Trying to get rid of pedal hum

[iplayloudly]

Need advice...

I've been fighting hum on my pedal board for a while now. I always assumed it was likely caused by the fact that I used super cheap patch cables to connect it all together. So I bought a George L solderless cable kit, which I've read nothing but positive reviews about. I rewired everything and absolutely no change. Today I decided to unhook power from everything and use batteries. Definitely helped.

I think I have finally narrowed it down to my proco Rat2 being the main culprit. It hums quite loudly when powered from the Voodoo Labs Pedal Power 2 power supply, but barely at all when powered from a battery. Do these pedals inherently do this, or would it be worth buying another? They are easy to find cheap. Would it be possible that the power supply is no good? I've been told that the Pedal Power 2 is unlikely to cause hum, but I'm sure anything is possible. Those are not quite so cheap.

Unfortunately I do not have a spare power supply or a spare Rat2 to try, so I have no way of figuring out the real problem.

 

[8len8]

One of these might help if the problem is a D.C. Offset on a line:
http://lehle.com/EN/Lehle-DC-Filter

Do you have a multi-meter? You could measure to see if there's a large offset on one of the guitar signal cables.

 

[marcus262]

I used to have pedal hum,
and the main culprit was cheap power supply, if I used the battery hum was barely there.

As for cables, don't notice any difference.

Also, distortion pedals produce more hum as you up the gain, unshielded guitars,
pedals that don't have their casing connected to ground (if you touch the casing does hum go away?).

Sometimes too many pedals in the chain multiply noise and also hum.
Order of pedals makes a difference in the overall hum and noise, ex. if a noisy pedal is first in the chain then all the other pedals amplify and use that noise.
Also, it is a possible that the pedal is poorly designed.

 

[D-Rock]

If it's all good with batteries, then returns when powered by a power supply, your house might have dirty power.
Have you considered a power conditioner?

 

[8len8]

The PP2+ has isolated outputs, so unless it's busted I doubly it's the problem.

I've had problems in the past when pedal housings or patch cable connectors were rubbing against each other on the board, causing ground loops (hum).

 

[iplayloudly]

If it's all good with batteries, then returns when powered by a power supply, your house might have dirty power.
Have you considered a power conditioner?

I gig on a weekly basis at various venues around town, and I have the problem almost everywhere, although some places seem worse than others. I have not tried a power conditioner. Anybody use one of these? http://www.guitarcenter.com/Ebtech/Hum-X-Hum-Exterminator.gc

 

[8len8]

I think you need to confirm if the hum is from a ground loop on your rig, or due to a ground issue at the outlet. Two different issues with different solutions.

 

[strungout82]

You can try something like this - https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/Musical-Inst ... B019CQX7CK

I use similar powerbank with great results.

 

[eternal_idol]

If it's all good with batteries, then returns when powered by a power supply, your house might have dirty power.
Have you considered a power conditioner?

I gig on a weekly basis at various venues around town, and I have the problem almost everywhere, although some places seem worse than others. I have not tried a power conditioner. Anybody use one of these? http://www.guitarcenter.com/Ebtech/Hum-X-Hum-Exterminator.gc

those are wicked, must have for every touring tech. i'd love to pair it up with ebtechs inline filters also.

an isolated adapter on a x-hum is how i'd set that one up.

Edit: post of the devil!

 

[Purpleibby]

Try one of those battery snap PP2+ cables from Voodoo Lab and see if it makes a difference. How close to the PP is the Rat on your board?

http://www.voodoolab.com/shop/index.php ... 8r77ji3jb5

 

[errrrrl]

I recently went thru the same with a brand new Maxon808, When plugged in I got crazy hum and noise, on battery it wasn't as bad. Did the battery thing for a few days and decided to return and get something that didn't hum when plugged in to my power brick.

 

[iplayloudly]

I think I figured it out. I've been powering 11 pedals off a single pedal power 2 (8 outputs) by daisy chaining 4 of them together. I removed the daisy chain cable and tried powering those 4 pedals with wall warts. No more hum!

So today I am going to pick up a pedal power iso 5 to add under the board. I believe this should take care of it.

 

[eternal_idol]

Love my Iso5s

 

[NoodlerKS]

Keep in mind that some pedals (Wahs, OD's) will hum when placed right on top are beside the Iso5. Almost every Power Supply will do this in the smallest way. The quietest transformer I've heard is Decibel 11's hot stone fwiw.