tealhmm my cheap #guitar has an ungodly amount of hum and popping, most easily hearable when I take off all of my fingers from the fretboard and then touch a string :( any suggestions?
L0wKeyIf the hum is happening when you ‘touch’ the guitar strings/hardware, you have a ground issue and probably need a soldering iron.
@L0wKey Hmm, okay, I think what's introducing the most hum of all is the only pedal I have chained before the amp, a Behringer Super Fuzz. I get that it's a noisy pedal, but it's hella loud even as I keep my fingers on the strings lol
I'll investigate online and understand how much hum it should actually produce.
Fuzzes are pretty unfiltered square wave noise machines. I don’t know that one well but most fuzzes are pretty noisy, certainly older designs before better noise supression techniques came along.
That said, there’s noise and there’s NOISE. The later would indicate the pedal may have a fault. Is there still noise when the gain/volume is down? Is there noise when the pedal is off? How does the noise change when the guitar is unplugged from the chain?
@L0wKey noise is still very vivid both when the guitar is unplugged, and the effect turned off! If everything is plugged and the fuzz is turned on, leaving strings untouched produces a hum louder than an open G haha.
I only have a few cables lying around and I suspect some aren't blocking inferference as they should, so to eliminate any doubt I'll first get an extra reputable cable before sending the fuzz back and trying to get it replaced. It's one of the cheap Berhingers, so a malfunction is very possible.
Thank you for the help! I'll update on the matter.
And the noise is meaningfully different when that pedal is out of the chain? If so, it’s a fault in the pedal. It should make almost no
Noise when it’s off.
If the hum is there with no guitar, cable changes are unlikely to do much imho, unless one isn’t plugged in properly, or full on broken.
@L0wKey the guitar is dead quiet once I remove the Behringer, even if I set my small amp to simulate an overdriven metal sound.
I did I want to take the cable out of the equation because all the ones I do have laying around, other than my "good one", are old and do introduce some static if I use them in direct connection between guitar and amp :)
Guitars are noisy beasts, they are basically microphonic microphones that pick up radio static, even humbuckers produce hum (although a lot less). It’s probably not your cables.
@L0wKey Thanks! Nevertheless, I needed another new cable anyway, so it's not a wasted purchase. Mine's a Harley Benton ST-62MNVW, veeery budget. I would be surprised if it didn't produce any sort of hum - and it's not like I mind, I prefer music that has a bit of dirt, so to speak. But the one probably introduced by the Behringer Super Fazz is just gnarly haha.
In case I send it back, do you think there's any other fuzz worth trying, in the "very budget" tier? :>
There are loads. Fuzzes are beautiful creatures and very very simple so can be pretty cheap.
There are only a few classic designs with lots of modern interpretations, and then some very very modern versions that tend to be boutique and expensive.
Rats are fabulous pedals that go from boost to fuzz and iconicly rock sounding, but not usually thought of as ‘fuzz’ pedals. What’s the budget (and what’s the main guitar you use)?
@L0wKey I'm using strato-like with a three single-coil setup. I would be more comfortable with suggestions under 50€, although I am happy to listen to options up to 100€ and keep an eye on the used market.
I would eventually like to add a big reverb to steer towards shoegazey territory. Maybe a fuzz that doesn't have the extra octave could be better suited? the Super Fuzz by Behringer saturates easily as soon as you move outside of power chords and riffs
So, with a strat(style) fuzz faces are the classic and interact really well with the pickups;
JHS series 3 fuzz
TC Electronic Rusty Fuzz
Rowin G-Fuzz
Dunlop Mini Fuzz Face
Other ‘classic’ circuits worth internet searching a cheap clone of;
Tonebender
Big Muff
Octave fuzzes (subsets are octavia and COB)
Super fuzz/hyper fuzz
Buzzaround
Shin Ei companion fuzz
All worth exploring to get an idea of what you like.