Guitar / amp?

Question

when i switch on over drive on my Frontman 15G Fender Amplifier, there's this humming noise that is really messing with my head. i need to solve this problem, but i don't know where it comes from, or where to get it fixed.

i think managed to narrow it down to either my pickups, cable, amplifier, or balance of my bass, middle, treble, volume, gain etc.

Answer 1

ok man, heres the deal.

all guitar pickups are going to pick up ANY source thats giving off an electro-magnetic signature, no matter how weak, if its in close proximity. (put your regular old wristwatch - not digital - right next to the pickup, you'll hear it through the amp. now imagine how much noise a vcr or tv or computer monitor would cause through your rig).

heres some basic amp stuff. with amps that are usually in starter packs (10, 15, and 20 watts usually) you're gonna get that humming when you turn the gain up, and when the volume is up a little.

ppl think of watts as volume, but its really not. is CLARITY at higher volumes. when you crank a small amp so that its loud, it gets crackley. but you can crank a much more powerful amp to thats same volume and it wont break up. it would need to be WAY louder to do that. thats why back in the day, everyone started to use 100 watt marshalls and fenders. they could turn them way loud to fill a club (back then nobody had p.a. systems in a club). they NEEDED that much volume, and needed to stay clean while doing it. nowadays, you can play at a club with a 30 watt amp, and just mic it through the p.a.

anyhow, this is the nature of the amp. you're gonna typically want to keep everything on the guitar all the way up, and adjust the ampfrom there. start off with the bass/treble/mid at 5, and the gain at 5. adjust your EQ how you want it, and as you turn it up louder, you'll notice the louder it goes, the more its gonna break up a little. the louder you go, you may need to turn the gain down a little. if you're playing loud, and its still not crackley, you can turn the gain up a little at a time till you're happy with it, and its not too buzzy.

what you might want to do is find another practice amp, or upgrade to a better amp. if you want a practice amp, i'd look into the Roland MicroCube. its got like 6 good modelling amp sounds, and 6 effects, a headphone jack, cd input (so you can play along with whatever song you're trying to learn, and its all gonna come out through the headphones if you want), and a tuning pitch. it also can be played using batteries, or plugged into the wall.

if you want a larger amp, you'll need to do some research. theres a lot of different types out there, and you should take into account if you want to achieve your tones from your amp, or from effects.

Answer 2

Try using a different guitar (to see if maybe it's your pickups), try plugging your guitar into a different amp (to see if it's the amp). If it is a tube amp, try replacing the pre-amp tubes, when tubes go bad, an annoying hum is often a sympton.