bad earth in house - any fix?

markblack

I've moved into a new house and the electrics are on the to do list. There are dimmer switches so none of it is ideal. 

When I touch a string on a guitar there's a buzz, worse on single coils. If I'm playing overdriven etc, then it's not a problem - but if I'm finger picking clean I get a more noise. My guitars weren't noisy in my old place.

Simple set up - guitar into Helix - is there anything you can get to help with something like this? Anything you can plug into a socket to help? Something clever?

Thanks

Mark

richardhomer

You can buy a plug from B&Q that will tell you if there are any 'real' problems - like a faulty earth, etc.

Dimmer switches interfere really badly with guitars in my experience. If they click right off, you might find that cures your problem.

markblack

@richardhomer - cheers. might start with one of those.

ICBM

Dimmers are the work of Satan. They not only cause interference on almost anything to do with an electric guitar, they stop you using the cheapest and most common type of LED light bulbs - and older dimmers can shorten the life expectancy of even dimmable LED bulbs.

I would get rid of them all.

timmysoft

make sure all your water/pipes are bonded, you'd be surprised how much interference you can get from that.

Dominic

ICBM said:

Dimmers are the work of Satan. They not only cause interference on almost anything to do with an electric guitar, they stop you using the cheapest and most common type of LED light bulbs - and older dimmers can shorten the life expectancy of even dimmable LED bulbs.

I would get rid of them all.

You can get fully LED compatible dimmer modules now

pintspiller

timmysoft said:

make sure all your water/pipes are bonded, you'd be surprised how much interference you can get from that.

Bonded? What's that?

Sassafras

pintspiller said:

timmysoft said:

make sure all your water/pipes are bonded, you'd be surprised how much interference you can get from that.

Bonded? What's that?

Handcuffed to the radiator.

Voxman

There are a couple of potential solutions you might want to look into.  The 'quality' of electricity can be a real problem in different venues and where there is a lot of hum/noise being picked up a lot of players will use a 'power conditioner' to 'filter' the signal and 'clean' the electricity (before anyone here jumps on me, these are colloquial not technical terms!).  Furman power conditioners are are very well regarded, but there are other makes too with various options/price-ranges.  

Another option is to use something like an ElectroHarmonix 'Humdebugger' to significantly reduce or even eliminate unwanted noise, with minimal impact on guitar tone.  

https://www.andertons.co.uk/p/EHXOHUMDEB/noise-gate-pedals/electro-harmonix-hum-debugger-pedal

HarrySeven

Paging @spark240

Sporky

Isn't the solution to get an electrician to sort it out properly?

equalsql

Sporky said:

Isn't the solution to get an electrician to sort it out properly?

Isn't that the same as handing them your wallet..

Sporky

equalsql said:

Isn't that the same as handing them your wallet..

Nope.

No more than not doing it is writing your own death certificate, if we're going for ridiculous hyperbole.

professorben

@markblack the bonding is the connecting of any metal pipe work, (water and gas) to the main earth in your property.

not so vital in these days of RCD protection and push fit water pipes, but obviously that entirely depends on the age and standard of the wiring and plumbing in your house.

Dimmers are awful for noise and general annoyance with regard to electrical interference and lifespan of lamps.

Id do a bit of testing when playing, switch the fridge off ( another culprit of noise mains)
try switching all the lights off at the circuit breaker if possible.

Ill be honest there's not a huge amount a spark can do in these situations, might be easier and far cheaper to investigate and invest in a filtered power supply, like you get for computer equipment, filters out the dirty supply and smooths out peaks.

Cheers
Ben

Barney

Try switching everything off at the consumer unit apart from the cooker unit ...presuming it has a socket on ...that way all you can isolate it to see iff its a supply problem or anything in the house ....just keep switching circuits on one at a time to narrow it down.....presuming it isnt the supply 

markblack

@professorben @Voxman i'll have a look into some of that. cheers.

thanks for the replies all.

Rocker

Sporky said:

equalsql said:

Isn't that the same as handing them your wallet..

Nope.

No more than not doing it is writing your own death certificate, if we're going for ridiculous hyperbole.

Well said my friend, I agree 100%