bigc wrote: Mon Sep 23, 2024 12:52 pm Is there a fairly affordable and straightforward way to address amp hum? The part of my house where my music studio resides is not grounded. I don't have the money to pay to get everything rewired back there, so I generally have to put up with some humming/hissing from my amp when I'm playing. Not really a major issue until I record, at which point it drives me crazy having to listen back with the hiss in the recording.

I'm running a 100W Hiwatt into a 4X12 Marshall cabinet and plugging that into a surge protector, which is then plugged into the non-grounded wall outlet.

Ground your sockets or run some long extension cords from ones that are. For your safety, you should not be running an amp like that without a safety ground, regardless of any noise.

bigc wrote: Mon Sep 23, 2024 12:52 pm Is there a fairly affordable and straightforward way to address amp hum? so I generally have to put up with some humming/hissing from my amp when I'm playing. Not really a major issue until I record, at which point it drives me crazy having to listen back with the hiss in the recording.

Is the bigger problem hum or hiss or really both? Hiss is likely amp dependent

It may not be much to get ONE socket grounded by an electrician, as surely one will be easier to do a run to than all.
if you plan on keeping the house and not getting shocked by a microphone, it's a good investment

I had a chance to compare an at4047 and my at4060 side by side this weekend and I was surprised how similarly they sounded on my voice.

The difference was somewhere in the midrange that I am always fighting in my vocals. It came across differently on the tube mic, in a way that would probably be helpful in some cases but didn’t sound as “good” a cappella. More information came across on the AT4060, it just wasn’t as flattering. Anyways, the mics do sound differently, but I imagine their differences would be more apparent on other instruments.

Tube mics do kind of saturate a little bit, don’t they? I was laying into them relatively closely , but not quite as close as some breathy youtube video idiot. The eq curves in the middle look very very similar on both mics, so I’m still trying to figure this out.

I’ve noticed the at4060 saturation here and there on acoustic guitar transients as well. I’ll stress that the mic sounds good and what I’m talking about is subtle. We are not talking a plugin level effect and I don’t even think anyone listening to the song I recorded could tell what the mic was doing.

I am going to stop typing before I start using words like “softening” and “revealing”

soft and revealing edit: By the way - I am finding more and more that ‘character’ mics like the Type 19, KU5A, even older 421 all sound fine at the beginning but end up sounding honky and congested as fuck as the midrange gets eaten up. I knew it was a problem with the ku5a, but once I started to hear what it was doing I kept noticing it, thought the at4060 isnt nearly as bad. I can’t really describe what happens, but what starts as an interesting sound goes south after a while. I’m going to switch to some more boring mics on my next purge.

TylerDeadPine wrote: Mon Sep 23, 2024 3:38 pm Is the bigger problem hum or hiss or really both? Hiss is likely amp dependent

It may not be much to get ONE socket grounded by an electrician, as surely one will be easier to do a run to than all.
if you plan on keeping the house and not getting shocked by a microphone, it's a good investment

Problem is definitely more of a hiss than a hum.

I'm using two reverb pedals in sequence, both plugged into the same surge protector as the amp, and notice that the hiss is much more pronounced when they're engaged. Maybe using batteries would help?

bigc wrote: Tue Sep 24, 2024 8:58 am

TylerDeadPine wrote: Mon Sep 23, 2024 3:38 pm Is the bigger problem hum or hiss or really both? Hiss is likely amp dependent

It may not be much to get ONE socket grounded by an electrician, as surely one will be easier to do a run to than all.
if you plan on keeping the house and not getting shocked by a microphone, it's a good investment

Problem is definitely more of a hiss than a hum.

I'm using two reverb pedals in sequence, both plugged into the same surge protector as the amp, and notice that the hiss is much more pronounced when they're engaged. Maybe using batteries would help?

easy enough to try! not knowing the vintage, does your hiwatt have an effects loop?

TylerDeadPine wrote: Tue Sep 24, 2024 1:07 pm easy enough to try! not knowing the vintage, does your hiwatt have an effects loop?

It doesn't. It's an early 70s DR103.

bigc wrote: Tue Sep 24, 2024 1:14 pm

TylerDeadPine wrote: Tue Sep 24, 2024 1:07 pm easy enough to try! not knowing the vintage, does your hiwatt have an effects loop?

It doesn't. It's an early 70s DR103.

ah! okay, throw out that old piece of junk and get something that's ready for the modern world. Better yet, replace it with it a plugin

problem solved.

TylerDeadPine wrote: Tue Sep 24, 2024 2:37 pm ah! okay, throw out that old piece of junk and get something that's ready for the modern world. Better yet, replace it with it a plugin

problem solved.

I love that amp more than any other piece of gear I own.

BUT, I have considered getting something a little smaller and more up-to-date, like a 1x12 combo with an effects loop, but can't really settle on anything in my budget.

Suggestions?

bigc wrote: Tue Sep 24, 2024 3:01 pm

TylerDeadPine wrote: Tue Sep 24, 2024 2:37 pm ah! okay, throw out that old piece of junk and get something that's ready for the modern world. Better yet, replace it with it a plugin

problem solved.

I love that amp more than any other piece of gear I own.

so do I, definitely jk'ing

What's a good song/album where the bass player is using a V4B?