Single coil and tube amps
- Thread starter Wayne27
- Start date
beaubrummels
Well-known member
Tube architecture doesn’t add anything or have anything that would amplify hum more than any other amp circuit, that I’m aware of. Hum being 60hz base AC frequency already inherent in the power line, not other external interference.
Some amps have circuit quirks that can cause odd interactions with noise. Like amps that behave like an antenna when combined with single coils.
Poorly designed amps of either sort do that, and there are some amp faults (tube issues) that can worsen it.
Shielding the guitar can help, or use a power strip with some power cleaning capabilities. Make sure you are using a good quality shielded cable from the guitar to the amp. Make sure you aren't using an instrument cable from the amp to the speaker (that way lies power amp failure and possible speaker/transformer damage and electronics fires...). Always use a proper speaker cable, not a shielded guitar cable, from the amp to the speaker cab (ignore all the speaker cable stuff if using most combo amplifiers).
Worst case, try a good noise gate.
Poorly designed amps of either sort do that, and there are some amp faults (tube issues) that can worsen it.
Shielding the guitar can help, or use a power strip with some power cleaning capabilities. Make sure you are using a good quality shielded cable from the guitar to the amp. Make sure you aren't using an instrument cable from the amp to the speaker (that way lies power amp failure and possible speaker/transformer damage and electronics fires...). Always use a proper speaker cable, not a shielded guitar cable, from the amp to the speaker cab (ignore all the speaker cable stuff if using most combo amplifiers).
Worst case, try a good noise gate.
eclecticsynergy
Well-known member
I think this idea may date back to the days when tube amps simply had more gain available.
Not sure it's very relevant today.
Tube amps can have a bit more self-noise, I think. But that's got nothing to do with pickups.
Not sure it's very relevant today.
Tube amps can have a bit more self-noise, I think. But that's got nothing to do with pickups.
Mostly true, but some amps have circuit quirks that turn them into an AM antenna, particularly once a guitar is hooked up. Especially with flawed tubes, other out of spec components, bad grounding.
And even humbuckers don't help with certain types of noise, like from dimmer switches and nearby radio transmitters (including noisy AC motors, etc).
Many amps will translate power line noise into signal, too, which can be all kinds of fun to sort out.
There's lots of reasons a lot of touring bands use power conditioners, and ground fault isolators are in many studio/engineer toolkits. Along with quality shielded cables. A bad cable can act as an antenna all by itself.
Checking your power is correctly wired is important to protect your gear as well as safety. A basic wiring correctness tester is pretty cheap now.
Without more information, determining what the problem is can only be speculation, though. Are external effects involved, or straight to amp? What is house wiring like? Are there dimmers, neon signs, HVAC, microwave, old wireless phones & walkie talkies, nearby AM Radio stations, etc all in operation at once nearby?
Aceman
I am your doctor of love!
Agreed - amps can make their own noise. And in complex electromagnetic environments it can get messy. And then there is high gain land...where everything is louder! But if I line up 5 tube amps and 5 solid states....and play a single coil through them:
They will all hum. Some may hum louder than others, but that is amp differences in each category, and other environmental crap. Loud noisy amp is noisy.
But singles ALWAYS hum. Any differences in the hum are going to be differences in the amps EQ around 60hz, which are probably pretty darn minor.
Thus DiMarzio HS 2, 3's, Duncan single stacks, etc....
They will all hum. Some may hum louder than others, but that is amp differences in each category, and other environmental crap. Loud noisy amp is noisy.
But singles ALWAYS hum. Any differences in the hum are going to be differences in the amps EQ around 60hz, which are probably pretty darn minor.
Thus DiMarzio HS 2, 3's, Duncan single stacks, etc....
Last edited:
Single-ended amps have their own self-noise, usually in the form of hum because they can't take advantage of CMR ( common mode rejection ) within their power amp section, so the residual noise in the power supply and other sources of hum are simply amplified through the amp. Any amp that is not a single-ended amp has the benefit of CMR and that greatly reduces hum; naturally. Amps in and of themselves DO NOT turn into antennas. The very first stage in the amplifier is the most sensitive, important, and susceptible to amplifying noise. Most all amps have a muting jack on the input ( it grounds the hot signal lead, shunting any signal to ground hence muting the amp ). When you insert a cable, the cable acts as an antenna and that is when you can hear radio stations and other noises like hum from external sources. Some amplifier inputs try and increase the brightness of a guitar by reducing the grid stopper value. The grip stopper interacts with the components in the first amplification stage to create a high-frequency roll-off or cut filter. If this resistor value isn't high enough, the RF ( radio frequencies ) in the air can be amplified in the first stage of amplification. These days hearing radio stations in an amp isn't very common, mostly because most inputs are well designed to NOT allow that to happen.
A single-coil has no CMR, so it will not reduce the noise in the air from RF or other external interference. The single-coil more or less actually turns into an antenna. A hum-bucker pickup does have CMR and will reduce the potential for RF and other noise in the air to be canceled out, but only at the pickup. The cable can still have noise injected into it. Cables are generally not as bad ( or good if you will ) at being an antenna by themselves. They usually lay on the ground and the input jack typically grounds the shield helping to shield RF and other noises from getting into the cable.
A solid-state amp is not much different from a tube amp from a functional standpoint. They both use a transformer to create an HT power source that is converted into DC power to power the amp. So both have the same relative potential to have noise present in them. Much of how a solid-state amp works is the same as a tube amp. The components and voltages are different, but they both do the same thing, they amplify low-level signals into louder ones.
Where some SS amps may differ is that some utilize noise reduction circuits. The noise reduction circuit is not meant to eliminate hum, or RF so much as it is meant to reduce the hiss and background noise created from the previous stages of amplification. It just lowers the noise floor is all. A tube amp can and in many cases do have this same type of circuit in them ( the Peavey Triple XXX and JSX for instance ).
The short answer is NO, a single-coil guitar does not make any type of amp more susceptible to noise any more than an amp makes a single-coil guitar more susceptible to noise.
A single-coil has no CMR, so it will not reduce the noise in the air from RF or other external interference. The single-coil more or less actually turns into an antenna. A hum-bucker pickup does have CMR and will reduce the potential for RF and other noise in the air to be canceled out, but only at the pickup. The cable can still have noise injected into it. Cables are generally not as bad ( or good if you will ) at being an antenna by themselves. They usually lay on the ground and the input jack typically grounds the shield helping to shield RF and other noises from getting into the cable.
A solid-state amp is not much different from a tube amp from a functional standpoint. They both use a transformer to create an HT power source that is converted into DC power to power the amp. So both have the same relative potential to have noise present in them. Much of how a solid-state amp works is the same as a tube amp. The components and voltages are different, but they both do the same thing, they amplify low-level signals into louder ones.
Where some SS amps may differ is that some utilize noise reduction circuits. The noise reduction circuit is not meant to eliminate hum, or RF so much as it is meant to reduce the hiss and background noise created from the previous stages of amplification. It just lowers the noise floor is all. A tube amp can and in many cases do have this same type of circuit in them ( the Peavey Triple XXX and JSX for instance ).
The short answer is NO, a single-coil guitar does not make any type of amp more susceptible to noise any more than an amp makes a single-coil guitar more susceptible to noise.
