AC noise Better Power Conditioners?

[RockNRoling]

I have a sort of "complex" set up for an ammature. I want my stuff to sound good, and I want it easy to use, the down side is that is is a little bulky. My new issue is that it is also noisy as well.

My amp head is a Peavey XXX (not the quietest of amps I have ever played), when plugged in by itself, it isn't all that bad, but with by rack gear and pedals hooked up, it gets hissy. I tried to isolate the problem to find out what all the buzz is about. I have the Furman Merrit Power conditioner that everything plugs into, I can plug my amp head, G Major, Ground Control system and my wireless in with no problems. When I plug in my Korg rack tuner in we get the first buzz and also my pedal power supplies add the next bit of hum. I use the power suppy for my Line6 MM4, an 18V for my Dunlop EQ, and 3 boss pedals (2 delays, and a SD1 overdrive all of which are PSA power supplies which should all be able to use my PowerAll power supply daisy chained together). I have even tried using all 9v batteries and there was still a consitterable hum.

Normally I get by all the noise by using a Boss NS2 in the front of the signal chain, and use the Noise gate in the G MAJOR to knock out the rest. But I feel like I shouldn't have to use all that, if I can filter my power better.

I know that the Furman PL II's are suppose to have better filtering than the Merrit series, but will this really fix my problems? I have also been reading up on the Monster Power Centers as well. They claim that the series 1 filters will stop Radio and RF signals from my power, and Series 2 is suppose to Isolate everything that is plugged in from bleeding thru each other...

Is this really going to make a difference??? Is there anything that I am not thinking of???


Thanks in advance

 

[ratherdashing]

Re: AC noise Better Power Conditioners?

Do you always plug into the same outlets? Have you tried a different outlet somewhere, ideally in another building?

 

[J Moose]

Re: AC noise Better Power Conditioners?

That's a tough one to sort through from a distance... there's ALL kinds of noise that can be generated in complex rigs and there's several possible sources which are mostly related. I've sorted through & put a handful of rigs like this together and it really requires having it in the shop & spending a day or three to get through it...


If the noise goes up when you plug in the AC for each piece, but have no audio cabling running, then it's a power supply or transformer issue. Getting a real regulator/conditioner could help, but it may also be the physical location of the units themselves which would require moving things around in the rack.

Those little Furman strips do nothing... they're just power strips in rackmount form. And actually, the suppression circuit in some of the cheap ones do more harm then good!

I've had good experiences with the Monster stuff and things like the Furman AR1215 which is a real regulator & gives a constant 120 volts even if the power drops below 100v. It's gonna run $500-$600 but the benefits are well worth it...

Another source of noise is ground loops... AC & DC traveling through the audio lines. That can come from a poor ground/power scheme, or a poorly designed piece of gear... or both! That's WAY to complex to sort through over the internet...

Mostly it involves plugging & unplugging gear (audio & power) in various combinations to isolate the offending pieces, and then doing something to fix them.

Yet another source of noise is sloppy wiring. Keep the audio, power, speaker, & switching lines physically separated. If you do have to cross them, cross at right angles ONLY.

RF noise is only what's floating through the air... and generally not much of an issue unless there's sloppy cabling or poor shields on bad/cheap cables. EMI/EMF though... or electromagnetic radiation can be a chore and comes from not just cell towers & the like but also directly over the power lines! Data transmissions & internet, automated meter reading... that sort of thing.

And yet another culprit can be loss due to impedance & gain mismatches... very typical when +4 balanced 600ohm rack gear is interfaced with some instrument level pedals operating around -20 and 10k ohms.

Might be best to tear it all down and start again...

That's what usually happens!