Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Hi there,

I've just bought the above (new) and when trying to play it through my Vox VT30 I'm getting an incredible amount of buzz/hum(?). It's fairly constant without playing, but as soon as I cover and deaden all the strings it goes. If I just cover the bridge with my hand it decreases. Turning the Gain down on the amp also helps a little. When I cycle through the 'amp models' built in on the presets, as I get around to more metal/high gain/high overdrive models, the buzz/hum increases tremendously along with the volume of the guitar. If I switch to manual mode - basically a normal amp - the hum/feedback is there in the backround, but no-where near as noticable.

Amps' OK as it doesn't happen at all with my Strat or LP.

I'm new to this guitar, so maybe it's something simple (like me) that I'm missing.

Any help appreciated.

Cheers,

I have a number of the VOX VT amps. The more distorted settings give noise with single coil pickups like you wouldn't believe. You've got to get some decent physical distance from the amp to cut down on noise from these and even the "clean boutique" setting.

I noticed that, when I'm doing guitar wiring work in my fluorescent-lit workshop with the guitar flat on the bench in front of me, I get crazy single-coil noise from the amp on the floor at my feet. If I rotate the guiter into normal playing position, the noise goes down, and when I walk across the room, it nearly disappears.

Give some thought to this and perhaps experiment a bit.

A bad ground will usually cause noise when touching or releasing one's touch on the strings--crackles and pops and Rice Crispies nonsense, along with a 50 or 60 cycle hummmmm.

If you don't manage to see any way out by trying distance and position, then the ideas of microphonic pickup and wiring issues come up next, as has been suggested.

Thanks all - I'll have a play around at the weekend.