Hum from Power Transformer - any ideas?

  • Hello, I'd like to start off saying that I love my Kemper, best amp I ever bought hands down.


    However, I recently moved and I'm having some terrible noise problems in my new house. I am getting this very loud, aggressive hum from the power transformer on the utility pole outside my studio room, and from the power outlets as well.


    My question is, is it possible that I have dirty power coming from this pole? If so, is there any equipment I can try that will filter this out? So far I have tried EBtech Hum-X, EBtech Hum Eliminator, a Furman power conditioner and a Monster power conditioner. None of these had any effect on the hum. It's not my cables fault either because all my cables are Mogami Gold. It's not just normal 60 cycle hum, it's a raspy, violent sound that I can't get rid of unless I crank the noise gate up past 8 or so which I don't like doing. Even on clean profiles it hums and humbucker guitars have no effect on it either. I have taken the guitar in another room using a long cable and the noise drops about 80% so I think it's mostly coming from the utility pole more than the outlets inside the house, and I already had an electrician check the power in the house and he said it's fine. Also, the weather seems to affect the noise level which again points to the power transformer being the problem.


    So, is there any equipment that will block out this interference? Maybe some kind of shield I could put up over the window? I'm at a loss right now because it seems like I have to either:


    A) Move my entire studio rig into a different room :(
    or
    B) Get into it with my city's electrical company :( :(


    Both options sound like a big pain, but it's completely unacceptable that I've got all this expensive equipment in my room and can't really use it properly. I wish I knew more about electrical stuff and I'm sorry if my question is stupid but I'd appreciate any help or guidance.

  • Man that sucks.


    Those two solutions were what I'd come to as well.


    You COULD try putting aluminum foil over the entire window and if possible ground it to a radiator or something and see if that changes anything - but sounds like a "redneck repair". Maybe it's something that can be used as "evidence" in solution B.


    I'd go both A and B simultaneously, and see when I'd get tired of B.


    Do you have previously recorded (clean, as in not recorded in the vicinity of the transformer) DI tracks you could reamp to see if the problem persists?

  • Would love a solution to this, I play one show every month or so (tonight in fact) that is horrible since they added lights to the stage. The only thing that helps is to roll my guitar volume pot down a hair. I have also used some custom presets for that venue. I take the Gain down on all my channels a bit and also take the Clarity down to zero, allows me to have that same high gain sound while using less Gain and without some of the hum. I have also tried the HumX and have a very good Furman, no use.

  • @odd guitarist: save the money for the alu foil, it will not help. The problem are the modulated voltages the devices we have todays.
    I bought a Husqvarna Automower for my garden lawn, which has an inductivity loop for the mower stop ring, 5 Volts AC via switching power supply and sure no proper sine wave, because the Safety Code is modulated on the loop.
    Especially my single coil axes have a hum which is similar with your description above (the noise changes with the Code Number of the loop). There is no way to keep this noise away, except to unplug the mower.
    What I want to tell you with this example is: Watch your electric devices in your environment and disconnect them and check if the noise disappears. I'm sure you'll find it.

    zuviel thread macht blead