Les Paul noise issue

L

LightPat

New member
So I've got an epiphone Les Paul with seymour duncan alnico pro II slash's in them. The problem is, the guitar is super noisy. For the past year I've been fiddling with pickup height, EQ settings, different amps and cables, noise gates, compressors, you name it, but to no avail.

This guitar was bought off of craigslist. The previous owner had replaced the pickups and said that he had been playing with the new ones for about two years. He had been gigging with this guitar for around 6. I think it might be a grounding issue but I don't have the expertise to do that so that's why I'm here. I don't think it is a dirty power issue since I've tried multiple outlets around my house and friends' houses but still gotten the same noise problems.

Amp: Marshall Code 25
Pig Hog 10 foot cable

I recorded a couple of noise gate settings (mind you I'm plugged straight into the amp no pedals just on-board effects).

Something strange to note is that when having the noise gate on 3 or below, the guitar would make this really weird feedback (not the good kind) noise that really hurts your ears. I'm not playing at all at this time and it would occur whether or not my hands were muting the strings.

Here are the links to the audio files (*be careful if using headphones, some may get loud):
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/tr2hfrptixst3j8/AAAD2crMwROCtNGVGvLnb8xma?dl=0
 
Les Paul noise issue

Sounds like there is a flanger on....but you said you’re plugged straight in. Very strange.

Are you sure that your patch in the code has the flange off?
 
Re: Les Paul noise issue

Gtrjunior said:
Sounds like there is a flanger on....but you said you’re plugged straight in. Very strange.

Are you sure that your patch in the code has the flange off?
Click to expand...

No it's on. Shouldn't make a difference, the noise occurs on cleans and other distorted tones. I've tried basically all different combinations of stuff on the thing.
 
Re: Les Paul noise issue

I’m not hearing the noise then. All I hear is the flanger swoosh and a little amp hiss, which is pretty normal at high gain settings.
 
Re: Les Paul noise issue

Gtrjunior said:
I’m not hearing the noise then. All I hear is the flanger swoosh and a little amp hiss, which is pretty normal at high gain settings.
Click to expand...

Firstly, thank you for your speedy replies, secondly check out clip "Noise Gate 3, guitar off and on" Is that amp hiss? I'm pretty much a noob so I wouldn't know.
 
Re: Les Paul noise issue

That feedback isn’t normal.
Also the buzzing is a ground issue in the guitar’s wiring.
How loud is the amp set at?
 
Re: Les Paul noise issue

Gtrjunior said:
That feedback isn’t normal.
Also the buzzing is a ground issue in the guitar’s wiring.
How loud is the amp set at?
Click to expand...

The master volume control in that clip was just below 3. The preset volume was at 1.6. In short, not very loud, maybe 80 decibels
 
Les Paul noise issue

I wish I knew more about the Code amps, maybe that feedback is due to some settings in the amp.
How close are the pickups to the strings?
 
Re: Les Paul noise issue

I think what you might need to do is start from the beginning again.
Find an unused patch.
Turn all fx off
One at a time add in the fx you use on your patch that you recorded earlier, and adjust to the levels on the recording. (Gain level, BMT level etc)

At some point you’ll start feeding back again...then you know where the culprit is...
Let me know what you find out.
 
Re: Les Paul noise issue

SKIP THIS unless you want to read about me being an idiot.

I did as you asked and found the culprit. It's the on-board distortion (I know tone fanatics are cringing). There are three different types for the distortion. Overdrive, Distortion, and GUV. I have no idea what GUV is. Overdrive is abbreviated as ODR and Distortion as DIST but GUV? Anyways, I put it on GUV (it had been on ODR) and found that it stopped the weird feedback. It sounds mostly the same. The only thing I can find that seems like what it is, is a pedal called the Marshall Guv'nor.

Also the pickups aren't that close nor far. It was professionally setup before me by the owner and I took it to a guy to make sure the height was alright in my quest to fix this.

Actually, I just did more tinkering. On a CODE Amp, there is a Pre FX button where you set distortion or compression or pitch shifter or an auto wah. I've only used the compression and the distortion since the other two are useless but the weird feedback still occurs being on distortion, compression, or the other two. It only stops when the pre fx is off. After that there is just normal amp hiss
 
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Re: Les Paul noise issue

With the gain turned to 10 and only a cab simulator and the preamp and power on the amp feeds back that strange stuff. The amp stops feeding back when the gain is set to 6

Ok I'm pretty sure I know the solution, thanks for your help.

There is a tab called "Amp" I assume this is a preamp simulation. There are a lot of different ones and most of them are very good. For my distorted tones, I've been using a setting called OD American. Well, in short, I think this setting is broken cause it turns your amp into a noise machine and less of a super high gain hard rock marshall.

In short, the gain was really really high, but you wouldn't know that from having your gain on 5 and your drive on 3 (in the audio clips it was at 8 but I took it down to 3 and it still did the feedback nonsense).
 
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Les Paul noise issue

What is the volume knob set at? Not the master volume, the other one?
Can you set the gain to 10 and then set the volume to where it doesn’t feedback? What is that setting?

Edit:
Just saw your edit to your last post.
Glad you got it sorted out.
As an FYI, the American setting usually refers to a Mesa Boogie Rectifier type tone (as opposed to Marshall, which would be a “British” setting.)
 
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Re: Les Paul noise issue

I got the same pickups in my Gibson les Paul and find the same thing. The only thing I had in my connection was a mi audio crunch box pedal. I plan on putting Duncan 59s in it... I picked up the neck pickup but didn’t get the bridge one yet.
 
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