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Anyone here use voltage regulators or power conditioners with their amps? Different times of the day the tone of my amps changes... sometimes they will sound fine, other times there is a ton of noise and hum, sometimes you can hear little noises from the computer in the other room or when other things in the house switch on and off. I am thinking a power conditioner should solve my problem, just looking to hear some opinions on different kinds, brands, etc.

No, but it would make a difference in my shop too. I can tell you that I plugged into a different outlet and the noise level improved. Try that.

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Stephen
Web: www.trinityamps.com. Facebook: facebook.com/trinityamps. Twitter: @trinityamps

In my hometown (North Bay, Ont) there is a new shop that opened up called Rockwell Music - mainly used stuff, vintage if possible. The entire building has old electrical in it, so nothing is really grounded at all. If that isnt enough, the majority of the building is made out of metal (including most inside walls), making every single amp in the shop sound like it hizzes/buzzes and makes weird noises like crazy.

Whenever someone is testing an amp, he has to turn the shop lights off to avoid a REALLY bad buzz, too.

That guy needs a power conditioner or something!

My best advice would be to try and determine the source of the noise and kill it there. The biggest offenders for RF/EMI noise are florescent lights, cheap light dimmers and those solid state light timers that are usually installed in place of a regular light switch to turn outside lights on and off automatically. Dimmers and SS timers both utilize SCR's which by their circuit's nature transmit noise via radio waves and/or through the building's wiring if they're not filtered properly. Try walking around your space with an AM radio tuned between stations, especially in the evenings when you start to turn lights on. I've found that by replacing those cheap seven dollar dimmers with a decent dimmer that claims RF/EMI rejection, my noise problems disappeared or were certainly diminished. In-line RF/EMI AC line filters are also available for not much money if you can determine that the noise is coming through your power lines. I put a large one on my whole studio right in the breaker panel. Not sure if I even needed it but what the heck! Good luck...

Joe G

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Some assembly required,
Brain sold separately...

Plus one on the flourescents. Noisy like crazy.

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Stephen
Web: www.trinityamps.com. Facebook: facebook.com/trinityamps. Twitter: @trinityamps

Not much you can do about florescent lights either... Very well shielded and correctly made guitar cables, shield your amp cage on all sides. It's especially bad for us single coil players. I haven't had problems with cordless phones in a long time, so I presume that they must be well regulated these days (FCC). I certainly won't miss CRT computer monitors and TV's either

Joe G

_________________
Some assembly required,
Brain sold separately...

Haven't tried a power conditioner on a guitar amp, but I do use a Monster Cable 2000 on my stereo tube amp. It's made a big difference in lowering background noise. Though, I have read that some people feel that using a power conditioner can decrease an amps dynamic range, making it sound a bit dull. So, your mileage may vary.

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Mark

A power conditioner would be used mostly for EMI problems like refrigerators, air conditioners, dehumidifiers, furnace blowers, the water cooler, electric heaters... devices with motors usually. Generally these things will only cause line problems upon startup and settle out as the motor or compressor comes up to speed. There could be a "pop" through the AC line as they shut down as well if they are relay or solenoid controlled. Guitar amps with high impedance inputs and 20'+ of input cable (perhaps over 40' with an effects board in between) create the perfect antenna for RF noise reception. If the noise is sustained (a continuous buzz or sizzle) it is probably an RF source of some kind and I would tend to lean towards finding and fixing or filtering the source rather than adding more caps and coils to your setup. If you get a sustained noise through your amp, volume up or down with no cables attached, you may have grounding issues or something emitting EMI may be too close to your amp... computer monitor, TV, another amp? A little detective work may be in order. Good luck!

Joe G

_________________
Some assembly required,
Brain sold separately...