Effects Loop Hum

[guitarchris76]

I am running a MXR Carbon Copy and an MXR Phase 90 Vintage 74 through my effects loop and am getting a prnounced hum. I have swapped out the pedals and both are doing it. If I plug a cable directly from send to return the hum goes away so I am pretty sure it is not the amp. The Mesa rep I spoke to said it is probably just because the stompboxes are really not meant to be run through the effects loop. I wanted to get some other opinions/solutions.

 

[leblanc74]

how are they powered....I had the same problem with my Voodoo Lab chorus and EH Micro Pog....I was powering them throught the DC Brick, and for some sort of reason those 2 pedals seem not to like the Brick and produced that HUM . So I had them connected to their own seperate wall adapters... Now there is no hum....

 

[JW123]

Im pretty sure a Phase 90 was designed for the front of an amp. Try powering them with just batteries. I have an old EH Chorus pedal and the wall power supply is noisy, but with batteries its fairly quiet.

 

[MrMarkIII]

Maybe those specific pedals were not designed for loop duty, but in general, time-based effects do sound better in the loop, after the pre-amp.
I agree, it's worth it to experiment with different power supplies.
Danelectro makes a "Zero-hum" adapter, and I hear the One-Spot is a good one.
You might also research "ground loop". It can happen when too much stuff is connected together and also plugged into the wall.
Ebtech (owned by Morley) makes a gizmo called a "Hum-X" hum eliminator. I have one of these, and it works.

 

[wastoid]

Sounds like a ground loop to me too, if using a different power source didn't cause the problem. Was the DC brick plugged into the same outlet that you eventually plugged the pedals directly into? I would expect there to be no hum in that case as well, or at least comparable hum to what you got when plugging them in directly to that socket.

...assuming it's a ground loop problem, at least.

 

[ANIMATED SUSPENSION]

Both of those pedals are designed and intended to be used between guitar and amp not in the fx loop.

 

[NoGlassNoClass]

Agreed, it's probably a ground loop. Do you have any pedals plugged into the amp's front-end sharing the power supply with the loop fx? If so, try using batteries or two seperate power supplies.

FWIW, the Carbon Copy can take up to +10 dB at it's input, so it will do just fine in the loop. Not sure about the phaser, but it would prob sound better in the front end anyway.

 

[Sustain]

one spot is a cheap piece of crap, I have been thru 3 of them. I bought a roland multi power thing and it works like a charm. Doesnt affect my noise, just wanted to put out there that the one spot is cheap, I thoght my pedals were dying and even rebought 2 wah's turns out it was teh onespot was intermittently sucking


I got alot of hum alot until i bought my rackmounted behringer denoiser. Now I get almost no hum.

My chorus I added out front of my amp also adds alot of noise, then i started using my NS-2 boss noise suppressor out front, putting the chorus in its loop, and no more noise there either.

You need somethign that will compare the sound passing thru the jacks to what comes out, and removes and filters the noise away.

 

[leblanc74]

Sounds like a ground loop to me too, if using a different power source didn't cause the problem. Was the DC brick plugged into the same outlet that you eventually plugged the pedals directly into? I would expect there to be no hum in that case as well, or at least comparable hum to what you got when plugging them in directly to that socket.

...assuming it's a ground loop problem, at least.

this is my set up...

Dunlop DCB10 DC Brick powering everything except for: Voodoo Lab Analog Chorus, MXR KFK1 10-Band EQ, Electro-Harmonix Micro POG, Electro-Harmonix Holy Grail Plus...which are powered but their own adapters...which all of these are on a heavy duty power bar... I have a Voodoo Lab power 2 "something like" that on order and will give that a shot.....

Guitar

Radial BigShot EFX

Loop1 } Morley Steve Vai Bad Horsie 2 Contour Wah | Keeley Compressor | Electro-Harmonix Micro POG | Maxon OD808 Overdrive

Loop2 } MXR EVH90 Phase90 | MXR EVH117 Flanger | Electro-Harmonix WIGGLER | Voodoo Lab Analog Chorus

Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier 3-Channel Solo Head

Amp's Loop } MXR KFK1 10-Band EQ | Maxon AD-9 Pro Analog Delay Pedal | Electro-Harmonix Holy Grail Plus

Dr. Z AirBrake

Speakers....

 

[Gibbyage]

How about boss phaser, tremolo, flanger, line 6 delay, all those go in the loop? Or should I put the phaser in the front of the amp?

 

[leblanc74]

How about boss phaser, tremolo, flanger, line 6 delay, all those go in the loop? Or should I put the phaser in the front of the amp?

this is how I did my experiment in regards if a pedal should be placed in the amp's loop or in front....

First I like to place the modulation pedals in the amp's loop in a right sequence....if there is no volume loss or horrifying noises, the pedal will stay there...if there is a volume loss it will be assign to the front arsenal...

 

[Gibbyage]

How about boss phaser, tremolo, flanger, line 6 delay, all those go in the loop? Or should I put the phaser in the front of the amp?

this is how I did my experiment in regards if a pedal should be placed in the amp's loop or in front....

First I like to place the modulation pedals in the amp's loop in a right sequence....if there is no volume loss or horrifying noises, the pedal will stay there...if there is a volume loss it will be assign to the front arsenal...

What would be a right sequence?

 

[leblanc74]

How about boss phaser, tremolo, flanger, line 6 delay, all those go in the loop? Or should I put the phaser in the front of the amp?

this is how I did my experiment in regards if a pedal should be placed in the amp's loop or in front....

First I like to place the modulation pedals in the amp's loop in a right sequence....if there is no volume loss or horrifying noises, the pedal will stay there...if there is a volume loss it will be assign to the front arsenal...

What would be a right sequence?

general rule but it is all subjective; however, it is working for me:

Wah > Compressor > Pitch Shifter/Octaver > Envelope Follower/Auto Wah > Overdrive > Distortion > Phaser/Flanger > Equalization > Chorus > Delay & Echo > Reverb > Looper

 

[Gibbyage]

this is how I did my experiment in regards if a pedal should be placed in the amp's loop or in front....

First I like to place the modulation pedals in the amp's loop in a right sequence....if there is no volume loss or horrifying noises, the pedal will stay there...if there is a volume loss it will be assign to the front arsenal...

What would be a right sequence?

general rule but it is all subjective; however, it is working for me:

Wah > Compressor > Pitch Shifter/Octaver > Envelope Follower/Auto Wah > Overdrive > Distortion > Phaser/Flanger > Equalization > Chorus > Delay & Echo > Reverb > Looper

Thats all in the loop or in front of the amp?

 

[Rocky]

Don't put wah, compressor or drive pedals in an effects loop.

 

[leblanc74]

What would be a right sequence?

general rule but it is all subjective; however, it is working for me:

Wah > Compressor > Pitch Shifter/Octaver > Envelope Follower/Auto Wah > Overdrive > Distortion > Phaser/Flanger > Equalization > Chorus > Delay & Echo > Reverb > Looper

Thats all in the loop or in front of the amp?

Posts: 49 is my setup scheme

 

[thejay]

I run all of my effects in front of the amp except my mxr delay. The mix knob when turned up creates a faint fuzzy sound in front but in the loop it sounds fantastic - no fuzzy sound at all. I run from my guitar to amp: X2 - TU2 - Crybaby Wah - Phase 90 - Chorus - Flanger - Tremolo. As I said I keep the Delay in the loop.