I've been having humming issues with my guitar, but when i took my amp and guitar to a friends house, there was little-to-no hum. i have a loose output jack being fixed at the moment and the luthier/tech that fixing it told me a power conditioner would help but i was always told theyre a waste of money. My house is really old and i have the amp plugged into a power strip. Its plugged into a three-to-two plug adapter that i grounded to the wall.
Any input before i spend $100+ on one? Maybe i didnt supply enough info...but any help would be majorly appreciated.
would a power conditioner be a good investment?
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psychedelicrelic
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Re: would a power conditioner be a good investment?
Do you play in the basement? Where did you play at your friends? Do you use an isolated power supply for your pedals?
My guess would be it has to do with the old house. Wiring can be odd and do weird things to add hum.
No experience with power conditioners here, but I play in the basement of an old house which is a recipe for hum and I noticed a big difference when I switched from a one spot to a CIOKS power supply.
My guess would be it has to do with the old house. Wiring can be odd and do weird things to add hum.
No experience with power conditioners here, but I play in the basement of an old house which is a recipe for hum and I noticed a big difference when I switched from a one spot to a CIOKS power supply.
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Re: would a power conditioner be a good investment?
Would a power conditioner be a good investment? Maybe.
The first thing to check is if your adapter is actually grounded. If you are using one of those adapters that you screw to the outlet jack plate, it is only grounded if someone ran a ground to the metal box. In my house, they didn't. Grab yourself an outlet tester for around $5 at any hardware store. Plug it in, check if you have ground. Compare to your friend's house.
The next thing to consider is your guitar and your environment. Single coils? Ermm... Fender? Fluorescent lights? CFLs near death? Near a TV or computer monitor? All of these can make for a noisier guitar.
And last, my house is very noisy. Grounding is questionable. I play mostly single coils. I use CFL bulbs. I use a ridiculous amount of computers. When I purchased a power conditioner, it made a difference.
I have had a Samson PS15 for five or six years. It was very cheap. I opened it up and, if I remember correctly, it had a pre-packaged line filter in it. I imagine that many of the lower cost power conditioners have this sort of filtering, with price difference coming from extras like lighting and voltage monitoring.
Mike
The first thing to check is if your adapter is actually grounded. If you are using one of those adapters that you screw to the outlet jack plate, it is only grounded if someone ran a ground to the metal box. In my house, they didn't. Grab yourself an outlet tester for around $5 at any hardware store. Plug it in, check if you have ground. Compare to your friend's house.
The next thing to consider is your guitar and your environment. Single coils? Ermm... Fender? Fluorescent lights? CFLs near death? Near a TV or computer monitor? All of these can make for a noisier guitar.
And last, my house is very noisy. Grounding is questionable. I play mostly single coils. I use CFL bulbs. I use a ridiculous amount of computers. When I purchased a power conditioner, it made a difference.
I have had a Samson PS15 for five or six years. It was very cheap. I opened it up and, if I remember correctly, it had a pre-packaged line filter in it. I imagine that many of the lower cost power conditioners have this sort of filtering, with price difference coming from extras like lighting and voltage monitoring.
Mike
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