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I have a Epiphone les paul Standard ii (slash edition) guitar and Vox ii modeling guitar amplifier. When i connect it to power supply (position of various knobs: -volume knob-50%(in the mid position), gain 50%, bass 50 %, terrible-50%, power knob- 50% ), it produces humming + noisy sound . When i play single notes it produces something humming rounding sound like voing-voing-voing. When i touch the strings, these sounds gets minimized upto 70%. I dont have earthing/ground connection in my home. What might be the reason for this? What should i do to get rid of this problem? Thanks!

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  • To help us understand the electrical service you are using, can you add in what country you are using the amplifier in? Jul 22, 2016 at 13:24
  • does it only make this noise when the guitar lead is plugged in? and do you have dimable lighting? Jul 23, 2016 at 11:14
  • @ToddWilcox I am in India, Here the standard voltage is 220 Volts, alternating at 50 cycles per second. Jul 25, 2016 at 6:37
  • @NoelWalters yes, when the guitar lead is plugged in, no i dont have dimmable lightings... Jul 25, 2016 at 6:40

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If it only makes the noise when the guitar is plugged in then as far as I know it can only be a problem with the jack lead or the guitar itself, or there cold be a lot of electromagnetic interference from something like a motorized household appliance or a lighting unit. All guitars are effected by this kind of interference to some extent - which is why the humbucker pickup was invented - but normally it is small compared to the signal. Using a compressor makes the problem worse.

The first thing I would try is to isolate the source of the interference by switching lights and appliances off one by one until you find the culprit. Also try replacing the jack lead with one of known good quality to see if this reduces or eliminates the effect. If the noise is really bad and the guitar lead is proven to be good then the next step would be to get the guitars wiring checked out by a guitar technician.

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    If the pickups or guitar is picking up ambient EM, it usually can be attenuated by the orientation of the guitar. If the OP stands and rotates their body (holding guitar normally), there may be a position where the noise goes away or reduces in intensity. This is a pretty good indication that it is EM interference.
    – Yorik
    Aug 25, 2016 at 21:26

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