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I recently had a power cut in my area this Monday just gone, power was restored quickly, in about 5 seconds. However now whenever I go to plug in and turn on any of my amplifiers in my studio or anywhere in my house for that matter they are all making a humming/buzzing noise without the guitars plugged in. What's even stranger is that I had both my electric and bass amp plugged into the mains (on at the mains but the amps were off) however my acoustic guitar amp wasn't plugged into anything and is still making the same noise. This wasn't a problem before the power cut, I'm assuming this has something to do with there being too much voltage going around the house but that's just a wild guess. My studio in question was a contracted build so the electrics were fitted by professionals, also worth mentioning the power cut wasn't just localized to my house. Everything else in the studio (equipment wise) is working fine, I was actually working on the studio computer when the power went out and I writing this question from it. My KRK Rokit 6's (studio monitors) are fine and are not buzzing, my external sound card, a Focusrite Saffire Pro 40 is fine. This issue only seems to be affecting guitar amplifiers.

The amplifiers in question are:

Peavey Vypyr 15w modeling amplifier

Wuhan Eleca Eleconics AB-30 30w bass amplifier

Fishman Loudbox Mini acoustic guitar amplifier

Thanks for reading and I look forward to hearing your responses to this problem if you have any solutions. :)

*Also if you have any other questions feel free to ask them!

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  • Your amps haven't changed, your power supply has. Any chance you are running on a backup generator or battery backup now? Either one of those would most likely inject a lot of noise into the power supply, which can leak into the audio path of the amp. Also, have you made any changes to your guitar?
    – Todd Wilcox
    Feb 27, 2019 at 17:04
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    I'd check in some other place to find out if it's your mains related. Could be in theory some ground wiring issue but that's just a wild guess. If your gear seems ok in other places I'd call electrician to check things out as that might indicate some problems with your mains wiring that can be actually dangerous
    – Jarek.D
    Feb 27, 2019 at 17:08
  • Thanks Todd, I don't think it has anything to do with the guitars in general, like i said they're making noise without even having the guitars plugged into them. I also don't have any other generators or power supply, running purely on the mains electricity. I should probably also mention I am based in England, UK. So the way you set things up will probably be a bit different.
    – Sean Levine
    Feb 27, 2019 at 17:19
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    Sounds like a call to your electricity supplier is in order.UK juice is normally unproblematic - I've had no problems in over 50 yrs. Try unplugging everything else in the house/studio. There may be another appliance that's gone faulty and is causing problems. A multimeter will tell you how many volts are available - normally between 230 and 240. Doubt it's over-voltage.
    – Tim
    Feb 27, 2019 at 17:44

3 Answers 3

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My first instinct would say its unrelated to the outage and more likely a ground loop issue. Have you tried taking your amp to another part of the house (or at least a new outlet) and trying to plug it in and see if it still makes the same noises?

I know there are some product from EbTech and Furman (plenty others too) that are suppose to condition or eliminate ground loop hum. The HumX by Ebtech is expensive, but has some magic I have yet to be able to figure out.

Anyway, try a new outlet in a different room. Try it without fx pedals or even without a chord plugged in the input jack, and you can, from there, eliminate the source of the problem.

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Talk to your power company. Sounds very like whatever alternative power supply took over after the outage is poor quality.

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The first thing I would check is to take one of the amps that buzzes to another location, perhaps another neighborhood, plug it in and see if it still buzzes there. That might give you a clue as to whether the problem is in the amplifier or whether the problem is in the house power. Either way, I'd recommend having a professional help you sort it out. Also, keep in mind, it's possible that both the house power and the amplifiers are now afflicted. An extreme voltage spike can do a lot of damage.

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