cable jack either on the interface or the guitar it goes away almost completely. It also goes away when I touch my laptop. How can I fix this? I have an epiphone les paul so I don't think it's from the pickups.

the best response i could want, it helped me a lot, thanks.

Best fix I found (but not inexpensive): We live in a house that was built in the early 60's, there were multiple rooms on single 15 amp breakers, old panel with no dedicated main breaker. A few years ago I had an electrician come in to install a new panel and standby generator. While they did that I had them run a few dedicated lines on their own breakers....... problem solved.

My prs has two vintage braided style humbuckers (shield braid is the ground, inner wire is the hot) 1 volume, 1 tone, 3 way switch. I have it wired up but my bridge pickup is noisey. Neck is silent, unless I turn my volume pot off. What I'm wondering is, is the issue my pots? Shielding? Or is it the ground? I'd really appreciate some help

Very helpful!!

Great vid. My issue is with a guitar that's been copper shielded in side. Plugging it into an amp & pedals rig, I get annoying buzz and a ticking sound when touching the pickguard. Other guitars don't do this with the same rig. I've tested ground continuity through the guitar electrics and shielding. What you think is up.

Thanks for the information, Dylan! I have a noise problem in my home studio for months and i can´t find a sollution. When i plug my guitar or bass (both loaded with humbuckers) direct into my usb audio interface (no pedals or plugins), sometimes a very loud noise starts to happen. The only 2 electronical devices are my PC and the screen monitor, and both are plugged into the same outlet. I'd be very thankful if you or somoene here could help me!!

Can I use a $2 adapter with grounder on it? I live in apartment and thinking of getting isolated pedal strip,I have 2 create amps and a donner aby pedal and get pretty good hum, your opinion on how to fix problem with out getting shocked and getting rid of hum would be great if you would?

i can't find the cables on your website. Do you still sell them?

I have a tele that has Mexican standard pickups in it. I see most bridge pickup replacements drop in with a metal baseplate and it acts as the string/bridge ground. My Mexican bridge pickup has an eyelet that is looped onto the bridge pickup height screw and is pressed against the bridge with rubber tubing. Is there a more secure way to ground my bridge? I notice if I lower the pickup I lose ground. I just want a more stable ground connection. Short of replacing the pickup with a metal base plated one, is there other options? Thank you in advance Dylan.

He's so smart,I forgot how smart people sound

Dylan, I got into the habit of plugging my amp into one wall and my Pig Hog (9 cable) adapter into another wall. Regardless of which amp I use, I only have the minor, standard amp hum. Based on what I just heard, this is a ground loop situation, correct? Also, when using a Demon Overdrive or EH QTron+ or Dumbler pedals, seperate or together, I have no increase in hum. But, when I use the Mini Mosky Golden Horse with any of those or alone, I get increased noise. It happens when I click that pedal on. It's very obvious. What are my options? I like the pedal very much except for that noise. Thanks - Chris

great video, subbed.

I would love if you could talk about cone filters. I play guitar at church and have a nasty hum that seems to come from all the nearby lights. I have shielded cables and shielded guitars and humbucking (also noiseless single coil) pickups and still gets noise. We isolated the noise to the guitar and cable since the volume pedal at the beginning of the chain will "turn off" the hum when the volume is down. We can't really do anything about the wiring or anything. We got one of those EHX Hum Debuggers and it instantly solved the problem. I didn't notice any tone loss. But I would love to hear your thoughts on it! Thanks!

Noise gates are useful to prevent from white noise, not buzz or ground loops.

In my country Europe/Denmark, we don't have tradition of using grounded stuff in our houses. Stuff like washing machine, refrigerator, oven is, but you'll only find grounded sockets in these areas. Not in the rest of the house. The wall sockets in kitchen area has to be grounded according to the law, but I haven't got one single kitchen appliance thing like blender, coffee machine etc that has a grounded plug. They simply just don't make a lot of them or sell them for this market. You rarely find any musical equipment here in any stores that has grounded wall socket plugs, and if they do have this, we often have to use adapters because 3 legged plugs don't plug easily in to 2 holed wall sockets. lol. It kind of sucks and complicates stuff for us home recording people here. A complete rewiring of the electrical wiring in a house or apartment is EXPENSIVE and requires a lot of work and repairs afterwards. And even if we did this for the sake of safety, our equipment doesn't come with grounded power cables as default.

I am having problems with two 9V barrel jack powerded amps. They create hum and I can actually feel the electricity "bite" my hands when I touch my guitar. The only way I can use them is with an ABY box to connect them to an IEC powered amp. But even then one still hums while the other whistles. Is there anything else I can do to solve this?

I'm in ground loop 'ell at the moment. going to try a "Furman SS-6B-PRO 6-Outlet Pro Surge Suppressor with EMI/RFI filtration and Extreme Voltage Shudown" we'll see? my house's power is pathetic at best so at the very least, I'll have a nice power strip?

Hey Thanks! Very informative video. In my case, I do plug in my Mixer, CPU and Screen all on one power strip (with surge protectors). My studio monitors are switched off and my audio interface is passive and draws power via usb from my cpu. How else do you think could I be getting that disastrous buzz? Had my most embarassing first FB live gig today. Need to fix this before the next one in a week. The buzz was so bad I was singing out of tune coz it kep distracting me. please help!

As aways your the man. Thanks

@Sound Speeds 2.5mm to 3.5mm adapter connected to headset of phone , then to 3.5mm to 1/4 phono (,mono) then inserted to mixer using aux send and mic input,, ,, dial does not hum but when you try to dial a number, a loud humming comes up,,, how do I fix this ?

Hi Dylan, love your channel. I'm from Italy so excuse my english if I get anything worng. I own a Parker Fly Deluxe guitar with a stereo output jack one for magnetic pickup going to my amp and one for the piezo pickup going to my p.a. system (mixer) , in this case I am forming a ground loop. At home I can't hear noise, at least not at low volumes, but every time I have a gig (a venue) at higher volumes, I get upset because the ground loop noise is very loud and sometimes I have to play without the acoustic sound that defeats all the purpose of having that type of guitar. will a DI box connected to the piezo pickup solve my problem? if so, should it be active or passive?

You can't have a ground loop in a guitar because it has only one ground. You cannot have a ground loop within a house because it has only one ground. Sound logic?

If i plugged the guitar to amp strings not yet install? There a possible of hum noice?

I'm having buzzing issues with the Irig stomp I/0 pedal which powers the Ipad as I play. So I have a multi socket gang lead and to that are the mains adapter for the pedal and amplifier. The amplifier I'm using is a roland micro cube GX. The ipad is plugged via lightening cable to the pedal. I've had the pedal for 2 years and still don't have a clue to figure out where I'm going wrong. Does anyone have any suggestions. The buzzing stops when I either mute the strings or touch the machine heads or metal on the guitar..