Studio monitors balanced cables noise gone!

[Willy25]

this is weird and i hope someone can explain because i cant understand lol.

when i bought my Fender MIM i was upset because there was to much noise and static sound coming out from my studio monitors ( only on a high gain setting). another guitar didnt have that problem with high gain mode. so i thought that the Fender needed to be grounded. Then i connect it to my solid state amp and the static was gone but some noise was still there, but not annoying as the software (Amplitube 4). so i replaced my rca cables for some balanced ones (edit: interface to monitors, not guitar to studio monitors.), and wow now im getting the same results as my solid state amp! with the noise gone 80%

so, does this mean that the balanced cables cancel some noise? and its not a ground issue with the guitar its just a noisy pickup and replacing it with seymour duncan will get the 20% noise off lol.

Also another question, reading online about unbalance vs balance cables, it only states that it will cancel noise but i just notice an improvement on volume and clarity, is it placebo effect lol or does it help a bit?

 

[Darg1911]

Re: Studio monitors balanced cables noise gone!

Balanced cables carry the same signal on two conductors but with the polarities reversed. The two signals, because the polarities are reversed, would cancel each other out. But the gear that receives the balanced cable/signal flips the polarity of the signal on one of the conductors so that the polarity is now the same, so they wont cancel. There is your audio signal. However, any noise introduced into the signal is the same polarity on both conductors. It doesn't get reversed between conductors during transmission down the cable. So when the balanced gear flips the signal on one cable so that it matches the polarity of the signal on the other, it also ends up reversing the polarity of any noise, which was originally the same polarity on both cables. That now puts the noise on one cable in opposite polarity of the noise on the other so that noise is cancelled out at the receiving end.

With unbalanced, like a standard coaxial guitar cable, there is a single conductor and a ground/shield (braided or spiral). Although there is signal carried on both, the shield is meant to reject interference/noise. There is no active cancellation involved like occurs with true balanced cables and gear.

That said, what you hear as improved clarity with the balanced cable/signal could be a result of simply removing the noise from the signal. Or it could be a combination of that and effects of the electronics, or maybe cable differences. Maybe a higher capacitance of the unbalanced cable for example. Or, magical, mystical unicorn gas injected into the copper that makes up the balanced cable.

 

[Little Pigbacon]

Re: Studio monitors balanced cables noise gone!

A true balanced connection is up in level over a corresponding single-ended connection, +6 dB by voltage, IIRC. That’s because the inverting leg of the balanced transmission line is a duplicate of the non-inverting leg, but with opposite polarity. The balanced input at the receiving component (assuming it’s truly differential) responds to the difference between them. And what’s the difference between 1 and -1? 2.

 

[Darg1911]

Re: Studio monitors balanced cables noise gone!

^^Thanks^^. I missed the output level part of his question.

 

[eclecticsynergy]

Re: Studio monitors balanced cables noise gone!

Switching from RCAs to XLRs, it also seems likely that they're carrying +4 dB line level rather than -10dB. The input sensitivity on the monitor inputs might not be perfectly compensated.

Just a thought: if the Fender hums more than the other guitar, could it be that the Fender has singlecoil pickups while the other guitar has humbuckers?

 

[Willy25]

Re: Studio monitors balanced cables noise gone!

Thanks everyone for their input!

Its good the static noise is gone!

No, its a humbucker at the bridge that has that hum noise
Surprised that the singles are quite. All stock pickups

 

[Willy25]

Re: Studio monitors balanced cables noise gone!

Thanks everyone for their input!

Its good that the static noise is gone!

No, its a humbucker at the bridge that has that hum noise
Surprised that the singles are quite. All stock pickups