Radio station sound into tube amps?

[IMENATOR]

Yesterday I played with my friends using a tube-based pream into their mixer/PA. We noticed a small but noticible radio station sound in the background. I unpluged mu guitar cable and still there, I unlpulged my preamp cable it ws gone si it came from the preamp ¡ It ws not the first time I play there with the very same gear so we all had a laugther, nothing to mess the rehearsal really.

Has something like that ever happened to you? How have you solved that or how can you avoid that?

 

[Kac]

Re: Radio station sound into tube amps?

I've had stations come in through guitar amps fairly clearly. I just play the guitar so you can't hear the radio...

 

[GoldenVulture]

Re: Radio station sound into tube amps?

I had a taxi come through one day. " number one car ".

 

[ehdwuld]

Re: Radio station sound into tube amps?

CB radios used to drive us crazy back in the day

 

[GuitarStv]

Re: Radio station sound into tube amps?

Wah pedals can be awesome for this . . . set them to the right position and you can pick up radio stations.

 

[2manyguitars]

Re: Radio station sound into tube amps?

I never had it happen through any of my tube amps but my first guitar had a single gold foil Tron style pup in it that would grab radio waves sometimes? I just played over it too? I know you want answers though, I'd loose the preamp if that's what's giving you issues & if you need another buy it form a place that will accept returns incase you have any other problems? I've also been told that the biasing of the tubes can cause these kinds of problems too but he was an idiot so it's a 50/50 chance of being true or complete B.S.? YOU CAN ALWAYS TRY TINFOIL HATS??? LOL, sorry, couldn't help myself, if there is too much power running through the amp it will start picking up stuff you don't want it too, this is why I mentioned the biasing of the tubes. Good luck buddy!!!

 

[Psykel]

Re: Radio station sound into tube amps?

Happened to my old computer speakers a bunch of years ago. They weren't true bypass tho, so that probably explains it.

 

[ehdwuld]

Re: Radio station sound into tube amps?

Happened to my old computer speakers a bunch of years ago. They weren't true bypass tho, so that probably explains it.

at work I found some old pc speakers
they worked so I put the on the desktop in the shop
whenever I key the mike on my Motorola radio they blat out with static

 

[Edgecrusher]

Re: Radio station sound into tube amps?

My old JMP Marshall does this really badly with the local AM Country station. I had success but i dont remember where i got the idea from by wrapping the head in tin foil then plugging into the amp through it.

 

[allbutromeo]

Re: Radio station sound into tube amps?

My old JMP Marshall does this really badly with the local AM Country station. I had success but i dont remember where i got the idea from by wrapping the head in tin foil then plugging into the amp through it.

I seem to remember reading about this trick years ago

 

[autologic]

Re: Radio station sound into tube amps?

I suppose the aluminum foil would act as a makeshift Faraday cage? My cheapo IBZ10 amp picks up radio stations ever so often. Usually I can just move it somewhere else in the room and it will stop.

 

[Demanic]

Re: Radio station sound into tube amps?

Sounds like a ground loop somewhere.

 

[GuitarStv]

Re: Radio station sound into tube amps?

The aluminum foil will work great as a faraday cage as long as you ground the foil. Without grounding it you've basically just added a large antenna to the amp. (Usually the chasis is grounded, so you should be able to do this by ensuring a strip of the foil is wedged between a the chassis and amp housing under a screw.)

 

[PFDarkside]

Re: Radio station sound into tube amps?

I think that's why he said to plug "through" the foil, it'll tie the plug shield to the foil "cage".

 

[Edgecrusher]

Re: Radio station sound into tube amps?

I think that's why he said to plug "through" the foil, it'll tie the plug shield to the foil "cage".

exactly if you dont it doesnt work

 

[devastone]

Re: Radio station sound into tube amps?

Is this your SS-20? I never had that with mine, but I'm thinking radio regulations in Mexico may not be as strict as here in the US (I could be wrong, just guessing). Try rotating it or moving it around if it becomes an issue.

 

[IMENATOR]

Re: Radio station sound into tube amps?

based on your feedback so far I can say this:

- The preamp is a metal stomp box so I don't think the aluminum foil could help, but gonna keep that in mind.
- The rehearsal place's installation has a ground connection bu t I did not pluged the mixer/pa myself so there is a chance they may have not used a power chord extension with ground pin. Gonna double check that next time.
- For this last rehearsal I added my wha (first in the signal chain) this time but honestly I never had this problem before when using it wirh my SS amp in the same rehearsal room.
- For this last rehearsal I added I also added my boss SuperOverdrive after the wah and before the preamp input. Last time it was my Fulltone Plimsoul with no problems.
- For this last rehearsal I changed the connection of my ISP Decimator G String 2 a little bit. This time I put it in the FX loop then the Cam Sim out of the preamp into the Mixer. Last time (with no radio sound) did not use the preamp FX loop.
- Because of this changes in my signal path I had to use a 3 patch I did not use in my previous rehearsal. never had this problem with these cables but maybe this new configuration and the added cables could be another potential cause.

So in summary anything that changed this time along with potential ground missing is something I will double check on next rehearsal,

 

[IMENATOR]

Re: Radio station sound into tube amps?

Is this your SS-20? I never had that with mine, but I'm thinking radio regulations in Mexico may not be as strict as here in the US (I could be wrong, just guessing). Try rotating it or moving it around if it becomes an issue.

Yes it is, but after reaing more and really considering my signal changed a little bit then I have now a few things to try. My main concern now is some patch cables in the FX loop.

 

[crusty philtrum]

Re: Radio station sound into tube amps?

This is why it's so important to use tube amps. S/s radio sounds so crappy.

I used to be able to tune one rig by using the guitar's tone control.

 

[Danglin' Fury]

Re: Radio station sound into tube amps?

Try a Furman Power Conditioner. A lot of high end amps have RF (radio frequency) chokes (inductors) in them to stop this. The Furman has RF blocking capabilities. You have to check the specs on said Furman (or Monster, whatever floats yer boat) as some of the cheaper power conditioners don't block RF interference. Hope this helps.