Fender Blues Deluxe amp buzzes with pedals, Valvtronic amp doesn't

[biggy boy]

I was over at my neighbours house last night with a Fender Blues Deluxe reissue 94 amp. I just got the amp yesterday.
I was using several pedals one of them Mark's Chaos distortion. The amp was buzzing to the point that the drummer and another guitar player were complaining.
If I just plugged the guitar in straight to the amp  no buzz.
The pedals are totally quiet on my Vox Valvetronic amp at home.
As I'm writing this I'm thinking I need to bring the Fender amp to my place and try it, it could be the 120 volt ac outlet I was plugged into at the nabours.

Anyway is there something I should be looking at with the Fender amp itself, if I find that it still buzzes at my place?
Or should I just stop playing with that drummer and other guitarist cuz the buzzing doesn't bother me


Glen

[petemoore]

Anyway is there something I should be looking at with the Fender amp itself, if I find that it still buzzes at my place?
Or should I just stop playing with that drummer and other guitarist cuz the buzzing doesn't bother me
  Amp has the AC Ground lug, those amps don't break much. Because outside the amp seems to be where the beginning of the onset appeared, it's doubtful you'll find anything wrong with the amp.
  I'm never sure what the deal is with noise, it's even hard to find when it's in your face than a failure. I've had troubles with it, somehow I manage to get Distortion and effects going without super-noise, sometimes pedals make noises, I'm not sure if the ones you're experiencing can be reduced except by maybe improving your "Tap dance on the buttons", sometimes a guitar volume rollof helps and doesn't rolloff much.
  Try the ground fault finder, the testclips wire...one end on the cable Gnd. at the guitar > connected to the strings [any change ?
  Might as well test all cable to cable / jacks in the box grounds.
 

[aziltz]

my first guess is that your neighbors wiring is causing a bigger problem with ground loop hum with your pedals.

what kind of power supply are you using/how are the pedals arranged with it?

[chi_boy]

I had a similar problem and found it to be related to the wall outlets. If I plug into 2 diferent outlets on different walls, I get nasty humm. Plugging into the same outlet helped a lot.

[biggy boy]

Thanks for the help guys!

It's appears to be an interaction with the pedals and the amp. The guitar alone plugged into the amp is dead quite.
The pedals are all running off of batteries, NO power supply. In bypass it's quite. Even a single pedal (Chaos) in the chain had the noise.
I would say the sound is a buzz and not a humm.
I was using the amp at my house for about ten minutes before taking it over to the nabours house and I'm not sure if it was buzzing at my place or not.
I'm planning on leaving the amp at his house all the time, so that I don't have to move it back and forth.
He's the drummer, so he can use it to set his beer on it when I'm not there and he's practicing
I am going to bring it home tonight and try it out again.

If it is his house that is the problem I'll check out his house wiring, maybe put in a new breaker in the panel with a dedicated out let for the amp.

[biggy boy]

  I'm not sure if the ones you're experiencing can be reduced except by maybe improving your "Tap dance on the buttons", sometimes a guitar volume rollof helps and doesn't rolloff much.
  Try the ground fault finder, the testclips wire...one end on the cable Gnd. at the guitar > connected to the strings [any change ?
  Might as well test all cable to cable / jacks in the box grounds.
 

Thanks Pete I'll try this stuff out.

Glen

[aziltz]

i have a "similar" amp, a blues jr, and a large pedalboard, run on two separate daisy chain-type power supplies.  Now I play a Tele so I have the typical 60-cycle hum, as well as some digital tap tempo noise from my Echo Park, but even running everything off of a power conditioner, its not as quiet as batteries would be across the board.

I have found certain pedals can cause hidden problems to emerge.  Like a non-True Bypass pedal can sometimes causes a really bad buzz to appear because of a loose connection in the George L's jack.  Just some things to think about.

Try each pedal individually, and try different configurations of guitar cords.  Batteries should be the quietest operation, unless you've got a dying battery in a buffered pedal.  Be systematic and I'm sure you'll track down the problem.  I highly doubt its the amp or the guitar alone though.

Good Luck

[biggy boy]

i because of a loose connection in the George L's jack.  Just some things to think about.

Try each pedal individually, and try different configurations of guitar cords.  Batteries should be the quietest operation, unless you've got a dying battery in a buffered pedal.  Be systematic and I'm sure you'll track down the problem.  I highly doubt its the amp or the guitar alone though.

Good Luck

I think you are on to something, the jacks on the amp are loose I had to fiddle with the number one jack input to get it to work on the amp, so I was using the number two jack input instead. It may be wonky too. I'll clean and tighten the input jack contacts also while I'm at it.

One of the gutars I was using has onboard overdrive board on it goes from mild overdrive to metal. I got it from guitarfuel.com or one of the others???
When I used it it also made the amp buzz. when I turned it off no buzz.

[aziltz]

i was refering to those solder-less cables going bad/coming loose, but it could really be anything.

does it buzz with a different guitar that doesnt have that built-in stuff?

[biggy boy]

i was refering to those solder-less cables going bad/coming loose, but it could really be anything.

does it buzz with a different guitar that doesnt have that built-in stuff?

Yes it was buzzing with a custom LP and the Chaos pedal.
I was hoping to get at it today and testing stuff out, but ended up going away for the day.

[biggy boy]

OK got the amp home and tried it out with the guitar that has the onboard effects overdrive.
It buzzes at my place too. If I turn off the effect / bypass it, its quite.
I also tried the chaos distortion pedal and it buzzes a bit too.
I'm going to open it up later and look at grounds and loose jacks.
Will also try the chaos pedal with a bunch of other guitars.

Glen

[biggy boy]

Got it fixed

It turned out to be the input jack.
The jack legs came unsoldered from the circuit board.
Man I'm not real impressed with Fender for the second time. The jacks are made of plastic even the part where the nut threads on. And Fender claims they use quality parts?
I guess because it is plastic the nut is stripped which made the jack loose, which inturn made it come loose from the board.

Thanks for the help guys!

Glen

[aziltz]

glad it wasn't something expensive!

[Ben N]

That's your modern Fender construction for you. PCB mounted jacks are just time-delayed problems--they will go funky on you, sooner or later.

[biggy boy]

glad it wasn't something expensive!

Ya me too LOL
Good thing I'm a DIYer, cuz a repair shop might have charge a fair amount to fix it.

The clean setting on this amp is great, but the overdrive setting is disappointing.
Pretty sure I read someone else had mentioned the overdrive was not very good.
Good thing I have pedals.

[biggy boy]

That's your modern Fender construction for you. PCB mounted jacks are just time-delayed problems--they will go funky on you, sooner or later.

Almost as bad as the 1981 Fender Bullet I restored for A guy.
It was made of plywood for goodness sake
Man did I laught when I saw the plywood. The neck was nice thou.

[Ben N]

That stuff does not happen to my 40-year old Fenders. Or Ampegs. Or Traynors.

[biggy boy]

I think Fender stopped being Fender when Leo sold it.
Traynors appears to be nice amp. A Friend of mine has one, sounds great!
They are/were made in Canada. Designed by a repair guy who worked at a Toronto Guitar store.

[Ben N]

Pete Traynor is long gone, too. Look, even the cheap amps of that era were built to last in a way that current economics and technology discourage, at least at the price points that Fender sells its products at, and price is a marketing, not an engineering or product development, decision. Hand wiring jacks and pots off-board just costs a lot more than popping them all into a pcb subassembly. But it just shifts that cost to the purchaser, who will eventually have to make the repair many times if he expects the product to last.

[aziltz]

all the more reason we should all build our own Tweeds!