mark iv picking up radio stations - help

[paleamberglow]

i just plugged in my mark iv a few days ago for the first time in my new apartment and played for a while and it is picking up radio stations very clearly. this is highly annoying ! I tried plugging it in to every outlet and the problem never goes away. It has been doing this every day. i also just transferred the chassis from a rackmount kit to a combo cabinet, so this could have something to do with it. I never got a chance to play the amp in this apartment while it was in the rackmount kit, so i'm not sure if it would be doing this regardless of what the chassis is mounted in. anyone have any ideas on how to fix this ? i am going to take the amp to my other house later this week and play it there, to see if the new environment / electric system is the culprit. I also have a furman power conditioner there i can try with it... i'll see if that helps also. any help would be appreciated, thanks!

 

[Russ]

Check to make sure that the shielding is still in the combo cabinet. Also how old is your Mark IV? Has it been serviced recently? I too suspect your environment but you might try swapping back to the rack first to see if it isn't your combo cabinet.

 

[JOEY B.]

Does the rackmount kit have any shielding in it?

 

[paleamberglow]

the combo cab has shielding, if you're referring to the silver lining above where the chassis would go. the rackmount kit does not have any shielding, just a metal plate over the top. i might try to put it back in the rack, but i had one HELL of a time getting it into the combo cab, so i would hate to do that if not necessary. the location i am in right now is an old, shitty building on a very busy city block in the middle of philadelphia, so i am thinking that could have something to do with all the radio frequencies

 

[Russ]

Your location could very well be the problem. Usually shielding issues are the culprit with radio noise if not then time to retube or recap. Have you tried other guitars? Are you using wireless? Get as basic as you can first then try to diagnose from there by adding things back slowly. Try another amp there too. If you find it is only with the Mark IV and with any guitar then I would take it in for service. You might also try using a pwer conditioner if the power is dirty. Sometimes the wiring of a building can be a big antenna.

 

[HappyStrat]

Gee Whiz......Deja Vu. I tolerated this crap for several years & it drove me insane too. The fix was too **** easy, a $49 Monster Cable did the trick. Ain't heard the Mexican radio stations for over 2 years.

 

[creative]

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[creative]

Gee Whiz......Deja Vu. I tolerated this crap for several years & it drove me insane too. The fix was too **** easy, a $49 Monster Cable did the trick. Ain't heard the Mexican radio stations for over 2 years.

did you replace speaker cable(from amp to cabinet)or guitar cable?

 

[HappyStrat]

Just the guitar cable. It used to happen on my MK IV & the RKI Head w/4X12 RK Cab. It was driving me nuts, I couldn't take it anymore. Two years ago on my Bday, I splurged and bought a POD (Spare me the laughs) and a good quality Monster Cable. Well worth the bucks. The Monster is totally silent but if I plug in my old cables I can instantly pick up my favorite Mariachi radio programs. Mexican Hat Dance, anyone?

 

[t0aj15]

I live a block and a half from a 190,000 watt moldie/oldies radio station and it was a MAJOR PITA until I bought a Furman Power Factor Pro. Problem solved

 

[creative]

Just the guitar cable. It used to happen on my MK IV & the RKI Head w/4X12 RK Cab. It was driving me nuts, I couldn't take it anymore. Two years ago on my Bday, I splurged and bought a POD (Spare me the laughs) and a good quality Monster Cable. Well worth the bucks. The Monster is totally silent but if I plug in my old cables I can instantly pick up my favorite Mariachi radio programs. Mexican Hat Dance, anyone?

no dance...only radio-arabia,taliban solos

 

[Vigo1999]

at home this happens all the time when i hit my Barber DD, it's wierd!! :? but only happens at home . . . if it's off the radio stations are gone, even with a high gain setting on ch. 3 on my MkIII or with my Stiletto . . .

 

[RR]

This not too uncommon guitar amps picking up radio station and like I posted before to eliminate this phenomena shield your room, recording studio, reherasal room like this:

 

[ytse_jam]

This not too uncommon guitar amps picking up radio station and like I posted before to eliminate this phenomena shield your room, recording studio, reherasal room like this:

ha ha, funny!
sometimes i've got the same problem but now that i know i will buy a good guitar cable... with my studio pre i am picking up a german radio station with traditional songs!

 

[Vigo1999]

This not too uncommon guitar amps picking up radio station and like I posted before to eliminate this phenomena shield your room, recording studio, reherasal room like this:

ha ha, funny!
sometimes i've got the same problem but now that i know i will buy a good guitar cable... with my studio pre i am picking up a german radio station with traditional songs!

it can be worst . . imagine you picking up Italian stations playing their traditional songs . . . :shock: :wink:

 

[Restless Rocks]

Hey Paleamberglow, I live in an old house which has no ground on the AC. (you know where you have to use a two prong adapter on your power cord or break off the ground prong) Sheilding is largely ineffective if it isn't grounded. Another thought came to mind when you said you went to a combo cab: If this required a longer cable set to your reverb pan are you sure you go it connected properly and are they of the right type sheilded wire. I've also had this problem with single coil pup's in Fenders and no matter what kind of cable you use won't fix that . A good power conditioner with EMI and RF filtering is always a great idea.

 

[ytse_jam]

it can be worst . . imagine you picking up Italian stations playing their traditional songs . . . :shock: :wink:

don't you like them?

 

[Vigo1999]

it can be worst . . imagine you picking up Italian stations playing their traditional songs . . . :shock: :wink:

don't you like them?

Lá Lá, Lá Lá , lá la´la´la lá, colly colly colly collá andiamo para lá lá lá lá . . .

or something like that, dont know the lyrics, but im sure you know i was jk . . . :wink:

Brasiliani i Italiani son fratellos . . .

btw . . . Milan, Inter, Juve or Roma??

 

[ytse_jam]

Lá Lá, Lá Lá , lá la´la´la lá, colly colly colly collá andiamo para lá lá lá lá . . .

haha great attempt! these are southern italy traditional songs, in the north (where i live) there's the tradition of "Alpini"'s choirs which i love! "mountain songs" we call 'em in italy: sometimes my friend and I find ourselves singing them when we're very drunk! I know you're joking, don't worry, i would not attack seriously anyone talking of his country too :wink: .
I pull for Milan, even if this year things are going quite bad. Are you interested in italian football? i never understood how brazilian championship works instead!

 

[Vigo1999]

Lá Lá, Lá Lá , lá la´la´la lá, colly colly colly collá andiamo para lá lá lá lá . . .

haha great attempt! these are southern italy traditional songs, in the north (where i live) there's the tradition of "Alpini"'s choirs which i love! "mountain songs" we call 'em in italy: sometimes my friend and I find ourselves singing them when we're very drunk! I know you're joking, don't worry, i would not attack seriously anyone talking of his country too :wink: .
I pull for Milan, even if this year things are going quite bad. Are you interested in italian football? i never understood how brazilian championship works instead!

in fact that music that i've tried we here sing it when were drunk too!! i lived in São Paulo for almost 6 years, and you know that there is the biggest Italian Colony outside Italy and i lived VERY close to the neighbourhood . . .

yes, i saw Italian football every weekend live . . . it's broadcasted here on cable TV and i also watch here and then RAI . . .

i also cheer for Milan, it's the closest for the Brasilian football . . . you guys like too much defense!! i really dont like Inter (too **** much argentinians there . . . :? )

yes, i know what youre talking about not understanding our championiship, only for about 3-4 years that weve adopted the "running points" system . . . in the past it was some crazy formulas to get quarter finals, semi-finals and so on, now it's just like any European championship.

but yes, we still have other championiships . . . those are the State ones (hey we are a BIG country) and unless the other major football countries, we here have with at least 12 big clubs that can win the national, so we have to have other championships to be won!! and yes we also have the Brazilian Cup (equals to Coppa d'Italia).