HELP! Kemper Buzz that I just cannot figure out or get rid of

  • Got my KPA a few months back and fell in love. Of course, its not completely silent, but the buzz/hum/floor noise is certainly minimal, and really only appeared when using high gain profiles, and even then, the noise gate seems to take care of that with ease..... About a month ago, I moved into a new place, and ever since Ive been getting this gross buzz from my unit.


    Here is everything I know:

    - Every guitar I own buzzes... Gretsch Duo Jet, PRS Custom 24, and FenderAm Deluxe Strat (with noiseless pups). On my Strat, the bridge hum bucker is the noisiest, but all the pups have an awful buzz, that thing is usually SILENT, even with a tube amp.

    - I've tried changing outlets, power strips, rooms, and cables (both 1/4 inch, and power).

    - The buzz is present in my studio monitors, my 1964 in-ears, and when running through my Scarlett interface

    - The buzz seems to die down when I point my guitar in different directions, but I can't seem to isolate which direction makes it the quietest.

    - The buzz increases and decreases with different pedals, profiles and gain settings (which is expected)... BUT the buzz is still present, even when I turn all effects/profiles/cabinets/EQ off

    - I've tried playing with the ground lift buttons, to no avail

    - I have to turn the noise gate up to ~6.5 to make the buzz stop, but even then, the buzz is quite noticeable when I start playing. It it loud enough to distract my while playing clean tones.

    - I am going insane



    Please help me, Im all out of ideas. I feel like I have tried everything. I might just drive back to my parents house and plug it in to where I use to have it to see if it still buzzes, because Im fairly sure this only tarted when I moved into my new place.


    Thanks!!!

  • You're not going insane. I moved into an older apartment last year and have been experiencing buzzing the entire time. I was convinced my unit was defective because I bought it around the same time. One day my girlfriend turned off the outside hallway light as I was playing my Kemper and the buzzing went away completely. Sure enough I have her turn the light back on and there it goes again. This solves the problem for me 90% of the time. Unfortunately, something in the downstairs apartment also affects it (most likely just another lightbulb) and obviously I can't just shut my neighbors lights off. Another way I mitigate the issue is using the middle pickup position. I hope you find a solution!


  • At the back of the unit, there are a few ground switches. Turn some off, turn some off and the hum should go away. But at least one should always be in a different direction (in/out) than the others.

  • At the back of the unit, there are a few ground switches. Turn some off, turn some off and the hum should go away. But at least one should always be in a different direction (in/out) than the others.

    No combinations of the ground switches reduced this noise in anyway for me. It was to first thing I did when moving into the new apartment.

  • this noise can't be eliminated with the ground switches,

    to me it clear that you pickup the noise thru the Pickups,

    its some light or maybe the power line, or a computer or computer monitor,

    when you put

    an overdrive or boost in your signal chain this will amplify the noise

    you have to find the source of the noise

  • You got it man! In my case its the lights and I have a massive radio station antenna thats located right next to my apartment.

  • Hi,


    I get the same issue with my Kemper rack, I just checked the manual and the entry impédance of the face input is 1MΩ, that will create an antenna with your guitar. On valve amps, it is generally about 10kΩ. I just put a little guitar buffer between my guitar and my Kemper and the buzz disappeared without affecting the sound.

    I made it by myself with a simple transistor, some resistances and capacitors:

    http://www.learningaboutelectr…sistor-buffer-circuit.php


    I hope this will help you to figure it out !

  • Vacuum tube guitar amps typically have input impedance in the meg-ohm range. Lowering it to 10k will have a significant effect on the sound.

  • Hi,

    Old fashioned fluorescent tube lights or lights with dimmer switches, typically cause this buzzing interference. Turning them off is the easiest solution!
    Another issue that I’ve had problems with in the past are hearing aid induction loops. They can wreak havoc with your signal especially with single coil guitars. If a neighbour has an induction loop, and you play a single coil Strat, you’ll be treated to whatever they are listening to on their loop, or if the just leave it on all the time, an annoying hiss/buzz! You’ll hear it on whatever you use for monitoring and it drive me insane before I worked out what the problem was.
    Fortunately, I regained my sanity once the neighbour (who said they never linked their hearing aids to it anyway!) turned it off.
    Some venues have induction loops, often quite crude setups with condenser mics set up in bizarre locations to ‘capture the room’ which cause awful sound issues when amplified first by the Kemper and then again by the PA! So I always ask prior to the gig for them to be switched off.
    Saves a lot of puzzling out and settings tweaking!
    Helpful to know about induction loops because when you stumble upon one without knowing it’s there, it can really throw you and make you think something in your gear is broken! It’s not. You just have to find the loop off switch! That has been known to involve ladders, phone calls to various parties etc to locate and then switch off.
    Hope you sort it out.

    Pre-Amp

  • Note: Most building electrical codes call for a ground rod to be set in the earth about 8 feet. Then you tap a copper wire from the ground rod to the ground bus of the electrical fuse box. Over time, the wire clamp (tap) can corrode and come loose causing you to loose a proper ground. Check that out wherever the electrical fuse boxes are installed. All music equipment should have a 3-prong plug going into the outlets. And each outlet should carry a ground, neutral, and hot.



    If all that checks out then it's wise to purchase a power surge strip with built-in noise suppressor. Everyone should have that anyway.

    Larry Mar @ Lonegun Studios. Neither one famous yet.