Ground Loops - Fix The Hum On Your Pedalboard

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A ground loop can occur for any number of reasons on your pedalboard. No matter how they happen you want to have a quick and easy way to get rid of them. This loud 60 Cycle Hum can ruin a gig and force you to change how your running your pedalboard for that rehearsal or show if you don't have an easy fix in place.
In this video we show you how to identify a ground loop on your pedalboard, how to run some basic tests and most importantly how to fix a ground loop when it occurs.
00:00 - Intro
00:28 - When can a ground loop occur and what does it sound like?
02:10 - How to identify a ground loop with a simple test.
03:10 - How to get rid of a ground loop.
05:35 - Outro
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2. The TX Underfacer - goodwoodaudio.com/collections...
3. Output TX - goodwoodaudio.com/collections...
4. Custom Junctions - goodwoodaudio.com/pages/custo...
5. LongLine - goodwoodaudio.com/collections...

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Опубликовано:

6 авг 2024

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Комментарии : 96

@simon_patterson 3 года назад

"Press the ground lift button". Got it!

@GoodwoodAudio 3 года назад

its that easy... or at least it should be.

@DustinSwank 2 года назад

Thank you so much!

@dzxcqwe 3 года назад

Really nice information! This channel deserves more subs!

@GoodwoodAudio 3 года назад

Thanks for checking it out!

@stevenp.sparks2953 2 года назад

Not taking anything away from your brand, but my solution was: A SupaCharger power supply for all of my pedals, a small Furman Power Conditioner for both of my amps, Pangea power cables for each of the amps, and an iFi Ground Defender plugged into one of the amps. My 2 Fender tube amps went from noisy as hell to become Completely silent from then on. As an aside: A Ground Lift literally disconnects the electrical ground inside of the amp that you switched it on, which means if something goes awry (or you decide to become Pete Townsend), you are at total risk of electrocution from that ground-lifted amp.

@GoodwoodAudio 2 года назад

Hey Steven. Great solution! A ground lift in this instance though is a bit different. It's a safe way of lifting the ground. Instead of lifting the electrical ground on the amp you are separating the audio ground between board and amp. This way if an amp (like you said) decides to internally disconnect it's ground you still have the ground pin on BOTH amps connected to earth (safe) but still get the benefits of a quieter rig.

@stevenp.sparks2953 2 года назад

@@GoodwoodAudio Thanks for the education on that and for the great vids!

@moroboshidan7960 Год назад

3:19 thanks for that!

@oldestries 5 месяцев назад

Use wireless transceiver from the pedal boards to the amps. Like using 1 Swiff WS70 tx you can use multi rx points, u just need to buy extra receiver. But your signal will be significantly lower compare to when using cables.

@wal7710 3 года назад

Such great information! When are the interfacers tx coming back in stock?

@GoodwoodAudio 3 года назад

Its going to be at least a few weeks. Working on an engraved set of Interfacers at the moment! Will post on Instagram as soon as they are ready!

@Millennial_Mike 2 года назад

I've noticed a ground loop frustration on my rig through my DSM Humbolt Simplifier. I think it's pronounced through the use of the stereo FX loop? It's tricky because I'm using it as an ampless solution.

@GoodwoodAudio 2 года назад

yes, this is definitely still possible. Do you have the classic or DLX? Basically you want to try and get a ground lift going. If you can use 1/4" outs instead of XLR, then you can run to DI and use that ground lift / or onboard ground lift. Either way, that would be the first step! Very frustrating though.

@martysradioshow5979 9 месяцев назад

I have an 110 volts Marshall amp i connect it a transformer 220 Out 110 volts in now it has a Ground and had a Noise humm buzz whatever when i play i feel it has a bite of an Electric Ground now some advice me to put an Earth Ground so i do my friend advice and i works but still when i switch the overdrive channel the Noise is still at present Can you give me some advice to prevent the noise thank you

@jorgea3507 2 года назад

With a one amp set up, I run a pedal board, ( all pedals go into a Moen Gec9 pedal switcher). A wireless Sennheiser powered thru a powered rack. So 3 plugs go into a furman ss-6b surge outlet surge box, ( basically a power strip). This gets plugged into the venue wall outlet. My question is do the individual plugs of each system need to be ground lifted or can I just ground lift the Furman which houses all 3? This is a 5 piece band so I wonder if someone else plugged into another outlet but same circuit is also the culprit?

@GoodwoodAudio 2 года назад

In theory this is the first thing to try if you get a ground loop (plug into the same outlet for your rig). Often though in my experience it doesn't fit anything. Why?! No idea. Smarter people than me could explain it well. But really, having a transformer isolated output on your board is the only consistent way I've found to fix ground loops. They way you're currently running yours though is good. keep doing that and it *might* fit potential loops, but not guaranteed.

@RabidGerry 3 года назад

If your FX loop does not have a ground lift, is it possible to reduce the hum or quieten it by disconnecting the shield from the cable you have coming out of the FX loop send or am I trippin? I read this somewhere and I am hoping to solve the hum issue I have with my small rack setup of a preamp in the loop of and FX processor. I have a Peavey Rockmaster in the loop is a Boss GX700 and whilst a gate does gate rid of the hum it does sneak through occasionally and I figured I'm best just getting rid of the problem as opposed to masking it. Thanks for this useful video and keep up the good work ;)

@GoodwoodAudio 3 года назад

It's an option some people experiment with. I would first try and find the cause though. Get in touch with the amp builder and tell them what's going on (see if Peavey has recommendations), try a different amp FX loop and see if the problem persists (then it might not be the amp / or some other interaction might be partially responsible), make sure you've got everything on isolated power. I would also strip the rig down to it's most basic (guitar - amp - GX700 - Cab) and see if the issue is still there at that point. If not, slowly add pieces of gear back into the chain.

@AllenSmith-gq9bo 3 года назад

Thanks so much for the information. Does the Hum X perform the same job as an audio transformer? Also, what audio transformers do you recommend? I often run stereo with two Fender Twins. Sometimes I also use a TC Electronics Talk Box Synth that is lined to a PA. From my experience, all of these scenarios have the possibility of producing that hum.

@GoodwoodAudio 3 года назад

Hum X does a great job yes, just no phase correction from memory although I think it could be easily modded to add this. I'd just make sure the transformer is 20hZ to 20kHz (won't filter your audio w/ a low or high pass). There are many other factors, but if its designed for audio use, you should be pretty safe. Ya - you generally can get a hum if you have more than one output leaving your board (this includes the 3 cables for an amps FX loop). It can be a bit of a pain. The plus - most balanced outputs come with ground lift - but not all.

@AllenSmith-gq9bo 3 года назад

@@GoodwoodAudio is an isolation transformer the same thing as an audio transformer?

@GoodwoodAudio 3 года назад

@@AllenSmith-gq9bo generally yes. You can use transformers in different ways / for different purposes, but in this instance it usually would be used for similar things.

@raynefaded 2 года назад

All your examples are multi-amp, but I have this issue with one amp in (an old ampeg v4). Guitar > Pedalboard > Amp. Hum only exists when the cable is inserted into the head. My pedalboard runs off a simple Mosky power supply...

@GoodwoodAudio 2 года назад

The main reason for the multi amp is that the multiple paths to ground (one path per amp) is usually what causes the loop. Does this happen in your rig with other amps? Or just the Ampeg? If you plug guitar straight to ampeg, same issue? Or does it go away when no pedalboard is in the chain?

@sebastiangutierrez2962 5 месяцев назад

Hi, great video but I have a question, I'm planning to get a JHS colour box v2 to use it as a glorified DI but it doesn't have a ground lift, some like a ground lift adapter like the Whirlwind Lifter would do the trick? Or is it safer to use a DI box that already has a ground lift?

@GoodwoodAudio 4 месяца назад

it should work fine ya. I'd give that a shot and just plug it in if you're in a pinch.

@MichaelSorensen-bl3ec Год назад

I've always found that the Ebtech hum eliminator works very well to keep a rig quiet. But it's always a problem, and an unpleasant one.

@GoodwoodAudio Год назад

I've used that in the past as well with some success.. Have had some good and some bad reviews from customers that have used it. Only thing there is no polarity. But if that's not an issue, that's also a great place to start!

@MYGAS21 8 месяцев назад

For the gigging musician with 3 amps, wouldn't putting all amps on the same power strip provide common ground?

@charlesb7831 3 года назад

I'm currently running 2 amps and want to run 3 or 4 now, however my Earthquaker Swissthings pedal doesn't have enough outputs lol. I'm running a Carvin X50B with 4x12 cab and a Marshall jcm800 4010 combo. I want to add my Peavey stereo chorus 212 and Peavey Bandit. I run everything off my ART power conditioner including what few pedals I have. ie. Zakk Wylde wah , into a gain stack of a MXR Zakk Wylde overdrive with a Ibanez Nu-tube screamer and MXR stereo chorus. I was thinking of using the second output on the stereo chorus as a way to add one of the other amps.

@GoodwoodAudio 3 года назад

Totally depends what effects you want in each amp... obviously adding an amp to the output of the stereo chorus means any effect after the stereo chorus won't be in that amp. If that's what you want - perfect! If not, you'll need another solution. We can chat through custom junctions to handle this, or just keep doing what you're doing (experimenting) until you find the combo of effects / amps that you like. Endless options out there, but happy to help where i can!

@cosmoganic 11 месяцев назад

Hmm interesting, I have a ground loop noise issue on my pedalboard (metal chassis Rockboard), if any of the metal patch cord grounds make contact with the pedal board, I get the ground loop hum. The power board is supplied by a voodoo lab pedal power 3 Plus which is mounted to the underside of the pedal board with metal brackets. Only going into 1 amp. Do you have any idea why this would be creating a ground loop? Thanks for your time Ollie

@GoodwoodAudio 11 месяцев назад

this sometimes happens with metal chassis boards... you need to keep it isolated from the frame of the board and you should be good to go.

@nicolasaraistrujak208 3 месяца назад

are those audio isolating filters the same thing as a DI box? Ive read that those isolators use a 1:1 transformer, but isnt a passive DIbox with 0 db reduced the same stuff?

@GoodwoodAudio 3 месяца назад

DI boxes can work as well (using a thru jack can also work on most) and yes - a 1:1 transformer is generally going to be your best bet with audio specs and the correct impedance for the context.

@GUIDESPERSPECTIVE 9 месяцев назад

I get problems just using 1 amp; No need for to amps for me as hobby style player, but I get my problems when I connect Loop pedals in the chain. No effects either, just going straigt from guitar, to looper pedal to amp.

@jonnygagel 3 года назад

Would this work for an audio interface if I was using an amp sim/ir cab?

@GoodwoodAudio 3 года назад

I answered on FB, but in short - maybe. Depends on other factors.

@AbComp870 Год назад

I have an effects pedal that goes pre/post, or 4CM. This setup induces some noise that I think is a ground loop. What would be the solution if this is a ground loop? The pedal is 12V center positive and both it and the amp are plugged into a power strip.

@GoodwoodAudio Год назад

You might need to isolate your amp when doing 4cm (both the send to the amp input and FX return)... It's really hard to say though without having the rig here and trying a bunch of variations. I'd get in touch with the company that made the pedal and ask them.

@AbComp870 Год назад

@@GoodwoodAudio I’ll try 4CM using the hum eliminator, comnecting as you describe. Ultimately I asked the pedal company and they think it’s my amp fx loop. I tend to believe them. Bassbreaker 15 effects loop has had other issues and this may just be another. I don’t have another amp with effects loop to test but I’m just going into the front for now. When I simply connect the pedal to the effects loop there’s just too much of an elevated noise floor it’s bad. I appreciate your advice though!

@aldrinclementina4297 2 года назад

Hi there. I don't play via amp. I play at a church in a worship team and they use DI box. I have an annoying popping sound when engaging the pedals and also sizzling sound when turning up the volume of my guitar. I'm using a Truetone daisy chain. It's say that it's not noisy but I don't know why it's doing this. I just ordered a power supply to try to remediate this situation. It's embarrassing every time I step on a pedal, that it gives me the popping sound, and imagine that when the delay pedal is on... Can you help me? What can I do?

@GoodwoodAudio 2 года назад

Popping can be frustrating... it can be a few things. Power being the first (which you're already working on), the other thing - one or multiple pedals in your chain could be leaking DC voltage into your audio line. A way to test this... Plug guitar into pedal #1, then out to FOH. Turn everything on, wait 30seconds, hit the pedal. Does it pop? Add pedal #2 to the chain... repeat. See when the popping starts. When you DO hear a pop, remove the pedal you added most recently and see if the pop goes away. That might show you the pedal causing an issue.

@velvetgutparry Год назад

Pedals can pop when going from true bypass to engaged. Also, the sizzling sound on your guitar’s knob could just be a dirty pot.

@19Cluj 3 года назад

I’ve always heard the "one less transformer than amplifiers". But what happens if I run 2 amps and have them both transformer isolated?

@GoodwoodAudio 3 года назад

Often it won't matter. Sometimes you can get a loud hum though. You need a path to ground somewhere on your rig.

@19Cluj 3 года назад

@@GoodwoodAudio thanks!

@GoodwoodAudio 3 года назад

@@19Cluj no problem!

@ArmyGideonTV Год назад

I have one amp and still get the noise. What would I do in this situation?

@GoodwoodAudio Год назад

Very good question. I'd check your guitar pickups. Go to the room / venue you get the most consistent noise. Turn your guitar volume down on the guitar itself - not a volume pedal etc). If the noise goes away (I suspect it will) your guitar pickups are the issue (most likely single coils?). You can't do much other than using a gate / noise suppressor which isn't an ideal situation or change guitar pickup types (use a guitar with humbuckers) or get noiseless pickups etc. When a guitar is picking up the noise due to lighting it's a tricky one without a 'perfect' solution.

@Sushi_Overdose Год назад

Hi ! Well I'm using just one amp and I've noticed an issue since I got back my Les Pauls with its humbuckers (496R and 500T). I have a hum since a while but it's since I've got a noise gate that I can really hear the issue : changing the noise gate treshold knob creates crackling sounds. Even with no dirt pedal on, I can get these sounds, like changing the attack knob on a compressor... Except If i touch a metallic part of another pedal, like a switch. I'm using a ISO-2 PowerPlant (but with multiple pedals on the same output) to power everything. I don't have the problem with the pedals in the fx loop. How can I determine where is the issue ? Thanks

@Sushi_Overdose Год назад

@@ccc-fj1ko I guess I will have to check all my drives since it happens with every guitar I have. Thanks

@Sushi_Overdose Год назад

@@ccc-fj1ko thanks a lot

@deanallen927 Год назад

Is this why Fender used to put auxilary AC outlets on the back of their amps?

@GoodwoodAudio Год назад

I'm sure it's part of it!

@deanallen927 Год назад

@@GoodwoodAudio I miss those. Handy, plus we knew we we felt less likely to get shocked.

@FLdb-wj4wc 6 месяцев назад

The description says fix the hum of your pedal board?

@DelScully 2 года назад

do you know what would exactly be the issue with my setup? i'm running an Orange OR15, with 3 pedals through the fx loop. I'm running from the loop, a GFI synesthesia (multi mod) first, into an empress echosystem (multi delay), then lastly into a Source Audio Ventris (multi reverb) back into the loop. If I have these pedals in front of the amp with the amp clean, they sound good, but the OR15 is an amp with beautiful preamp gain, and they sound terrible as expected with the gain up, so I've finally decided to use the loop and it's made things very confusing for me. The amp itself has a slightly louder hum, or buzz when turned on off of standby, and when I turn on the GFI, the hum goes up even more so, yet with the Empress it stays basically the same, and lastly with the Ventris, the hum also goes up again.. Also certain setting like autoswell, and tremolo dont seem to work in the effects loop. The swell only works with amp when its loud, and the trem gets a big volume drop. Other thing to mention is I am running all the pedals through a Strymon Ojai isolated power supply. I'm completely lost and it's upsetting as I've shelled out a fair amount of money for this rig, and the hum/buzz would make it impossible to record with.

@GoodwoodAudio 2 года назад

Great question! With it being a series FX loop from memory and overall a pretty basic design, I don't see why troubleshooting should be all that difficult. Can you insert any other pedals in there that you have? Even an overdrive or something in place of the Synesthesia and Ventris? I would get in touch with Orange and possibly GFI / SA and ask them for any additional advice. I haven't had issues like this yet so am surprised to hear this especially with power being isolated like you mentioned.

@DelScully 2 года назад

@@GoodwoodAudio Yeah, it seems like it should be simple but no simple results yet! My echosystem seems fine when turned on, however I always notice the fx loop to make the amp's hum louder when engaged, even if i just run a patch cable from either point so I'm getting it's something internal more so than the pedals now, as they work well right into the front end with no extra noise! Think I'm going to bring it to a techs soon, and hopefully it's something easy to fix like tubes etc.. Or else I'll be in the market for a new "pedal friendly amp" and run this with a wet/dry set up. Also found out I guess swell effects just dont work in fx loops for the most part, unless the amp is turned up loud enough for the input gain to trigger the swell, not sure why the trem isn't working though! I know the or15 has a tube buffered fx loop but from what I've read online with other's having this issue, it hasnt fixed it! Thank you for the reply though!

@bobrobertsNotUrBob Год назад

What was the second not safe option?, he said mess with the leads and that is all he said. Anyone have a little more info, is it do with putting in a shielded cable?

@GoodwoodAudio Год назад

Sorry..this was a very old vid. Some people cut the ground pin on their power cable as a way to disconnect / isolate the grounds. But if your amp has an internal short, the amp can become 'live' and electrocute you if you touch the chassis

@bobrobertsNotUrBob Год назад

@@GoodwoodAudio Wow, that is an insane option. thanks...some crazy people out there, who have clearly never seen anyone been shocked on stage before

@proequipments7210 11 месяцев назад

I SOLVED ALL MY PROBLEMS ..just did the earthing with copper wire.. its soo quite without a hiss.. sorry DI box

@alexaguirre1637 2 года назад

my amp has hum, I have a fender rumble 500 bass amp and my pedal board plugged into the same 3 prong power strip which is plugged into a regular bedroom 3 prong wall socket. I have gone through and checked all my cables/patch cables/pedals and all are good and not damaged. my bass amp has a ground lift in the back which i've never touched and my alpha omega pedal which is a distortion/D.I combo pedal has its own ground lift which I've also never touched. My power supply to my pedal board is a regular 9v 2 prong adapter plugged into the 3 prong power strip if that makes any difference? Would something like a hum x adapter help in my case? Or Should I try pushing the ground lift Button? I'm not sure what to do?

@GoodwoodAudio 2 года назад

I'd start with the ground lift on the amp and see if that helps! What power supply are you using?

@alexaguirre1637 2 года назад

@@GoodwoodAudio My power supply is the ammoon 8 500ma isolated outputs. The adapter is a regular 9vDc adapter.

@GoodwoodAudio 2 года назад

@@alexaguirre1637 ok. If they're isolated thats great. I've never used that supply though. I'd do that ground lift on the amp still and see how you go. After that, if it doesn't work, i'd strip the rig down to 1 line and add pieces in 1 at a time if theres nothing else you can pinpoint it to. When the hum comes back in, you can start looking at the last piece you added.

@heavymachete6235 2 года назад

@@alexaguirre1637 that power supply, along with many other budget power supplies, is not actually isolated. pretty much every power supply that has you plug in something other than wallpower (like if its using an input for 12 volts, 18 volts, 24 volts, ect ect.) isnt really isolated.

@alexaguirre1637 2 года назад

@@heavymachete6235 Thanks for your help. I'm going to look into getting a better power supply, see what I can afford.

@sausagechris183 2 года назад

man my amp like makes my guitar really quiet, or a ton of loud hum. and i got my phone charger conected to the outlet right under the power for my amp and when i touch the end of the phone charger it makes my amp hum. some black magic or something

@GoodwoodAudio 2 года назад

ya, a similar thing will happen with laptops as well. very frustrating.

@KodyXXVll Год назад

what if you get it on just one amp? I get atrocious ground loop hum on my amp's dirty channel when I use any cables. When i use a wireless pack it goes away. All guitars do this with all cables on the amp. It's not the preamp tubes because the problem goes away with wireless. only when i plug in with a cable does the atrocious humming come in. When i unplug input it goes away. please help

@GoodwoodAudio Год назад

this is a new one! Have you tried (with a cable) with both single coil and humbucking guitars? Are there pedals in teh signal chain or just guitar and amp?

@KodyXXVll Год назад

@@GoodwoodAudio Yes I've tried all different guitars and cables, etc... The only thing that fixes it is the wireless, but now I've discovered that if I put my left hand on the input where the cable is plugged into the amp, all of the humming goes away. But when I move back it's atrocious humming.

@GoodwoodAudio Год назад

@@KodyXXVll man. incredibly frustrating. Sorry I don't have much more to recommend. Sounds like different ground potentials between guitar and amp but I'm not 100% sure to be honest.

@KodyXXVll Год назад

@@GoodwoodAudio thank you for actually responding at least. my guitar tech suggested i bring it to his house and use his voltage regulator and his cabinets, gear, etc... to see if we can eliminate certain possibilities. thank you again.

@proequipments7210 Год назад

Can Di box solve this problem?

@BryanClark-gk6ie Год назад

One with a ground lift.

@jeffclark5024 2 года назад

Was driving me nuts in my home theater. I removed the ground. The likely hood of being shocked is extremely unlikely in my living room.

@fishingwithsasquatchoutdoors 10 месяцев назад

Ok this doesn’t tell me why I get hum when I connect to my pedal board but not when I connect directly to my amp.

@GoodwoodAudio 10 месяцев назад

Often (not always) that is lighting or an external source not playing well with your pickups. to test this - turn your pickup volume OFF and see if the noise goes away. If it does, that's your problem. fixing this is a bit of a nightmare...usually I'd suggest starting by moving to humbuckers in particularly bad venues.