background noise and feedback

    hi all


    been active with this unit for over 6 weeks now, and love it, and thanks for all your help with profiles etc


    very recent problem is that i seem to be getting a lot more background noise, up to feedback, from both single coil and P90 guitars, when i didn't used to at all


    There is a strange ticking, and while i am adjusting noise gate and clean sense, it only goes if noise gate is well up, which a lot of you don't recommend, and clean sense at 0, which therefore doesn't take account of the pick ups output, so bit confused where this has come from, any thoughts?

    If you turn your guitar down to zero, then do you hear the noise?
    If not its your guitar pickup picking up stay noise.
    Get a long chord walk around and try to isolate where the noise is coming from.

    Edited once, last by billruppert ().

    it's in the kemper and is directly linked to the amount of gain. I have changed leads and used 3 different single coil/ P90 guitars and it remains, it goes with heavy use of the noise gate, but even then it's audible behind the guitar signal. It is a high frequency clicking oscillation, not heard it before but now I can't stop hearing it. Anyone able to replicate the problem, or have any advice?

    Hi-frequency clicking oscillation? That sounds like interference in your room. If it wasn't there before, have you changed/added anything in the household that is even remotely electrical? Try switching off everything (starting with computer and W-lan), if it disappears switch back on one after the other 'till is there again

    "Music is enough for a lifetime, but a lifetime is not enough for music" Serghei Rachmaninoff


    Quote from andrewwarne

    it's in the kemper and is directly linked to the amount of gain. I have changed leads and used 3 different single coil/ P90 guitars and it remains, it goes with heavy use of the noise gate, but even then it's audible behind the guitar signal. It is a high frequency clicking oscillation, not heard it before but now I can't stop hearing it. Anyone able to replicate the problem, or have any advice?


    But you didn't say if it happens with guitar volume on zero or not ?

    Um, yes Bruno, it does decrease and disappear as the guitar volume comes down to nothing


    I have unplugged everything in my environment, and its still there, it is totally related to the amount of gain, and also treble applied on settings and indeed my guitars tone knobs, but I have tried 3 different guitars and 2 different makes of cable, and still there, much more acutely on single coils, but discernible on humbuckers too


    i have plugged the unit into a different wall socket, and even turned off the broadband wifi and units in my sons bedroom next door, nothing changes


    I've used this room for all my guitar playing for years, with various valve amps, and a lot of guitar sims like guitar rig 5 and amplitude 3, but never heard this before


    its either in the unit, and is reacting to certain settings being heightened, or i need some sort of 'cleaner' 'filter' in my system, but don't know what that is


    My best description is that it is a regular high frequency clicking oscillation


    any advice and help greatly appreciated

    Can you post a rig where is very evident? I can try to see: 1- if I have it as well, 2- if I can get rid of it
    I promise nothing but can try....

    "Music is enough for a lifetime, but a lifetime is not enough for music" Serghei Rachmaninoff


    Try to isolate the problem. Power off every device in your room except the KPA. Disable any DECT phones and base stations, any cell phones and WLAN devices within reach. If this still does not help to identify the source of the problem, see if you can ged rid of it by leaving the guitar cable in the input jack and then testwise wrap the whole device in aluminium foil.

    Hi guitarnet70


    I've uploaded a test profile, AW AC30/SWART CAB, its a blend of an AC30 with the cab from the little swart, which is one of my favourites


    I aim for that crunchy, slightly spongy saturated sound that cleans up from the guitar volume, so its when the gain is coming out on full that i can hear this disturbance


    good luck and thanks for the help


    tylerhb i've already tried most if this. but will raid the kitchen later for foil and see what happens


    very distracting, thanks chaps

    another update in this tedious saga


    there are certain positions in my room where the disturbance disappears, mainly when I am playing facing my windows, 360 degrees round the room other than that it is still there, it is certainly connected to single coils and the gain structure in the kemper


    i have wrapped in foil, no difference i'm afraid, I have moved it and myself all round the room, no difference, is there some sort of filter i can apply, and where would i apply it, that would clean up this problem


    is anyone else experiencing anything similar?


    let me know


    thanks

    Are you using the stomp compressor in this patch? I get a similar sporadic ticking in the background when using the stomp comp into a gainy amp, and the noise gate doesn't deal with it well... This is sad because I like the way that compressor smooths and fattens the overdriven tones.

    All modelers known to man 8o

    Quote from andrewwarne

    there are certain positions in my room where the disturbance disappears, mainly when I am playing facing my windows, 360 degrees round the room other than that it is still there, it is certainly connected to single coils and the gain structure in the kemper

    This is clear proof that is not depending on the Kemper but on ambience interference

    "Music is enough for a lifetime, but a lifetime is not enough for music" Serghei Rachmaninoff


    ok, that was becoming my conclusion after the various tests and suggestions, I assume i'm looking for some sort of screening solution, does anyone know much about this, some of you pro guitarist types?


    would it be between the guitar and the kemper, or is it a mains 'box' of some sort that the kemper plugs into, any comments gratefully received

    95% of interferences are getting in from:
    1- pickups
    2- strings
    3- cables


    Cases where interference are picked by the hardware itself are rare, though I remember a forum member having problems because living just a couple of miles away from a huge RF transmitter

    "Music is enough for a lifetime, but a lifetime is not enough for music" Serghei Rachmaninoff


    Your problem with sound problems tied to the gain or volume sound similar to the same sounds i had with the kemper. Mine kind of sounded like it there was a guy doing morse code in the back ground with the amp's gain at 7 or higher. I also had a repetitive oscilation of some voice when i had it system up stairs near my computer. My axe fx ultra doesn't have this issue so i decided to send the kemper back. I think i may have got in on this system to early in its life cycle and needs to be cleared of all its problems. I was considering keeping it till i ran into the RF or electromagnetic interference issue i had. I have enough problems with trying to eliminate that noise from my other equipment like my laptop as it is. Maybe i ill check out the next version when ever it comes out down the road. Anyways good luck with your kempers fella's.

    This is an inherent problem with shielding and single coil pickups and it's why humbuckers exist (and why they're called humbuckers). It's not related to the Kemper unless there's a grounding problem in the KPA (in which case check your cables and plugs).


    You will have the same issues with a real amp or another modeler when the gain/compression is pushed sufficiently. You can either sort the problem out at the source and improve your shielding, reduce RF sources in the room you work in, get better cables, shield and dip your single coils or even switch to humbuckers, or you can do a temporary fix and just dial up your Noise Gate on the KPA till the noise floor drops.

    Quote from torchlord

    Your problem with sound problems tied to the gain or volume sound similar to the same sounds i had with the kemper. Mine kind of sounded like it there was a guy doing morse code in the back ground with the amp's gain at 7 or higher. I also had a repetitive oscilation of some voice when i had it system up stairs near my computer. My axe fx ultra doesn't have this issue so i decided to send the kemper back. I think i may have got in on this system to early in its life cycle and needs to be cleared of all its problems. I was considering keeping it till i ran into the RF or electromagnetic interference issue i had. I have enough problems with trying to eliminate that noise from my other equipment like my laptop as it is. Maybe i ill check out the next version when ever it comes out down the road. Anyways good luck with your kempers fella's.


    Weird that you have sold your KPA due to that reason.
    Yes, you have run into an electromagnetic interference issue. The electric guitar is by nature a perfect receiver for electromagnetic radiations.
    No guitar amp - analog or digital - can prevent this. It can only be treated by a bit by less gain or a noise gate.
    If you experience more or less trouble with different amps, then it's not different RF senititvities, but only different sound characters, that let the noise appear in a different sound or intensity.


    There is a simple test. Unplug the cable from the amp (not the guitar). Disable the noise gate. What you hear is what the residual noise of the amp. Plug the cable back in. The additional noise is produced only by the guitar.


    There will be no next version of the KPA with less noise, due to that reason. There is no design flaw.

    In regards to the problem "The KPA High Gain Patches have much High Pitched Feedback" - I'm reminded of the amazing deal I got on my 1966 Vox AC 30 Top Boost in 1977. I paid $125 for it from a rockabilly guitarist who played a Kay guitar with microphonic pickups. I even tried to warn the seller that the problem was his old DeArmond pickups required wax potting to secure microphonic loose wraps of wire on his pickup's bobbins. He thought I was talking martian, and just wanted to get rid of the amp.



    That's a long way of saying if you experience uncontrollable high pitched feedback on high gain KPA patches - 99% of the time the problem is your guitar pickups.