Electric Guitar DI - Buzz/Ground Noise (Line 6)

M

Matt Vivlamore

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Jan 11, 2011
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Southern MD, USA
www.meerkatsound.com
The band I work with the guitarist uses a Line6 SpiderValve MKII and there is a XLR Direct Out on the back of the amp. Well I am trying to use that and every time I plug and XLR into it, I get a nasty buzz in the Mixer and out of his Guitar amp even when we 'Lift" the ground. As soon as I remove the XLR, no more buzz. The best way I have been able clean it up is to run out of the PreAmp Out using a 1/4"-TS cable into an Active DI and even then there is still some buzz and it increases with his guitar volume in the mixer, but not out of his speaker.

What can I use to eliminate the BUZZ between this guitar and my Mixer?
Mixer and Line6 on same outlet and All Ground plugs accounted for.
 
Re: Electric Guitar DI - Buzz/Ground Noise (Line 6)

Phantom power on the channel can produce some odd noises from the output of some amp dis.

I can think of a couple of bass amps that behaved noisy on boards with global phantom.

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Re: Electric Guitar DI - Buzz/Ground Noise (Line 6)

You can try a couple of things:
1. Use an ISO transformer between the output and mixer input.

2. Use a DI (like the Countryman Type 85) that can handle the output of the power amp section.

3. Use a DI between the guitar and cabinet, loop into the cabinet as normal. Mic as necessary.


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Re: Electric Guitar DI - Buzz/Ground Noise (Line 6)

Jordan Wolf said:
You can try a couple of things:
1. Use an ISO transformer between the output and mixer input.

2. Use a DI (like the Countryman Type 85) that can handle the output of the power amp section.

3. Use a DI between the guitar and cabinet, loop into the cabinet as normal. Mic as necessary.


Sent from my iPhone
Click to expand...

Transformer DI's tend to isolate better then active type DI's
 
Re: Electric Guitar DI - Buzz/Ground Noise (Line 6)

I've had problems with Line 6 stomp boxes like this. Using an isolated power supply helped. Seems like they do funny things with the ground reference on their power supplies.
 
Re: Electric Guitar DI - Buzz/Ground Noise (Line 6)

Matt Vivlamore said:
For JDI set-up, I am going Out of the Amp with an XLR-to-1/4" cable into the JDI and then XLR out to the Mixer?

I was looking for an XLR to XLR solution.
Click to expand...

For an XLR-XLR solution, you just need a transformer iso, not a DI. Radial's product for that is the IceCube IC-1 (they have others as well). For testing, I'd probably try a pair of passive DIs back-to-back.
 
Re: Electric Guitar DI - Buzz/Ground Noise (Line 6)

Matt Vivlamore said:
For JDI set-up, I am going Out of the Amp with an XLR-to-1/4" cable into the JDI and then XLR out to the Mixer?

I was looking for an XLR to XLR solution.
Click to expand...

I've found that with some amps totally avoiding the XLR output and going to some type of line out, tuner out ,loop output would be a good place to start. 1/4 out on the amp to 1/4 in on the DI. If you really want the amp sound I believe the JDI will also allow you to put it in line with the speaker output of the amp.
 
Re: Electric Guitar DI - Buzz/Ground Noise (Line 6)

Steve Kirby said:
I've had problems with Line 6 stomp boxes like this. Using an isolated power supply helped. Seems like they do funny things with the ground reference on their power supplies.
Click to expand...

There is no ground reference on any two prong wall wart! But there is a built-in ground loop using a common power supply brick unless is is an isolated supply.
 
Re: Electric Guitar DI - Buzz/Ground Noise (Line 6)

Don Boomer said:
There is no ground reference on any two prong wall wart! But there is a built-in ground loop using a common power supply brick unless is is an isolated supply.
Click to expand...

What is ground?

You are correct that there is no protective earth (safety ground) connection in a 2-prong wall-wart, but that has little bearing on the signal return (audio ground) in equipment, as the 2 need not be connected.
 
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