Guitar Tube Amp Hiss

[leigh]

I've been working with some guitarists lately and I'm noticing that their tube amps produce a lot of hiss. They don't seem to think it's a problem and I have to ask them to turn down during quiet pieces they don't play on.

Is hiss a necessary by-product of the tube amp sound?

**Leigh

[Babz]

The guitarist finding the right direction to face is key.

Rotating the guitar face 180 degrees, you will find definite spots where the noise gets louder and quieter. The hard part is getting the guitarist to remember to not move around and to hold that quiet direction spot.

Other devices in the room can also be a factor. Being too close to an old CRT computer monitor used to be the worse. LCD monitors are better, but can also be problematic. LED is the best. But other things like fluorescent lights can be a factor. Try to see if moving to a different part of the room helps. You can also try things like point the amp in a different direction or using an iso cabinet.

One of the most effective ways to deal with it is a noise gate (essential if you are cranking the amp to high gain), but you need to deal with positioning angle first to find the quietest angle for the pickup, then engage the noise gate. That is to say you still should be mindful of positioning even if you are killing the noise with a gate.

Also note that the problem is worse with guitars with single coil pickups (Fenders) than double coil ( Gibsons),

[HCMarkus]

Babz is right about guitar orientation and the buzz that can result, especially from single-coil pickups. Brings new meaning to the old expression "Sit on it and rotate."

If the issue is high frequency amp hiss, as opposed to buzz, the hiss may lay above the top end of the guitar's actual overtones, in which case a low pass filter can work wonders.

If the hiss or buzz extends down into the range of the guitar and is objectionably loud, use a place where the guitar isn't playing as a noise sample for something like iZotope RX; after sampling the steady state noise, apply the resultant filter to the track. Although I don't usually need to de-noise an entire guitar track, de-noising the last note/chord in a song allows a clean fade to silence.

[buzzsmith]

Excellent advice, HC and Babz!

In my home studio, I seem to have some hum issues with guitars that appear to be inherent with the house.

Not usually a problem with a simple, no pedals, guitar rig but ALWAYS a problem with steel guitar. And always a problem with heavily processed electric guitars. Amp or no amp.

Positioning helps but doesn't cure it.

I've had the electric company techs come by and they couldn't find anything.

I even did an experiment years ago and cut all of the power to the house off and had my son bring down his electric guitar and a small battery powered amp. Still had hum.

So, it appears that some kind of field is being generated within and around the actual power lines (underground).

A definite and chronic annoyance!

Buzzy


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[wylie1]

Old worn out tubes can be an issue as well.

[HCMarkus]

n my home studio, I seem to have some hum issues with guitars that appear to be inherent with the house.

If you haven yet to try it, the aforementioned software approach could be the golden ticket for you Buzzy.

[daniel.sneed]

As Babz suggested, a noise gate can help, but you may notice the gate closing point.
Which, in my experience, is a nono because... it just sounds awfull when it opens or closes.

I do prefer expander over noise-gate for this.
It takes a little time to tweak for the track and the project, but worth the results, IMHO.

[Rick Cornish]

In my experience, solid state amps produce as much hiss as tubes, though tube amps produce more hum. Single-coil pickups also make more noise than humbuckers.

My setup process:
1. Optimize amp volume for the part that's being played (i.e. don't set the guitar volume to 1 and the amp volume to 10… guitar volume should be maxed and turn amp down to minimum reasonable level for the part)
2. If the guitar has tone controls and they're not turned up all the way, try turning them up and reducing some treble at the amp to match the tone and de-emphasize some hiss.
3. Though pickup settings are a personal thing, if the guitar has humbuckers with coil taps and the player is playing in the tapped setting, try turning the taps off and creating the tone another way (EQ, pedals, etc.). This isn't usually possible, but it could be worth a try if you have a really noisy setup and you have this option. Humbuckers are always quieter.
4. If the guitar has active electronics, make sure it has a new battery for each session.
5. Try different guitar cables (shielded T-R—not T-R-S) No wireless!!!
6. If using a head and separate speaker cabinet, try different speaker cables (un-shielded!!)
7. If using a pedalboard, take any unused pedals out of the chain (even if they're "true bypass", you're still running through more cables and connectors than can pick up noise)
8. Rotate the guitar to find the quietest position and weld the player there (it's the relative angle/distance of the guitar pickup(s) to the amp along with interaction from other electrical fields in the room… even a neon sign on the outside of the building can cause problems). Rotating/moving the pedal board can also help.
9. Make the guitar player wear a tinfoil hat (j/k)

If the hiss is still present/objectionable after you record, mute the track when you can. Also, iZotope RX6 can work wonders.

(Obviously, all the above apply equally to bass if you want to record an amped signal.)

[buzzsmith]

n my home studio, I seem to have some hum issues with guitars that appear to be inherent with the house.

If you haven yet to try it, the aforementioned software approach could be the golden ticket for you Buzzy.

Oh, yeah. I've got it!
And a hum filter EQ.
I'd have to look, but I think I generally use about 3 noise reduction plugins on my steel tracks. And muting (deleting) any time he didn't play.

Gracias...

Buzzy



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[mikehalloran]

Some level of hiss is a natural part of nearly all tube amps and I know of no way to eliminate it at the amp although tone controls can mask it at the expense of the sound. Buzzing can often be controlled but if you have fluorescent lights (or worse, a mercury vapor street light outside like my old studio), lots of luck. Hum — sometimes can be eliminated but generally, you're looking to reduce.

A balanced power supply will go a long way. These supply +60V / -60V to each leg. They are expensive and can be unsafe but they do eliminate hum along with much buzzing.
http://www.furmanpower.com/furman-techn ... nced-power

So called power conditioners may or may not be effective (not in my noisy studio). I use star-quad balanced cable everywhere—my studio is noisy enough that anyone can hear the difference when A/B'd. Being in the heart of Silicon Valley, it's a must.

In most cases, the guitar signal will mask the noise. noise gating, high and low pass filtering etc. can be quite helpful.

I do a lot of audio restoration. Izotope's RX is the essential tool. It's not unusual for me to get old tapes with pops, clicks, hiss, ground hum and more that mask the audio signal. Normally, you let it 'learn' the noise and it will selectively filter just that. RX is my first line of defense and often works miracles. In these cases, redoing the session is never possible—I have to fix what is there. I'm a long time user of the Advanced version but with 6, the Standard version is adequate for most studios.
https://www.izotope.com/en/products/rep ... tures.html

RX6 is $399. Through March 29, you can get Isotope's Music Production Suite for $499 from most resellers. RX 6 Standard, Ozone 8 Advanced, Neutron 2 Advanced, VocalSynth, Nectar 2, Insight and Trash 2
https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail ... mar-izotop

If you already own an Izotope product, there are even cheaper upgrade paths to Music Production Suite.
https://www.sweetwater.com/store/search.php?s=rx+6

RX is always the first plug in the chain. Clean up the audio before you process it further. Although most of the tools work as plug-ins, some don't. All work in the stand-alone version and tricky files are best cleaned up that way.

Bottom line: I try to get the guitar as quiet as possible but after that, I know that I can fix it in the mix.

[zandurian]

So, it appears that some kind of field is being generated within and around the actual power lines (underground).

A definite and chronic annoyance!

Buzzy

Maybe a name change is in order? (sorry couldn’t resist). A lifelong thorn in my flesh as well. As I understand it even just the RF that we pump into the atmosphere gets picked up by Guitar pick ups. I’ve picked up radio stations before. Izotope RX is A wonderful Band-Aid as it can be fine-tuned to just affect the frequencies that are a problem. Because of my long love affair with single coils -Old school noisy single coils especially, - I ended up getting my favorite Strat set up with a single coil Hum canceling system from ilitch electronics. All my original tone and just about as quiet as hum buckers!

In a studio full of gear you’re pretty much screwed unless (as suggested) the guitarist stays perfectly still in a certain spot which is ridiculous when you’re trying to perform with feeling.

Kudos for your brilliant Power down battery amp test!!


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[zandurian]

I've been working with some guitarists lately and I'm noticing that their tube amps produce a lot of hiss. They don't seem to think it's a problem and I have to ask them to turn down during quiet pieces they don't play on.

Is hiss a necessary by-product of the tube amp sound?

**Leigh

A properly set up tube amp is generally fairly quiet. Most hiss problems come from what is plugged into it. You sound fortunate to me though, most people can’t hear the hiss because of all the buzz but if they’re using hum buckers then yes - it’s all those gains stages Going in. I mean are you hearing the hiss with the guitar unplugged? If so there’s a problem with the amp, Or sometimes just an old tube amp with the treble cranked all the way up can produce an audible hiss. No buzz problems? Share your secrets here!


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[James Steele]

Hmmm... I guess it might be genre specific a little. I mostly deal with hard rock and metal and record myself. Generally, where there's no guitar I pretty much manually trim out those areas where the guitar isn't actually playing. I don't have too much problem with this anyway, as I've used a Rocktron Intellipitch in my effects loop for years, primarily these days for its HUSH noise reduction. I know I'm breaking the supposed rules because it's taking my preamp signal, converting it to digital, cleaning up the noise and converting back to analog, but my rig sounds great. It's 24 bit digital for crying out loud. It sounds fine. So I have a rig that you almost can't tell is on until you lay into it, and honestly I'm not getting tails or attacks chopped. I'm quite happy with it. There's much guitarists can do to quiet their rigs. I wish more of them would do so.

[Shooshie]

I don't play guitar, certainly not an electric one, so most of my experience with amps, miccing, and processing guitar sounds has been because of my role as engineer on a lot of projects. So, bear with me...

When you say "hiss," are you talking about high frequency hiss, as in cassette tapes, or are you talking about 60 cycle hum? Or both? Do you handle those differently? (Obviously, they're not the same frequency for hi pass or lo pass filters, but other than that.) Do 60 cycle hum and high frequency hiss both respond to Babz suggestions as to position? Are there any situations where fixing one makes the other worse?

There may yet be a guitar project or two in my future, so this is very helpful stuff, indeed.

Shooshie

[Shooshie]

PS: I have dealt with most of that kind of noise by using gates, lo-pass or hi-pass filters, and especially by quickly ramping up/down and muting tracks at the boundaries of live audio. The latter has become one of my staples in engineering. When a track isn't making music, it needs to be OFF.