How To Hear 60 cycle hum?

[ngjingming]

Im not sure how to....

Issit like turn on distortion then when you hit a note the note goes like up and down up and down....

Like the noise is oscillating? :?:

pardon a noob question....

and how to get rid of it?

 

[Crawldaddy]

hmm.

60/50-cycle hum is caused by electrical appliances such as your computer monitor screen, fluorescent lamps etc etc that are turned on simultaneously when you're plugging in your axe to play guitar... and it usually affects your output in the following instances:

1. your amp is not grounded especially if your amp's plug has only 2 pins.
2. you're using single-coil pickups that are very sensitive.
3. a combination of the above.

Anyway HOW it sounds, is like a gritty, irritating white noise (not oscillations) that gets worse if you bring the guitar nearer to a source of the 60/50-cycle hum.

 

[Crawldaddy]

Hmm.

Oh yes and the best way to avoid it (in my own experience of nocturnal guitar-playing) is to not turn on the main lights but rather use a lamp plugged into a different wall socket (that is to say the amp and lamp do not share the same wall socket area, esp if the sockets are side-by-side).

Also ground the amp properly with a Singapore 3-pin type. I do believe there's a thread here on soft with regards as to how to DIY that bit of handiwork.

 

[ngjingming]

im scared to DIY ground my amp.

 

[Crawldaddy]

Hmm.

It's not that difficult, because you need not even solder any joints (unless you're crazy enough to do it). The point is that all you need to use is a pair of wire cutters and a screwdriver to open and close a new 3-pin plug.

This is the thread:

http://soft.com.sg/web/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=11443

and perhaps you might just want to practise this sort of thing on any old, spoilt appliances which you or your folks might have wanted to ditch but hadn't found the time