This guitar amp is working properly? [ ]Y [ ]N

[Jacques Strap]

I got a Blackstar ID:CORE 10 v2 used for $50 (seems like new to me, but what the fuck do I know; hence this thread). There's some background humming on the clean channels, but considerably more on the crunchy ones. Is this normal for a solid state guitar amp at this gain and volume or did I get ripped off?

https://youtube.com/shorts/xOoelXM31Jc
Here I click through the channels with my guitar plugged in (Epiphone Special 700T bridge 650R neck humbuckers with pickup selector switch in the middle and volume and tone both at 7) and not touching the guitar, then at the end I put my hand on the strings for contrast and it gets a little quieter.

https://youtube.com/shorts/2xz5IEOQiuM
And here's its at the same settings, no-touching/touching as before, just hitting some chords on one of the dorky channels and then on one of the kick ass channels.

I emailed Blackstar, but they weren't a ton of help. Probably because they're British.

Yes. I am a Guitar Jong. Really I'm a bassist, but this is my first six string, so I don't know jack shit about distortion.

[Touring_Sedan]

There's a thread for that.

https://www.tetongravity.com/forums/...ek-rabbit-hole

[Self Jupiter]

The hum could be coming from your cord, cord input to the guitar or your pickups as well

[XXX-er]

bad or no ground ?

[El Chupacabra]

If you plug the amp into other outlets in your home, does the hum change?

If you plug it into a surge protector vs straight into the wall, is there any difference?

[EWG]

I don't think it's the amp. You seem to have a grounding or a shielding problem. Does it have a hum when nothign is plugged in to it, or just when you add the cord and/or guitar?

A giveaway is the fact that it gets quieter when you put your hand on the strings. You are providing a ground, so it quiets down. Or you are providing shielding, one or the other. Try a different cable, try a different amp (your bass amp is fine, it will just have much less hum on the bass amp). Likely all will still have at least some hum, and it probably means the guitar needs to be shielded or you have a bad ground.

The other option is that you have dirty power. Try it with a different circuit or at a different house.

[leroy jenkins]

I got a Blackstar ID:CORE 10 v2 used for $50 (seems like new to me, but what the fuck do I know; hence this thread). There's some background humming on the clean channels, but considerably more on the crunchy ones. Is this normal for a solid state guitar amp at this gain and volume or did I get ripped off?

https://youtube.com/shorts/xOoelXM31Jc
Here I click through the channels with my guitar plugged in (Epiphone Special 700T bridge 650R neck humbuckers with pickup selector switch in the middle and volume and tone both at 7) and not touching the guitar, then at the end I put my hand on the strings for contrast and it gets a little quieter.

https://youtube.com/shorts/2xz5IEOQiuM
And here's its at the same settings, no-touching/touching as before, just hitting some chords on one of the dorky channels and then on one of the kick ass channels.

I emailed Blackstar, but they weren't a ton of help. Probably because they're British.

Yes. I am a Guitar Jong. Really I'm a bassist, but this is my first six string, so I don't know jack shit about distortion.

You probably know this stuff, but take your cell phone out of your pocket when playing, make sure all power cords etc are cleaned up and tidy. It does not sound normal. I am not familiar with these amps at all though.

Do you know anything about gibson bases? i just got an sg supreme bass and a les paul money bass and both seem to have an entirely different string feel than my fender basses. Like, it takes way less plucking pressure to overpluck the string to the point it sounds super buzzy. its almost impossible to do that on my jazz and p bass, and for many songs, it sounds kind of good if you play it almost too hard, but not the gibsons. Played tenderly they both sound and feel fine. Is that just how gibson basses are?

[old goat]

Be sure the cable between the guitar and amp is intrument cable, not speaker cable. Unfortunately they can look the same and use the same plugs.

[Jacques Strap]

Thanks y’all.

In the name of science, I tried a series of gear combinations and walked around the house amp in tow, feeling a lot like Daniel-san in Crossroads. Here are the enlightening results:

Nothing changed.

-Tried a different guitar cable (pretty sure at least one of them is a true instrument cable, of middling quality, got it from GC ages ago)
-Tried my buddy’s guitar (also Epiphone, similar pickups)
-Tried directly into the wall without a surge strip
-Tried different outlets in different rooms (including bathroom outlets, so I think they’re well grounded)
-Put phone on airplane mode

Through all of these acrobatics, still buzzing (60dB) at these settings. The only time it makes no noise is when the cable isn’t plugged into the input jack

[Jacques Strap]

super buzzy

I’ve played a couple Gibsons a little. Seem pretty good to me, and I don’t remember having any buzzing going on.

Did you replace the stings? If they came with the basses they could be really light gauge.

You probably already checked this, but have you checked the string height? Sounding normal at sedate intensities but buzzing when you pluck with enthusiasm is usually a sign of it being set up with really low action. Does the neck look straight? Thats about the only other thing I can think of

[MakersTeleMark]

Maybe it's just jacked?

[EWG]

I have a 20 watt version of that exact amp. It's for sale but it's still in the house. Lemme see how it does at the higher distortion settings and I'll get back to you.

On the Gibson bass, that sounds like it's just set up with a lower string height than your other basses. Lower string height = fret buzz when plucked hard. Either that or your neck is too tight and needs to be loosened to add neck bend/relief, which also gives you more height. Last possibility that comes to mind is that the nut slots have worn down and the strings are too low at the nut, which would likely only be true if it's been played a lot.

[leroy jenkins]

Thanks for the replies re the gibson basses. I don't have a gauge to check string height, but it actually looks good to me. I should be more specific, the word buzzing probably isn't accurate, buzzing typically means buzzing when you play specific frets, and buzzing against a single fret, or a couple.

This isn't really that. if plucked gently, there is no buzzing anywhere. Its more like, if you pluck too hard, the string rattles against all the frets. I'm a bass jong, but have been playing guitar for a couple decades, and to me, string height looks good. If anything, the strings feel like they are looser and have less tension than my fender basses.

Its also odd because its actually two basses, bought from separate sellers on reverb. A les paul money bass and a sg supreme bass.


Idk, there is some chance I'm just a hack at bass and havejust been way overplucking my fenders and gibson basses don't tolerate that. Maybe a reason they aren't very popular? i do like the tone of them both.

[old goat]

Do any of the tone and volume knobs on the guitar have a push pull feature. I have a Gibson where one of the knobs switches the hunbuckers to single coil. If the knob is pulled out you get 60 cycle single coil hum. Apparently some Epiphones have the same feature. (Another knob gives you out of phase--Fender quack--tone.)

Humbuckers were invented to get rid of the 60 cycle hum you get with SCs. At the expense of tone IMO. I have a friend who is so annoyed by hum he won't let me play my Fender in his house. His loss.

Since the amp doesn't make noise when the guitar isn't plugged in, it sounds like the amp isn't the problem

[leroy jenkins]

Do any of the tone and volume knobs on the guitar have a push pull feature. I have a Gibson where one of the knobs switches the hunbuckers to single coil. If the knob is pulled out you get 60 cycle single coil hum. Apparently some Epiphones have the same feature. (Another knob gives you out of phase--Fender quack--tone.)

Humbuckers were invented to get rid of the 60 cycle hum you get with SCs. At the expense of tone IMO. I have a friend who is so annoyed by hum he won't let me play my Fender in his house. His loss.

Since the amp doesn't make noise when the guitar isn't plugged in, it sounds like the amp isn't the problem

This is probably on the money. Push pull pots fixing it would work in one of two ways, just to add something... they're either set up to do a coil tap or a coil split. split means humbuckers get split into single coils, in which case, the humbucker would buck the hum. Or, they're a coil tap, meaning, one setting is set up with a bunch more wraps of the wire around the pickup, making it hotter, or higher output. Most guitars that have a pickup wired with coil taps, also have the hot mode wound pretty hot, so that could be something.

Also though, on the note of pickups, are they p90s? Is your buddies epiphone also p90s? p90s are really just single coil pickups meant to fit in the space a humbucker takes up, so they may not buck any hums.

i gotta say though, any of the above seems like it would be setting dependent, as described with the push pull puts, but also, independently with volume and perhaps tone controls for each pickup, you'd at least see some difference.

I think it might be multiple things.

[Jacques Strap]

Nope, the only switch is the standard bridge/neck selector. And they’re definitely humbuckers. p90s are rad in their own way, but these are the usual 700T/650R 52/50mm set up. This is it exactly:

[XXX-er]

If you goggle 60 cycle hum you get all kinds of hits

[old goat]

Nope, the only switch is the standard bridge/neck selector. And they’re definitely humbuckers. p90s are rad in their own way, but these are the usual 700T/650R 52/50mm set up. This is it exactly:

That model doesn't seem to have push pull pots. Did you get the guitar used? Bad ground?

[Jacques Strap]

Did you get the guitar used

Yeah, but I bought it from a guitar teacher, so I figured it was all good to go. He had cleaned up the fretboard pretty good anyway.

And I get the same background humming when I plug a different guitar in too

[XXX-er]

And I get the same background humming when I plug a different guitar in too

so it ain't the guitar, you still don't know what is wrong but you now know what isnt wrong, good PD

swap and test is how we fixed computers a situ like a supermarket front end, great cuz I could always swap stuff for PD or if I had multiple registers down put all the blown stuff on one lane till i got parts

[bad dancer]

Does it still buzz on different pickup combos ? My strat is notorious for buzzing on the #2 position closest to the neck. if that makes any sense.
9 times out of ten it's usually the cords, and guitar. Just sayin.