Picking up radio stations through my setup...

[wickenspoet]

Last night, when playing my guitar with distortion, I noticed I was picking up radio stations through my amp. It would happen when I'd turn the volume knob down on my guitar... instead of silencing the signal, random radio station music and buzzing would occur. It only happened when the distortion was on. If I turned the volume on my guitar down while playing clean, it worked fine.

Is this a sign that there's something wrong with my gear, or does kind of thing just happen sometimes regardless of guitar equipment?

 

[SlyFoxx]

Re: Picking up radio stations through my setup...

Unfortunately the nature of guitar amps make them susceptible to this kind of problem. The first thing I'd check is the guitar cord and pedals leading to the amp. Your cord is shielded to keep RFI out but if cord is really old or got damaged the shield might not be doing its job. A pedal might be the culprit. So swap them out in a logical order. Try moving the amp. Also try another outlet. If that doesn't work and you can figure out which station is getting in your rig, call them and tell them to shut down while you're playing.

 

[Scott_F]

Re: Picking up radio stations through my setup...

Which amp? dual preamps? clean and dirty?

 

[wickenspoet]

Re: Picking up radio stations through my setup...

Which amp? dual preamps? clean and dirty?

Here's my signal path if that helps... 9 pedals straight into a clean amp. Planet waves cables. (they were the expensive ones)

One theory I'll explore is running the guitar into the true bypass tuner first, instead of the buffered Crybaby Wah, to see if the wah is the culprit. I guess I'll have to experiment. I was just wondering if this is normal... to have radio interference on higher gain settings.

Signal path:

1) Dual Humbucker Guitar

2) Crybaby 95q wah (buffered)
3) GoGo Pedal Tuner (true bypass)
4) Modtone Deep Dive (true bypass)
5) Boss NS-2 (buffered)

Loop of NS-2:

6) MI Blues Pro (true bypass)
7) MI Crunchbox (true bypass)
8) Boss PS-6 Harmonist (buffered)

Return to NS-2.

9) MXR 6 band EQ (buffered)
10) Boss DD-7 Delay (buffered)

11) Roland JC0-120 used on the clean channel

..

 

[guitfiddle]

Re: Picking up radio stations through my setup...

I agree with trying it without the wah. Those things will pick up stations if they're close enough. I played the Buffalo Rose in Golden a few times, and it sits right under the mesa that the local radio station has their tower on. Simply could not use my wah in that room.

 

[Aceman]

Re: Picking up radio stations through my setup...

Gig at the air base?

 

[Lazarus1140]

Re: Picking up radio stations through my setup...

Try to tune your rig to 91.7 KXT if you can get it in Ohio.

 

[Toe-Knee]

Re: Picking up radio stations through my setup...

If you are handy with a soldering iron theres a fairly easy fix for this.

it just involves soldering a small value capacitor from the first gain stage to ground.

Ive found most likely that duff cables are the culprit 90% of the time.

 

[zzmoore]

Re: Picking up radio stations through my setup...

Nothing "wrong" with your gear.....
Does the amp do that with nothing plugged in.?
What amp is this.?
Are there grid resistors.?
Is there shielded cable at the input jack to first tube grid.? Shorten up those cables as much as you can, chop-stick them around as well.
Best

 

[Andrew Lamprecht]

Re: Picking up radio stations through my setup...

Try to tune your rig to 91.7 KXT if you can get it in Ohio.

hahaha

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: Picking up radio stations through my setup...

Join a Spïnal Tap tribute band.

 

[Left_Hand_Strat]

Re: Picking up radio stations through my setup...

we had this at band practice with a bass amp at the rehearsal place....

bass player turned the tone down on the bass and we got German radio or something! LOL.

later found it is the positioning of the amp. so if anything it is probably that...

 

[MojoMonster]

Re: Picking up radio stations through my setup...

Build a mini Faraday cage for the wah.

Actually, it's probably the house wiring.

 

[guitarkid]

Re: Picking up radio stations through my setup...

I had this happen to me too when I was trying out my very first pedal board setup, through an old Pignose amp, at my house. I. was just starting to jam, and then I heard an old time preacher talking through my amp. Lol

 

[LesStrat]

Re: Picking up radio stations through my setup...

More likely that it has to do with the grounding of the electrical outlet.

Your chain is amplifying that signal.

 

[wickenspoet]

Re: Picking up radio stations through my setup...

I had this happen to me too when I was trying out my very first pedal board setup, through an old Pignose amp, at my house. I. was just starting to jam, and then I heard an old time preacher talking through my amp. Lol

In the last 2 weeks, I've had a religious sermon and Mexican music play through the undercurrent of my amplifier. Wonder why those are the most prominent signals to get picked up first. LOL.

 

[Andrew Lamprecht]

Re: Picking up radio stations through my setup...

Dude.... hahaha I had a wah with a bad ground wire or something... every day at 4:00 after school I would pick up mexican music from a radio station a 1/2 mile away hahaha.

 

[guitarkid]

Re: Picking up radio stations through my setup...

In the last 2 weeks, I've had a religious sermon and Mexican music play through the undercurrent of my amplifier. Wonder why those are the most prominent signals to get picked up first. LOL.

Haha!! Well... they say the Lord works in mysterious ways. LOL