Find solution
What guitar cable should I get?

My guitar amp won't stop buzzing!?

  • I've only been playing guitar for a year, but through help from my Dad I've managed to get pretty decent, but of course... You can always get better. Anyways, I live with my mom now, so I don't have him to help :( While I was muting I noticed a small buzz between the ruffles of the mute, so I stopped playing all together and noticed something was buzzing, I thought it was something in my house at first then realized it was the amp.. Even when I held the strings it buzzed annoyingly. I took out the pedals and connected my guitar directly to the amp and it still buzzed.. When I put in Gain directly it buzzes even MORE!! I took out the cable and held the end of it, I know it'll buzz but behind the distortion I could hear that exact same buzz in the background!!! So it's not my guitar! What can I do? There's a guitar center a couple blocks away from me, can I take my amp their to have them check it out? I hate it though because it's packed (well it IS Hollywood.) but still they'll probably charge me and I'm only 15 haha. Any idea what I could do to fix it? I still haven't looked into learning the schematics of ground connection and all that guitar stuff so yeah. I'll definitely have my dad teach me a thing or too about that. Oh and also, when I aim the guitar towards the amp, the buzz goes away drastically. I also have a '96 Gibson les paul Sunburst if that helps. It also look BRAND new and the sound is great although my Dad has replaced the Pickups and placed in a kill switch, although again, I doubt it's the guitar. I'm pretty sure he knew what he was doing when he changed them up.

  • Answer:

    Definitely sounds like a ground issue. First thing I would do is try a different cable (much cheaper than having the amp looked at). If that doesn't help, try moving the amp to a different area of the house and plugging into a different outlet (well maybe that should be tried before getting a new cable!). Also, things like ceiling fans, televisions, monitors, fluorescent lights, and anything with a high electromagnetic field can cause hum, especially if you have single coil pickups. Again, trying it in a different area of the home might resolve that issue. I know you said you isolated the guitar out of the equation by unplugging it from the cable and the amp still buzzed, but I'll just throw in that I've seen poor solder jobs on guitars where the ground loop has come unsoldered from the back of the tone pot and that has caused a lot of buzzing. Maybe not your issue but had to throw that in.

Johnnie at Yahoo! Answers Visit the source

Was this solution helpful to you?

Other answers

The symptoms you're describing are "classic" for a bad ground or poor shielding on the guitar. The fact that it buzzes with the guitar unplugged from the amp is irrelevant...that's normal. The source of the interference may be the wiring in your mom's house, or there may be electromagnetic interference in the house. The fact that the buzzing intensifies depending on your position to the amp points toward the grounding in the house. (you aren't using a 3-prong adapter for the amp are you?) Anyway, regardless of the source of interference, your guitar should have sufficient shielding to block it out. Guitars with single coil pickups are much more prone to this sort of thing than ones with humbuckers, but even humbuckers can buzz if the wiring is not grounded and shielded. It may be that your guitar was always prone to this and it never happened until you exposed it to the conditions at your mom's. It may be that your dad's wiring is causing problems. Either way, you need to have it looked at if you don't want to live with the buzzing. There are ways of shielding the wiring and any competent guitar tech can fix it for you.

TommyMc

Check the Jacks at both ends.. move the cable around inside the jack to see if that makes it worse or better..

Jane

I agree : Check the Jacks at both ends.. move the cable around inside the jack to see if that makes it worse or better..

BORK LAZER OWNER OF WCWEA

You haven't recently added a computer monitor or fluorescent lighting have you? That can cause the thpe of buzz you describe. Make sure you try a different, good quality lead and try to check it with a different guitar. If possible, try the amp in a different house. Make absolutely sure it's the amp before to go to get it fixed. Good luck.

Tony B

Related Q & A:

Just Added Q & A:

Find solution

For every problem there is a solution! Proved by Solucija.

  • Got an issue and looking for advice?

  • Ask Solucija to search every corner of the Web for help.

  • Get workable solutions and helpful tips in a moment.

Just ask Solucija about an issue you face and immediately get a list of ready solutions, answers and tips from other Internet users. We always provide the most suitable and complete answer to your question at the top, along with a few good alternatives below.