The guitar is one of the most popular instruments for everyone. There are also many types of guitar. But many people usually know about 2 types: acoustic guitar and electric guitar. Normally, when guitar players can play the acoustic fluently, they will change to try to play the electric guitar. At that time, they may wonder “Why does my guitar amp buzz?”. Some people will give up and come back with the acoustic one. If you are one of them, this article will help you.
In fact, your guitar buzzes can come from different reasons and no one is similar to no one. We have searched and gathered all we know here for you. We will talk about both the reasons and solutions for each situation. So read on to know exactly your problem and fix it as soon as possible.
- A Little Information About The Buzz And Hum Of The Guitar
- Answer For “why does my guitar amp buzz?” And How To Overcome It
- FAQs Time
- Conclusion
Don’t waste much time. Let’s get started right now.
A Little Information About The Buzz And Hum Of The Guitar
The problem of having the buzz when you play the guitar usually happens with the electric guitar. It makes your guitar tone ruin and then, all your songs will be damaged. But you don’t need to worry because this is a normal and popular issue for almost all electric guitar players.
And there are many causes that make your guitar become like that. Besides, there are also different ways to fix it. Even you can do it by yourself. Therefore don’t give up, let’s find some solutions. If you are not confident enough to adjust it, you can completely take it to a store because it will not cost too expensive.
However, today, we will show you some causes of it and both solutions for you to do at home. See them together right now.
Answer For “Why Does My Guitar AMP Buzz?” And How To Overcome It
Because Of The Type Of Pickups
Even though it is the buzz or hum from the amp, the most popular cause is because of your guitar. And the first one is the pickups that you are using.
The Reason
The single-coil of the pickups usually makes more hum and buzz. And if you think that it comes from the amp and you just adjust the amp, everything will be worse. Even when you turn the gain knob or turn the distortion on, nothing is improved.
Because the pickups will operate as an antenna with the electric interference cover. Therefore, this is a problem that no one can avoid after a long time using it. Another reason is it may only have a single coil instead of 2 opposite polarity coils. So it will make more noises than you think.
If you have a more expensive and high-ender one, you can see that this problem appears less. But up to now, no model can get rid of this problem 100%.
Its Solution
And the only solution we have is using copper foil to shield your guitar properly. However, this difficult thing for many people. Because you need to check all electronics inside carefully first. Not only that but the process of shielding is not easy. Hence, spend a little time watching it online before doing it or have a professional do it for you. But actually, this solution just can reduce a little part of the buzz.
Because Of The Bad Shielding And Problem Of Cable
This second is also from the guitar, not come from the amp. More detailed, it is because the guitar wasn’t shielded carefully. Or it can come from some problems with the cable.
The Reason
The manufacturers gave the guitar with shielding for the electronics to reduce the noise. Even though it can be made from different materials, your guitar will cause some terrible buzz and hum if it still doesn’t shield enough. In the case, you don’t see any different things of the shielding, your cable may have any things that need to be fixed.
The Solution
And the solution for you, in this case, is similar to the situation above. You ought to find some great material such as copper foil and then shield the electronics with it. In addition, you can also refer to try some of the cables because the types of cables can help the guitar decrease noise. But it is capable of increase noise too if you choose wrong.
Because Of The Guitars’ Pedal
In this case, you don’t find out any troubles like the 2 situations above and your guitar has the pedal, now, you need to check it. You can know when it has this problem easily by rolling the volume to 0. If you still hear some buzz from the guitar. There are 2 things for you to check. They are the pedal and the amp. We will talk about the pedal first.
The Reason
First, it can be due to your pedal has high distortion. Besides, the volume knobs are also higher than their limit. From that, you can hear some terrible sounds like hissing or buzz. You can check by seeing the status of the pedals. If all pedals are similar to each other, the cause may come from the power. If it just has 1 or a few pedals are different, they may have malfunctioned.
The Solution
And here, we have a total of 3 ways to improve this issue. You can choose to try all or just one that you think will be effective.
The first thing that everyone can come up with it replace a new pedal. Because your pedal has a problem or the type of pedal is not good like what you want. Some pedals create more noise than others, so you should try a new gain one or a noise suppressor pedal. And before replacing, you have to check all carefully to know which need to be replaced and which needn’t.
You should turn the gain down a little. We know that no one wants to use it less. However, when you turn it down, you can reduce a lot of or all of the noise that you hate before that.
And the last solution for you is giving it a noise gate. It is just suitable when you cannot find out any issue from the pedal and you think the cause is from the source of electricity. Actually, the result you receive is not too different.
Because Of The Grounding Of The Guitar
Another reason comes from inside the guitar. Exactly, it is because of the grounding wire. Therefore, when you play, it causes some buzz that makes your performance worse.
The Reason
This is not an uncommon issue for electric guitar players. If your guitar is in this situation, you will not hear the buzz when you touch the metal parts and strings like the 3 causes above. It may be because it is lacks grounding or its connection/soldering is not good. And it usually occurs with the old guitar more than a new one. In addition, another thing that can create that buzz is from the lights of the venue’s part.
The Solution
First, you need to find out the grounding wire which has a problem. Open the guitar’s cavity, you will see all the wires there. Locate the position of the grounding wire and then solder it. If you don’t have any experience with soldering, you ought to have another person do it for you to ensure you will not damage the guitar.
You can reduce the noise via the lights by turning them up 100 percent. It might even eliminate that problem altogether.
Because Of The Tube AMP
Here is the last situation and is also the cause that many people think about first. That comes from the tube amp. It is not rare but we put it at last because it has more information that needs talking about than others.
The Reason
In the case your amp and the light use the same source of power, it will have noise both when you adjust the light and the amp. Besides, if it is connected to the fan, it will have noise too.
Secondly, the volume and the power of the amplifier are also important parts. Because an amp with lower wattage will cause less noise and buzz than another want with a higher wattage. It is the self-noise that you can see in every electronic device.
Thirdly, the tube amp is too old. Do you remember that how long you use it? An old tube amp will not only create the buzz but also the hissing. Although it is quite small and has less influence on the performance, it may still make you feel uncomfortable.
The Solution
First is also the simplest one is to unplug the guitar from the amp. Your amp is nice if you don’t hear any buzz from it. Otherwise, you need to check it and replace it with a new one soon.
And if you know that the amp is the main reason that makes “why does my guitar amp buzz?”, you can think about trying a new amp type or combining many types together to have a better result.
Before that, you ought to have a quick look at the volume and wattage of the amp you are using. Turn it down a little, you can see it is completely different from when you let it operate at a higher volume.
FAQs Time
Q: Why Do Some Guitar Cause More Noise And Buzz Than Others?
A: You may know that different electrical guitars will also have different designs, technologies, pickups, etc. And that is the reason why always having differences in many aspects between types of electric guitar. In that, the buzz and noise of the amp are not excepted. Therefore, the level of noise also depends on many other factors of the guitar.
Q: Do We Have Any Tip To Check And Find Out The Cause Fastly?
A: Actually, we don’t have any great tips for you. However, we have a process to have you save a little time when you don’t know where to start. First, you should check the outside parts before all such as the pickups, the pedals. If everything outside doesn’t have any problems. Now you continue checking inside of your guitar. You may need to check the shielding and the grounding wire – 2 reasons we talked about above. You can see the issue that comes from here. If it is still normal, you will come to the amp. Because this is the most complicated cause, you shouldn’t waste much time on it from first.
Conclusion
Those are all knowledge that we know and want to share with you about the problem “why does my guitar amp buzz?”. An electric guitar can have many issues. However, in this article, we talked about one of the most popular problems. And we divided it into 5 causes with their own solution. All the information will be gathered here for you:
- Because of the pickups, you can reduce noise by carefully shielding the electronics with copper foil.
- Because of the bad shielding and problem of cables: in this case, you can also improve with the same solution above or choose to replace the cables which have issues.
- Because of the guitars’ pedal: 1 of 3 these ways can help you: replace a new pedal, turn the gain down, or give the guitar a noise gate.
- Because of the grounding of the guitar: find out the damaged grounding wire and solder it or turn the light up to 100 percent if the guitar is related to the lights via the source of power.
- Because of the tube amp: unplug it, replace a new amp or use more than one amp at the same time, check the volume and wattage then turn it down.
If you want, you can read more articles that are related to the guitar like the best guitar to USB cable, best acoustic guitar, etc.
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