hum during re-amping

[mblackman]

Hi there,
I've been reamping via my tube amp and getting some hum. Its not loud enough to be noticeable when there are notes playing but its quite noticeable between the notes.

Here's my chain: DI track in PT8LE ->11R re-amp->output to amp->tube amp->FX out->11R line-in. I'm using a speaker sim after this on the recorded track.

The DI was recorded using the 11R and has no hum on it. I have tried hitting the ground lift switch and line level switch on 11R but it makes no difference. The hum is not just the hiss from the amp its a 50Hz thing I believe. The hum is not there if I just play direct into the amp from my guitar.

Any suggestions? I have a software solution to remove hum after recording and the results are OK but I'd prefer to kill it at the source.

[zedhed]

Sounds like a ground issue to me, at the FX out->11R line-in stage?

Maybe try using a balanced cable between FX out & 11R line in.

[Darryl Ramm]

Originally Posted by zedhed

Sounds like a ground issue to me, at the FX out->11R line-in stage?

Maybe try using a balanced cable between FX out & 11R line in.

Ah what model guitar amp exactly is this? It would be rare for an amp to have a balanced FX loop, so I don't see a balanced cable likely to make much difference.

Now there is a big old loop between the Eleven Rack and guitar amp, certainly a suspect for a ground loop. You might want to try lifting the power ground on the Eleven Rack (if you get electrocuted doing this I'll delete this post), or even better play around with feeding the signal back to the guitar amp input through a real transformer decoupled reampbox like a Radial ProRMP driven by a line level output (not the amp1/amp2 outs)... that's what I'd do.

Most people would not reamp through a real guitar preamp back into the Eleven Rack like this, if going to all the effort to go out to a tube preamp most users would then mic a cab driven by the power section of the amp. Is there a reason not to do this? I'd be pretty surprised that this sounds better than the wide variety of Eleven Rack simulated amps available. If you were micing a cab, I'd see more why it might be worthwhile. The Mic input in that case also avoids the obvious ground loop you have created here.

Of course you may also have just recorded very low level hum on the dry track that is not obvious until amped, if you crank that up loud though the Eleven Rack rig (not the external guitar amp) you really hear no hum?

Darryl

[zedhed]

[mblackman]

I just wanted to get the sound of my amp, and mic'ing cabinets is a p.i.t.a. But you may be right in that it doesnt really sound much better or worse than the 11R, I'm on the fence as to which is best. This way seems to give a more raw & lively sound, but once it is eq'd in a mix there may be little difference.
Thanks for the tips, I don't have a radial box but I have a mic pre I might try this weekend. Definitely no hum on the DI track.

[guitardom]

i would start by creating a new playlist on the di track and copy it to it and normalize or limit it hard and see if you can hear that hum once its cranked up.

but you are running the signal through 2 preamp gain stages (amp-11r) which is massive and not typically recomended. the fx output on the amp could be buffered (dropping the signal level) as well creating issues.

the hum could also be an amp issue.