@@AidanXavier1 In Brazil they'll shut down the power repeatedly so you don't have any equipment left to complain about. Your amp won't make any noise if it can't turn on anymore.
SG: "If it werent for my audio engineering skills this problem would have never been fixed" Also SG: *walking around the neighborhood with an amp and pointing his guitar at things*
Admittedly the method he used to narrow down the issue is unconventional/funny, but it still falls under the audio engineering skillset. So technically he wasn't lying.
Quality of service. They promise certain signal quality and if the mains doesn't meet those requirements... they can be sued. But, even if there is no legal repercussion, they do want to fix those kind of problems.
@@squidcaps4308 Sounds more like feedback being amplified by the local fiber optic wire was the cause or maybe even without the fiber. Wouldn't have degraded the power enough to sue for that. However, an unshielded transformer could have repercussions for any child in the neighborhood (i.e. the little samurai). Most people don't want to live near power lines, and I mean the really big ones coming from the plant, and the lines are so high of the ground for a reason. Having a transformer spewing out stuff at ground level may put out levels high enough that they don't want to take the chance on paying out dead baby money in a lawsuit.
Seriously. I'm just imagining my call to a power company. "Well? What do you want me to do about it? Sir, we're not in the audio engineering business."
For those wondering about making a faraday cage to isolate a studio, you should know the shielding doesn't need to be solid (i.e. tin foil) to be effective. Wire mesh, chicken wire, "hardware cloth," and chain link will all work really well as long as they're properly grounded. If you do decide you want continuous cover, mylar blankets (like the scene in The Boys) are going to be your best bet as they're a super thin layer of foil between two layers of mylar resin. Again, the trick is grounding. All of that aside, I'm really impressed by both SG's ability to track down the noise and the power company's responsiveness. Solid work all around.
@@GeneralPet that would probably be ideal, but it's definitely not necessary. The important part is that the interference induces current in the shielding material, and that noise winds up going to ground instead of through your output. 60hz emf has a wavelength of about 5M meters, and fine-screen wire mesh works just fine.
@@mofongotron You've got options. If your electrical outlets are grounded, you can piggyback on that. Most of the time those are run back to a common ground at or near the breaker panel. A slightly modified faceplate would let you run a wire into a junction box to tie into the ground there. Tie the other end to your mesh and you're set. (Insert standard disclaimer about electricity being dangerous and don't take advice from randos on the internet.) Absolute worst case scenario, you could run a wire from your mesh, out a window, and tie it into a metal stake driven into the ground.
@@jamesgilbert124 thanks James for great input.. I know I'm late to the party here but hoping you could answer a question.. I'm battling noise in my small studio and learning it's probably a emf prob.. I already have a metal roof but wood siding, can I just put 5v metal panels on the side as well make sure it's all connected and ground it out to main panel ground going into ground, which is close by, and still get the same results? Thanks!
As a person who was educated in high voltage electricity AND a lifelong guitarist I find it absolutely hilarious that you've found a faulty shielding on a transformer box with a guitar and an amp. I'd guess for the electricians it's one of those work stories they're going to tell 5 or 10 years from now
@@leonflint5413 Shitty shielding on a transformer box - probably not. Some dude reporting it beacause he was hearing clicking sounds and then searched for the source of interference walking around with a guitar and a battery amp - I think pretty rare
Is the intermittent ticking noise capacitance? I had a ruptured capacitor in an amp that would click and arc over - I thought it was cool as a teenager (facepalm)
I work on sensitive magnetic instruments and stuff like this is the bane of our lives. We had issues with one of our stations a few weeks ago and were going nuts trying to find out why. We checked equipment, temperature, mains, weather. We only worked out what it was when we hung a webcam and found out it was the herd of cows in the next field coming to investigate the box. They all had magnetic ear tags. I’m genuinely impressed with your detective work. Sometimes you just have to get a sensor and go checking.
Quality of service... They are violating the terms of each and every contract in that area. You are promised certain quality of mains voltage, without extra peaks or gaps. It is actually quite serious violation and can be expensive to find the cause and fix it.
I think it was the perfect opener. He definitely got her attention straight away, rather than mumbling through various technicalities and losing her along the way because they're clearly not a sound engineering company. First get their attention, then explain in detail what the issue is.
I was absolutely cracking up when he was walking around his neighborhood holding his axe in the air like the guitar god he is. Just imagine what the neighbors were thinking...
Ham radio operator here. This is exactly the way hams track down RFI problems - except of course they don’t usually use a guitar. But the guitar is obviously a good directional antenna; I guess the internal shielding is blocking signal through the back of the guitar. What is NOT normal is the power people actually fixing the problem so quickly-I’ve heard horror stories involving months of calls to get a bad transformer fixed (I’m taking mostly about utility companies in the US).
The most impressive thing about this video is that 1. You actually got a hold of someone at the electric company and 2. They actually came out and knew what was going on and did something about it. I. Am. Blown. Away.
You’re a hero!! I’ve been pulling my hair out for weeks because of noise. Endless googling, I’ve rewired my guitar twice, and I Even bought a new multimeter because i was convinced my cheap one was reading incorrectly. Then, the camera panned to the big green box. I swear i heard angels sing. That box is 20ft from my house. Time for me to call the electrical company and lie about my profession. Thanks!
I wonder if theres another musician in your neighborhood experiencing the same problem thinking it was normal, who is now wondering why the clicking suddenly stopped
I like to imagine this was the case but the buzzing stopped as soon as the neighbor was putting bread in the toaster or something so now the neighbor constantly has someone make toast in the kitchen every time he wants to play guitar.
Neighbor peering through their blinds: Honey, the new guy across the way is running around outside with a guitar and amp like he's a crazy person, shouting at a power transformer. One week later, same neighbor: Wait, did our TV stop buzzing after that guitar Viking guy shouted at the transformer? I'm gonna go bake them a plate of cookies.
Ham radio skills help immensely with this kind of issue as well. The electric companies in the US are usually quite responsive to reports of EMI. Obviously they want their equipment to work properly as it saves them money if they can solve a minor problem before it becomes a big one. You did them a favor, and I'm very glad they treated you with respect and responded in a serious way. Sometimes those interactions don't go nearly as well.
The tinfoil bit was funny, but I've often wondered about whether anyone makes Faraday cages for musicians. I know people spend $$ for sound-proofed telephone booths -- it seems like a no-brainer to build Faraday cage shield into it.
That does seem to be a good idea and for anyone who doesn't know Faraday cages are metal shields that block magnetic fields. (Please correct me if I am wrong)
My pedal will occasionally will pick up radio signals specifically from horse track racing and it’s funny when I’m playing R&B and out of no where,”gooo gooo gooo number 17 is in the lead.” “Thanks for coming down to the Santa Nita horse races ladies and gentlemen.”
Dude! I was in south ga when I was like 13, turned on my 15 dollar danelectro distortion AND the distortion on my 15w practice amp and picked up AM radio from Cuba lmaoooo
I was absolutely baffled the first time my amp started picking up radio signals. I heard these voices coming from my amp that sounded like they were mid conversation (I dunno what they were talking about tho). That was the closest I've ever been to believing in ghosts
This is super useful. My home in the West End was bad for this and my current home in St. James does it too, but I've been told it's because of open-ground wiring, since the wiring was upgraded from knob and tube, but done by do-it-yourselfers before codes came in and made it all proper. I'll have to see how close I am to one of these boxes. Cheers!
Holy cow!! Thanks man!! I’ve been tearing every amp and guitar apart. I took a couple to my parents house on vacation and no noise!!! Got home noise was back. My wife said, “dude probably that big green box out front”. Then I watch this video today! Wow thanks man. I’m now 1000% better at soldering and have now accumulated so much amp tech equipment, just wanted to play guitar that’s all. I consider this just another path in my journey. Thank you.
Possibly one of my favourite videos on UA-cam. It had everything and I was hooked from the start. The suspense, the thrill of the chase and the beautiful pay off at the end. The tin man suit was just the icing on the cake! 😂
It's incredible that they answered, and didn't hang up (ahem got cut off for some unknown reason) half way through your explaining it. Let alone actually coming out and doing something about it. Total kudos to that company!
I was wondering for years what that mysterious ticking noise was I heard every time I played my electric guitar. Wasn't my proudest moment when I found out it was the metallic second hand of my watch, that was picked up by the humbuckers... Always reminded me of a metronome
being right handed, I wear my watch on my left wrist so its always plenty far away from the pickups to get interference, but I suppose not everyone wears their watch on their non dominant wrist, thats just what I always thought was right when I started wearing one lol
The first mysterious noise video was my absolute favourite from the channel, but it seemed like it could never be repeated. It's so satisfying to have an equally genuine follow-up!
Grade-A troubleshooting skills. I spent 100s of hours of my military career chasing down mechanical, electrical, and sound faults on a submarine - this is an excellent example of how you chase down a fault, isolate equipment, and test.
I have this exact same problem in my house ever since we built it 20 years ago. It's caused me to just about give up guitar altogether, because it's just not enjoyable to play, much less record, through the deafening wall of static noise. I've tried everything, many of the same things you initially tried in this video. I've ruled out grounding issues, bad power from the wall outlet, computer or monitor interfence, WiFi signal, etc. So I pretty much know that the interference is in the air and coming from an outside source. That's where my attempts to resolve the issue ended, as I don't have a battery powered amp and hadn't considered getting one to walk around my neighborhood searching for the interference source. However, I do have a hand-held battery powered AM radio with an antenna. Maybe I'll go walk around with that to seek it out. But really, I'm shocked that your power company took the matter this seriously and actually took action to resolve it. Did you ever find out what was wrong with the transformer in your neighbor's yard? How did they fix it?
For me personally, after trying the early solutions (which didn't work inside his studio) I would have loaded up the "humming devices" and driven to a friend's house several blocks away and tried it there. If the humming disappeared (as apparently it would have), I would have started working my way back to the studio, testing along the way, until the humming and clicking returned. I'd suggest testing every "half distance". ... That is, go half way back to the studio and test... No bad sounds?... Then go back half the remaining distance and try again. At some point using this "half distance technique", he would have stated picking up the interference. He could have then begin triangulating the source of the interference from there. As it turned out the interference was coming from outside his house, he could have saved a lot of work by finding that source before wasting all that looking inside the house. If, however, the outside readings were clean, then (and only then) he should have taken his "testing equipment" back inside the house and worked from there. Anyway... It's just a thought (As Beau of the Fifth might say.)
Thank you so much for this video. I’m currently going through a similar situation. But the sound coming from my amp is more like electronic beeping/static. I did the battery amp test hoping to find a source, but there are many spots inside the building and outside where the sound peaks. It gets louder near the fire alarm, random parts of the building/street outside, certain telephone poles. 2 electricians came and weren’t able to help. Going to call the power company next. Would appreciate if anyone has any advice! Thank you so much!
If you are going to try the shielding angle so this doesn't happen again, I can recommend having copper mesh lining an entire room, floor, ceiling and walls, then connect that copper mesh to a ground connection. That way you'll have built a Faraday Cage room, free from outside interference.
Sam…I had this same symptomatic behavior of an insidious clicking sound with a 1983 Rivera Era Fender Super Champ I used to own. Your problem was completely different and wholly external. Mine was due to a component failing. In my case, the act of plugging gain boosting gear, e.g., a distortion pedal, made my problem worse and suggested the issue was in the power amp stage of my amp. In my situation, I eventually traced the issue to a wonky 6V6 power tube that had an internal fault and was inappropriately sensing a cap in the amp circuit discharging, aka a true fluke. Changing the pair of 6V6 tubes solved the issue.
Reminds me of 2 things that happened to me. A few years ago, I got my first electric guitar and was trying to find a longer and more reliable cable. My dad used to be in a band, so he had a whole collection of old cables and a few amps. One of the cables and was only 3 feet long and didn't work well, but when both ends were plugged in it picked up a radio station. (Edit: I wrote this just after watching the intro, I didn't think this would be so relevant!) The second thing, my family picked up an old Kimball electric organ last year. We put it in the living room by the wifi router, and at some point the next week, someone put the router on top of the organ to keep the dogs from destroying it. The next time I turned the organ on, the signal from the router interfered with some electronics in the organ and produced a lot of feedback. I thought there could be a pinched wire in it, so I took the router off the top, opened it up, moved some wires out of the way of each other, played it, and it was fine. I closed the top and put the router back on and was confused when it made more feedback. That happened a few more times. Finally, I had open with the router off and sustained a note while I put everything back and found out it was the wifi. Now we have a thick book in between them to keep that from happening again.
I've been doing RF engineering for quite a while and audio engineering is what I'm in school for now. I also do a lot of recording and I'm a musician as well. I've been chasing down interference for years. I used to walk around my neighborhood with a radio tuned to a empty unused space on medium wave (or any radio that receives AM broadcasts) looking for whatever I can hear at my flat. There's a lot of things that can cause buzzing or clicking. I've been able to eliminate most of it on my own, but there were some things that I just had to live with until I could move to another location where I had a bit more control over powered devices.
I also live in canada. A really stereotypical “canadian” part of canada. But whoever the people are who work for your city’s electrical department or whatever need to be given a trophy for nicest workers ever! When my wifi is down and i call the company they arent nearly that useful! Well anyway, loved the video AND the music! edit: 69 likes.........
American here. I once had an issue with my WiFi and had to wait 6 hours on hold with the cable company and 9 days for a technician to “fix” the problem in 5 minutes (and absolutely wreck my bathroom) only for it to crap out again the next day. I just googled the issue and solved it permanently myself. But you can’t have internet without those soulless bastards.
Covered pickups like the ones on les pauls and some active pickups also help a lot with not picking up interference noise. Also, if the guitar is grounded well touching the strings or the bridge should reduce the noise. If it doesn't, you probably should check your guitar's grounding
One weird time, I had three overdrives turned on for sume reason, and it picked up the phone call that I was having and played it on the amp, but it was really distorted. I could tell it was the call because every time the other person talked, it would make the noise.
Thats just crazy how an annoying noise coming from a guitar amp ended up resulting in the discovery of a transformer box with faulty shielding. Unexpected is the best word to describe that I think.
Man, this topic hits too close for comfort. Hearing this click after our last move has been very demotivating, after having been to great lengths to get rid of other sources of noise (changed pedal power, changed to all humbuckers, added copper foil on top of the shielding paint, ...) But if the source is external (I suspect we have a utilities shaft behind the wall), I'm doomed to never find piece short of building myself a Faraday cage...
Try to minimize the number of variables. Get a battery powered amp. Try the amp alone. Add the instrument cable. Add the guitar. Touch the strings. Touch the metal on the plug and jack. Try an amp that uses AC power. At some point the noise should appear. This will tell you the most likely point of entry for the interference. If there is a change in noise when you move the guitar around, that is a clue as well. Touching the strings or bridge with your body should reduce the noise, since the strings should be grounded and your body is a weak antenna.
The struggle is real... I live next to a train track, and although the sound is not a problem as we have a "noise wall", but the interference is a real problem. I have to position my self in an awkward position to record anything without the constant electric noise 😭
You probably have a single coil or split humbucker pickup. Those are great antennas. Consider shielding the cavities in your guitar, it helped my Strat enormously.
Dude, i suuuper impressed that the electric provider company actually responded to your complaint and really did aomething about it. Where i live that would have never happened. More like "yeah, nothing we cand do, it is what it is".
Just started the video; however, over the years and various locations I have dealt with all sorts of sound noises like this. I have found all sorts of solutions for various things. Really, it never ends. There is always a new issue around the corner. It is interesting. Looking forward to the video. Good luck fighting the good fight people!
I hope you´ll have a lot more mysterious house noises! Your approach to those is just awesome. Maybe you should start some kind of problem solving series one day!
It's also amazing that the work on the transformer completely eliminated the noise-floor on your amp 😁 great video - and I could honestly watch a dozen more "noise detective" vids
Brilliant and the most informed and entertained I have been in years. I found (you) this video link in an L.R.Baggs forum while researching a Fishman Loudbox Performer noise issue. It produced a strange, high pitched screeching sound while on stage. I suspected it was a wifi / bluetooth interference (though the amp was not paired with any device). I discovered I wasn't the only person who has experienced this noise. I'm not a guitarist but I run the sound from behind my drum set for my band and thus I am trouble shooting this issue for my guitarist, especially since I bought the amp for him. Any feedback from you is greatly appreciated.
A nearby wifi hot spot caused a nice 1 Hz ish blip in my case. It doesn't affect the guitar, just the amp. Turning the amp 90 degrees reduces it. Shutting the wifi off eliminates it. Haven't tried moving the wifi yet, or a different model of wifi hot spot.
The amp will still be susceptible to interference, though. Better to figure out why the audio amp is picking up the radio signal, and fix that. Contact the amp manufacturer and see if they have a fix for it. Local ham radio clubs might be able to help too. Also, maybe the wall wart for the hot spot is the source - try a linear power supply on it.
What a fascinating and oddly calming video. Walking around with the guitar as an antenna was priceless. Please test guitar as an aerial for your digital TV. Just for the lols.
6:57 From the same creators of Silent Hill, here comes Noisy Hill. Use your guitar + amplifier to locate monsters nearby and another supernatural things.
Late to the show I know , but years ago in my audio engineering class this was the answer to a semester long question my professor had made for us. The idea was to follow signal flow and understand where things go wrong. I opened this video thinking “ ha wouldn’t it be funny if ….. “ and mildly delighted that was it . P.s. someone did come up with the answer the second to last day of the class p.p.s we only got 3 try’s per beginning of class
You told that lady from the electric company the story of her life ! and no joke , i tip my hat to the electric dudes , nobody would give a damn about a guitarist, Yeeey for canada
You're lucky to be in Canada. In my country, they would say they would look into it, send nobody out to check the problem and then charge me extra because the problem wasn't on their end.
CONGRATS on fixing the transformer issue! Your Dad's ALSO right!.... Keep a brass (heard it works best) chicken wire Faraday cage handy... Takes care of MOST RF interference. Cheap easy fix anywhere. I've had similar issues, but mine were INTERNAL (wire length between outlets/same circuit thing...) In closing... Happy New Year! LOVE your vid's, and may '21 make HALF your dreams come true! (Only half, cause you've always gotta dream!) lol CHEERS!
Already know what it is I have same issue, and it’s coming from the pedal on my line 6 effects switch and vol/wah pedal, I can hear it oscillate when I push/pull pedal. Doesn’t happen all the time but only randomly when it decides to. There’s something with same mechanism that’s doing it for you. My pedal is connected to amp proprietarily via an Ethernet cable just for extra info
This is sooo cool in so many ways, and according to my experience and the general opinion about the public services companies in my country, it could be more of a "happy ending fairy tale" than an informative and entertaining vlog, dude, really, congrats on everything about this :)
At 8:50 watch my electrician friend
He got hit in the head🤣
F in chat for the poor dude he got critted by the tree
bonk
😆
Hehe
The fact that the city actually helped and solved this issue is incredible.
That's Canada for you
@@AidanXavier1 In Brazil they'll shut down the power repeatedly so you don't have any equipment left to complain about. Your amp won't make any noise if it can't turn on anymore.
@@jonnyso1 damn that sucks. You live in Brazil? Hope you're not dealing with that yourself
@@jonnyso1 aiusdhai ainda dariam um jeito de aumentar o valor da sua conta
Not the city. Manitoba Hydro is a provincial crown corporation
SG: "If it werent for my audio engineering skills this problem would have never been fixed"
Also SG: *walking around the neighborhood with an amp and pointing his guitar at things*
Admittedly the method he used to narrow down the issue is unconventional/funny, but it still falls under the audio engineering skillset. So technically he wasn't lying.
also with his friend and dad
As an American, I'm more impressed your power company followed through than anything.
Quality of service. They promise certain signal quality and if the mains doesn't meet those requirements... they can be sued. But, even if there is no legal repercussion, they do want to fix those kind of problems.
@@squidcaps4308 You sound like you understood the problem can you.elaborate
@@squidcaps4308 Sounds more like feedback being amplified by the local fiber optic wire was the cause or maybe even without the fiber. Wouldn't have degraded the power enough to sue for that. However, an unshielded transformer could have repercussions for any child in the neighborhood (i.e. the little samurai). Most people don't want to live near power lines, and I mean the really big ones coming from the plant, and the lines are so high of the ground for a reason. Having a transformer spewing out stuff at ground level may put out levels high enough that they don't want to take the chance on paying out dead baby money in a lawsuit.
Seriously. I'm just imagining my call to a power company. "Well? What do you want me to do about it? Sir, we're not in the audio engineering business."
@@northofnashira2575 This type of EM doesn't kill anything, let alone babies.
For those wondering about making a faraday cage to isolate a studio, you should know the shielding doesn't need to be solid (i.e. tin foil) to be effective. Wire mesh, chicken wire, "hardware cloth," and chain link will all work really well as long as they're properly grounded. If you do decide you want continuous cover, mylar blankets (like the scene in The Boys) are going to be your best bet as they're a super thin layer of foil between two layers of mylar resin. Again, the trick is grounding.
All of that aside, I'm really impressed by both SG's ability to track down the noise and the power company's responsiveness. Solid work all around.
Thought the mesh gaps should be at around the wavelength of the signal for maximum effectiveness
@@GeneralPet that would probably be ideal, but it's definitely not necessary. The important part is that the interference induces current in the shielding material, and that noise winds up going to ground instead of through your output. 60hz emf has a wavelength of about 5M meters, and fine-screen wire mesh works just fine.
How exactly would one ground a mesh like this?
@@mofongotron You've got options.
If your electrical outlets are grounded, you can piggyback on that. Most of the time those are run back to a common ground at or near the breaker panel. A slightly modified faceplate would let you run a wire into a junction box to tie into the ground there. Tie the other end to your mesh and you're set. (Insert standard disclaimer about electricity being dangerous and don't take advice from randos on the internet.)
Absolute worst case scenario, you could run a wire from your mesh, out a window, and tie it into a metal stake driven into the ground.
@@jamesgilbert124 thanks James for great input.. I know I'm late to the party here but hoping you could answer a question.. I'm battling noise in my small studio and learning it's probably a emf prob.. I already have a metal roof but wood siding, can I just put 5v metal panels on the side as well make sure it's all connected and ground it out to main panel ground going into ground, which is close by, and still get the same results? Thanks!
As a person who was educated in high voltage electricity AND a lifelong guitarist I find it absolutely hilarious that you've found a faulty shielding on a transformer box with a guitar and an amp. I'd guess for the electricians it's one of those work stories they're going to tell 5 or 10 years from now
Are they really rare?
@@leonflint5413 Shitty shielding on a transformer box - probably not. Some dude reporting it beacause he was hearing clicking sounds and then searched for the source of interference walking around with a guitar and a battery amp - I think pretty rare
It was really genious!
@@ostry66 thank you 🤙🤙
Is the intermittent ticking noise capacitance? I had a ruptured capacitor in an amp that would click and arc over - I thought it was cool as a teenager (facepalm)
I work on sensitive magnetic instruments and stuff like this is the bane of our lives. We had issues with one of our stations a few weeks ago and were going nuts trying to find out why. We checked equipment, temperature, mains, weather. We only worked out what it was when we hung a webcam and found out it was the herd of cows in the next field coming to investigate the box. They all had magnetic ear tags. I’m genuinely impressed with your detective work. Sometimes you just have to get a sensor and go checking.
That's easily the funniest thing I've heard all day..... bovine line interference 😅
Hydro actually sent somebody - that's the real miracle here.
I know right! MB Hydro seems to be upping their game lately
Quality of service... They are violating the terms of each and every contract in that area. You are promised certain quality of mains voltage, without extra peaks or gaps. It is actually quite serious violation and can be expensive to find the cause and fix it.
Is Power nationalized up there? I don't see my state's power company giving a damn about that her in the U.S.
@@Drew_Gliebe no, it’s provincial. Manitoba Hydro has historically been really slow, lately they seem to be getting better as far as customer service.
the question is would they have sent someone if it was a lower income neighbourhood...
7:22 Canada man challenges ghosts on the streets to battle him on a Shred off
“Well, your big green Box in my neighbours yard is having a Detrimental effect on my life” - line of the century right there.
Poor girl probably thought it was another psycho with a tin foil hat. And she wasn't completely wrong.
Once we an tap into the brains of people to pull out the real full emotional response of lines like this UA-cam will go main stream for sure!
Hello , green big noise street signal help
For real
I think it was the perfect opener. He definitely got her attention straight away, rather than mumbling through various technicalities and losing her along the way because they're clearly not a sound engineering company. First get their attention, then explain in detail what the issue is.
"Your big green box is causing a detrimental effect on my life" lmfao
“House noise” sounds like a new avant-garde genre of music and I’m all in
I legit thought the video was going to be something like "How did they make that weird noise in that one song"
@samuraiguitarist can you make a house noise song now? HAHAHA
You should look into Pink Floyd's canceled "Household Objects" album. 😂
Look up lowercase music. No even joking, it's a real thing
PLEASE NO
I was absolutely cracking up when he was walking around his neighborhood holding his axe in the air like the guitar god he is. Just imagine what the neighbors were thinking...
Ham radio operator here. This is exactly the way hams track down RFI problems - except of course they don’t usually use a guitar. But the guitar is obviously a good directional antenna; I guess the internal shielding is blocking signal through the back of the guitar. What is NOT normal is the power people actually fixing the problem so quickly-I’ve heard horror stories involving months of calls to get a bad transformer fixed (I’m taking mostly about utility companies in the US).
Ham here also. The guitar is probably a less imposing RF detecting device than a DF antenna. That'll help defuse those neighborhood issues.
Ve6tws here, I was gonna say the same things.
I guess they upped the priority because it was interfering with his profession.
I think he's canadian so maybe that's why
For every horror story, there's an hundred completely unimpressive and untold stories of things being repaired within the week.
I hate laughing at another man's misery, but after three days of chasing down a cricket you had me in tears.
dude this was an amazing video, congrats on the clean signal
I'm bout to go plant something else by his house that will cause this issue again so we can get another video haha these are the best
Hahahaha niceeeee
@@xBABYxSHAKERx LMAO
thanks for spoilers
The most impressive thing about this video is that 1. You actually got a hold of someone at the electric company and 2. They actually came out and knew what was going on and did something about it. I. Am. Blown. Away.
You’re a hero!! I’ve been pulling my hair out for weeks because of noise. Endless googling, I’ve rewired my guitar twice, and I Even bought a new multimeter because i was convinced my cheap one was reading incorrectly. Then, the camera panned to the big green box. I swear i heard angels sing. That box is 20ft from my house. Time for me to call the electrical company and lie about my profession. Thanks!
Did anything ended up happening?
So how'd it go?
he died
@@Nealrex101 Oh, O.K., thanks.
I hope this comment is a sufficient denouement to this comment section, and quietus to his legacy.
I just decided to move.
i like how this guy prioritizes his guitars over something like his fridge and washing machine
I don't think his GF would put up with an unplugged fridge. 🤨
I wonder if theres another musician in your neighborhood experiencing the same problem thinking it was normal, who is now wondering why the clicking suddenly stopped
I like to imagine this was the case but the buzzing stopped as soon as the neighbor was putting bread in the toaster or something so now the neighbor constantly has someone make toast in the kitchen every time he wants to play guitar.
Is it bad that I wish he'd get different problems like these all the time so we could get more videos like this
I wish this too lol
I came in thinking that there was no way this was gonna compare to finding a secret room in your house but tbh it delivered
browsing too much reddit
Neighbor peering through their blinds: Honey, the new guy across the way is running around outside with a guitar and amp like he's a crazy person, shouting at a power transformer.
One week later, same neighbor: Wait, did our TV stop buzzing after that guitar Viking guy shouted at the transformer? I'm gonna go bake them a plate of cookies.
Fr he looked like a vaguely annoyed and confused wizard lmao
He looked like he was offering to sell his guitar in a crowd of nonexistent people the way he was holding it out
His dad seems like the nicest guy ever.
It might run in the family.
well, 90 procent of people have two faces, you know what im mean. i have learned in personal exp.
Ham radio skills help immensely with this kind of issue as well. The electric companies in the US are usually quite responsive to reports of EMI. Obviously they want their equipment to work properly as it saves them money if they can solve a minor problem before it becomes a big one. You did them a favor, and I'm very glad they treated you with respect and responded in a serious way. Sometimes those interactions don't go nearly as well.
The tinfoil bit was funny, but I've often wondered about whether anyone makes Faraday cages for musicians. I know people spend $$ for sound-proofed telephone booths -- it seems like a no-brainer to build Faraday cage shield into it.
HOW IT WAS REALISED 20 SECONDS AGO??
@@superevan1529 patreon
That does seem to be a good idea and for anyone who doesn't know Faraday cages are metal shields that block magnetic fields.
(Please correct me if I am wrong)
@@jameshetfield3105 They block EM waves, not magnetic fields.
@@meespeeters826 oh ok thx
Sammy G: Neither do I! *plays guitar with happiness and glee*
Also Sammy G: *straight faced* I’m pretty happy with this outcome
My pedal will occasionally will pick up radio signals specifically from horse track racing and it’s funny when I’m playing R&B and out of no where,”gooo gooo gooo number 17 is in the lead.” “Thanks for coming down to the Santa Nita horse races ladies and gentlemen.”
Oh, dear, that sucks! 😂😂😂
@@dieplanes789 did you sold it to a christian rock band
A really small and shitty unbranded amp picked up a local country station.
Dude! I was in south ga when I was like 13, turned on my 15 dollar danelectro distortion AND the distortion on my 15w practice amp and picked up AM radio from Cuba lmaoooo
I was absolutely baffled the first time my amp started picking up radio signals. I heard these voices coming from my amp that sounded like they were mid conversation (I dunno what they were talking about tho). That was the closest I've ever been to believing in ghosts
This 9:30 happiness dance+guitar riff and this sweet smile at the end of it makes me so happy
This is super useful. My home in the West End was bad for this and my current home in St. James does it too, but I've been told it's because of open-ground wiring, since the wiring was upgraded from knob and tube, but done by do-it-yourselfers before codes came in and made it all proper. I'll have to see how close I am to one of these boxes. Cheers!
1:39 That was one of the smoothest cheeky turn transitions I’ve seen in a while
The perks of living in Canada and not latinoamericana Part 1: the electric company give a damn
My thoughts exactly
Even a US power company would have taken at least a month to fix this.
Right? I’m crying! It’s a dream!!!
In latinoamerica they would never solved that
Simon.
Holy cow!! Thanks man!! I’ve been tearing every amp and guitar apart. I took a couple to my parents house on vacation and no noise!!! Got home noise was back. My wife said, “dude probably that big green box out front”. Then I watch this video today! Wow thanks man. I’m now 1000% better at soldering and have now accumulated so much amp tech equipment, just wanted to play guitar that’s all. I consider this just another path in my journey. Thank you.
After seeing what guitar he has, something nuts is about to happen
Possibly one of my favourite videos on UA-cam. It had everything and I was hooked from the start. The suspense, the thrill of the chase and the beautiful pay off at the end. The tin man suit was just the icing on the cake! 😂
From the thumbnail, I thought that he was gonna become a total conspiracy theorist.
EDIT: He kinda did.
Well i mean he didn’t not do that
The real conspiracy was when he conspired with his power company to eliminate the clicking.
It's incredible that they answered, and didn't hang up (ahem got cut off for some unknown reason) half way through your explaining it. Let alone actually coming out and doing something about it.
Total kudos to that company!
The ghost of the guitar says turn down your gain.
One does not simply turn down the gain
Especially when there isn't nearly enough to begin with
Thats not very djent of you.
As an electrician, I thoroughly enjoyed this. Incredible how much energy gets away from those things.
Propagation fields, of EM interference were a big problem in the old downtown recording studio.. rough out here for a tracking engineer.
I was wondering for years what that mysterious ticking noise was I heard every time I played my electric guitar. Wasn't my proudest moment when I found out it was the metallic second hand of my watch, that was picked up by the humbuckers... Always reminded me of a metronome
It's a pipe bomb!
All my songs are at 60bpm.
If your mechanical watch doesn't sound like a metronome, it's time for a new watch.
being right handed, I wear my watch on my left wrist so its always plenty far away from the pickups to get interference, but I suppose not everyone wears their watch on their non dominant wrist, thats just what I always thought was right when I started wearing one lol
@@zoutewand DUMBLEDORE
The first mysterious noise video was my absolute favourite from the channel, but it seemed like it could never be repeated. It's so satisfying to have an equally genuine follow-up!
This happened to me a while ago. When u would turn on my wah pedal I would pick up a gospel radio station.
Ouch! 😂
That's funny my distortion picked up a talk show one time.
@@calebfitzgerald8452 that's so surreal omg, imagine that happening while playing live damn
@@tulio.guitar live! That would be so embarrassing.
Disappointed this comment is a year old and not one person said “Oh LoooOOOOoooOOOrd”
Grade-A troubleshooting skills.
I spent 100s of hours of my military career chasing down mechanical, electrical, and sound faults on a submarine - this is an excellent example of how you chase down a fault, isolate equipment, and test.
I have this exact same problem in my house ever since we built it 20 years ago. It's caused me to just about give up guitar altogether, because it's just not enjoyable to play, much less record, through the deafening wall of static noise. I've tried everything, many of the same things you initially tried in this video. I've ruled out grounding issues, bad power from the wall outlet, computer or monitor interfence, WiFi signal, etc. So I pretty much know that the interference is in the air and coming from an outside source. That's where my attempts to resolve the issue ended, as I don't have a battery powered amp and hadn't considered getting one to walk around my neighborhood searching for the interference source. However, I do have a hand-held battery powered AM radio with an antenna. Maybe I'll go walk around with that to seek it out. But really, I'm shocked that your power company took the matter this seriously and actually took action to resolve it. Did you ever find out what was wrong with the transformer in your neighbor's yard? How did they fix it?
I hope this becomes a series
Good idea😂
I'd settle for something in parallel.
Hi
@@kjl3080 hello there
For me personally, after trying the early solutions (which didn't work inside his studio) I would have loaded up the "humming devices" and driven to a friend's house several blocks away and tried it there. If the humming disappeared (as apparently it would have), I would have started working my way back to the studio, testing along the way, until the humming and clicking returned. I'd suggest testing every "half distance". ... That is, go half way back to the studio and test... No bad sounds?... Then go back half the remaining distance and try again.
At some point using this "half distance technique", he would have stated picking up the interference. He could have then begin triangulating the source of the interference from there.
As it turned out the interference was coming from outside his house, he could have saved a lot of work by finding that source before wasting all that looking inside the house. If, however, the outside readings were clean, then (and only then) he should have taken his "testing equipment" back inside the house and worked from there.
Anyway... It's just a thought (As Beau of the Fifth might say.)
When I saw the thumbnail I had assumptions, and the beginning of the video confirmed those assumptions. And I love it
Thank you so much for this video. I’m currently going through a similar situation. But the sound coming from my amp is more like electronic beeping/static. I did the battery amp test hoping to find a source, but there are many spots inside the building and outside where the sound peaks. It gets louder near the fire alarm, random parts of the building/street outside, certain telephone poles. 2 electricians came and weren’t able to help. Going to call the power company next. Would appreciate if anyone has any advice! Thank you so much!
From the thumbnail we all knew where this was going
7:56 every guitarist’s reaction when finding the source of the hum “should we shoot it?”
"Your big green box in my neighbor's yard is having a very detrimental effect on my life"
-Samuraiguitarist 2020
... ok so I was the only one who got this recommended without knowing the channel beforehand thinking it was going to be a house sound design tutorial
If you are going to try the shielding angle so this doesn't happen again, I can recommend having copper mesh lining an entire room, floor, ceiling and walls, then connect that copper mesh to a ground connection.
That way you'll have built a Faraday Cage room, free from outside interference.
Sam…I had this same symptomatic behavior of an insidious clicking sound with a 1983 Rivera Era Fender Super Champ I used to own. Your problem was completely different and wholly external. Mine was due to a component failing.
In my case, the act of plugging gain boosting gear, e.g., a distortion pedal, made my problem worse and suggested the issue was in the power amp stage of my amp. In my situation, I eventually traced the issue to a wonky 6V6 power tube that had an internal fault and was inappropriately sensing a cap in the amp circuit discharging, aka a true fluke. Changing the pair of 6V6 tubes solved the issue.
Reminds me of 2 things that happened to me. A few years ago, I got my first electric guitar and was trying to find a longer and more reliable cable. My dad used to be in a band, so he had a whole collection of old cables and a few amps. One of the cables and was only 3 feet long and didn't work well, but when both ends were plugged in it picked up a radio station. (Edit: I wrote this just after watching the intro, I didn't think this would be so relevant!)
The second thing, my family picked up an old Kimball electric organ last year. We put it in the living room by the wifi router, and at some point the next week, someone put the router on top of the organ to keep the dogs from destroying it. The next time I turned the organ on, the signal from the router interfered with some electronics in the organ and produced a lot of feedback. I thought there could be a pinched wire in it, so I took the router off the top, opened it up, moved some wires out of the way of each other, played it, and it was fine. I closed the top and put the router back on and was confused when it made more feedback. That happened a few more times. Finally, I had open with the router off and sustained a note while I put everything back and found out it was the wifi. Now we have a thick book in between them to keep that from happening again.
3 foot cable probably has a cold solder joint. Bad solder connection is able to simultaneously act like a diode, inductor, and capacitor.
I've been doing RF engineering for quite a while and audio engineering is what I'm in school for now. I also do a lot of recording and I'm a musician as well. I've been chasing down interference for years. I used to walk around my neighborhood with a radio tuned to a empty unused space on medium wave (or any radio that receives AM broadcasts) looking for whatever I can hear at my flat. There's a lot of things that can cause buzzing or clicking. I've been able to eliminate most of it on my own, but there were some things that I just had to live with until I could move to another location where I had a bit more control over powered devices.
This was the most elaborate house tour I have ever seen.
9:35 begins to celebrate,
then with a dead serious face : im pretty happy
cracks me up
I also live in canada. A really stereotypical “canadian” part of canada. But whoever the people are who work for your city’s electrical department or whatever need to be given a trophy for nicest workers ever! When my wifi is down and i call the company they arent nearly that useful! Well anyway, loved the video AND the music!
edit: 69 likes.........
American here. I once had an issue with my WiFi and had to wait 6 hours on hold with the cable company and 9 days for a technician to “fix” the problem in 5 minutes (and absolutely wreck my bathroom) only for it to crap out again the next day. I just googled the issue and solved it permanently myself. But you can’t have internet without those soulless bastards.
@@The3leggedhusky damn, i’ve waited on hold for a while a few times but 6 hours? Jeez...
Covered pickups like the ones on les pauls and some active pickups also help a lot with not picking up interference noise. Also, if the guitar is grounded well touching the strings or the bridge should reduce the noise. If it doesn't, you probably should check your guitar's grounding
Should have titled this video "Canadian Man Covers Himself in Aluminum Foil. You Won't Believe What He Finds!"
Canadian man tracks down electromagnetic signal with a guitar and found a solution by covering himself in aluminium foil.
At 9:30 @sumariguitarist became the happiest samuraikid :)
It was a bit funny when - after all that appliances unplugging - you showed on camera your battery-powered amp :D
One weird time, I had three overdrives turned on for sume reason, and it picked up the phone call that I was having and played it on the amp, but it was really distorted. I could tell it was the call because every time the other person talked, it would make the noise.
Ha! A “Faraday Body Wrap”... I don’t think so! Note to musicians: always bring your axe & amp when new house-shopping.
Second. Rented a house that had an electrical noise, sounded like someone constantly using a rain stick.
yup.
Thats just crazy how an annoying noise coming from a guitar amp ended up resulting in the discovery of a transformer box with faulty shielding. Unexpected is the best word to describe that I think.
Man, this topic hits too close for comfort. Hearing this click after our last move has been very demotivating, after having been to great lengths to get rid of other sources of noise (changed pedal power, changed to all humbuckers, added copper foil on top of the shielding paint, ...)
But if the source is external (I suspect we have a utilities shaft behind the wall), I'm doomed to never find piece short of building myself a Faraday cage...
Try to minimize the number of variables. Get a battery powered amp. Try the amp alone. Add the instrument cable. Add the guitar. Touch the strings. Touch the metal on the plug and jack. Try an amp that uses AC power. At some point the noise should appear. This will tell you the most likely point of entry for the interference. If there is a change in noise when you move the guitar around, that is a clue as well. Touching the strings or bridge with your body should reduce the noise, since the strings should be grounded and your body is a weak antenna.
6:58 When you say you have a brilliant idea, I know exactly what you gonna do... And I agree... That's brilliant...
*In 10 years at school*
My daddy is a fireman! What does your dad do?
Samurai Baby: uhhhh.........
The struggle is real... I live next to a train track, and although the sound is not a problem as we have a "noise wall", but the interference is a real problem. I have to position my self in an awkward position to record anything without the constant electric noise 😭
I live next to a train track too and it’s killing me hearing the EMI all the time through my guitar
You probably have a single coil or split humbucker pickup. Those are great antennas. Consider shielding the cavities in your guitar, it helped my Strat enormously.
"Holy mackerel! One take!"
Dude, i suuuper impressed that the electric provider company actually responded to your complaint and really did aomething about it. Where i live that would have never happened. More like "yeah, nothing we cand do, it is what it is".
Since he did the detective work for them, it was easy to send the crew to fix it.
Seeing him hold the exact guitar I own is terrifying and surreal
@@danill4381 got a problem with that?
Just started the video; however, over the years and various locations I have dealt with all sorts of sound noises like this. I have found all sorts of solutions for various things. Really, it never ends. There is always a new issue around the corner. It is interesting. Looking forward to the video.
Good luck fighting the good fight people!
The genuine joy on your face at the end made my day
I'm really glad you tried this, I was so mad with airborne noise at one point I almost wrapped myself in foil.
I hope you´ll have a lot more mysterious house noises! Your approach to those is just awesome. Maybe you should start some kind of problem solving series one day!
That's actually quite a nice idea! @samuraiguitarist should read this and think about it 😉👍
It's also amazing that the work on the transformer completely eliminated the noise-floor on your amp 😁 great video - and I could honestly watch a dozen more "noise detective" vids
You just saved the whole city from an EMP
Brilliant and the most informed and entertained I have been in years. I found (you) this video link in an L.R.Baggs forum while researching a Fishman Loudbox Performer noise issue. It produced a strange, high pitched screeching sound while on stage. I suspected it was a wifi / bluetooth interference (though the amp was not paired with any device). I discovered I wasn't the only person who has experienced this noise. I'm not a guitarist but I run the sound from behind my drum set for my band and thus I am trouble shooting this issue for my guitarist, especially since I bought the amp for him. Any feedback from you is greatly appreciated.
This could have easily become a lovecraftian horror story.
A nearby wifi hot spot caused a nice 1 Hz ish blip in my case. It doesn't affect the guitar, just the amp. Turning the amp 90 degrees reduces it. Shutting the wifi off eliminates it. Haven't tried moving the wifi yet, or a different model of wifi hot spot.
The amp will still be susceptible to interference, though. Better to figure out why the audio amp is picking up the radio signal, and fix that. Contact the amp manufacturer and see if they have a fix for it. Local ham radio clubs might be able to help too. Also, maybe the wall wart for the hot spot is the source - try a linear power supply on it.
Ladies and gentlemen, that's what we call scientific method.
What a fascinating and oddly calming video. Walking around with the guitar as an antenna was priceless. Please test guitar as an aerial for your digital TV. Just for the lols.
Can't wait for the country song about mouse droppings in the next episode
6:57 From the same creators of Silent Hill, here comes Noisy Hill.
Use your guitar + amplifier to locate monsters nearby and another supernatural things.
Dr. Therapist: Robo-Sammy G isn't real, he can never hurt you.
6:54:
Late to the show I know , but years ago in my audio engineering class this was the answer to a semester long question my professor had made for us. The idea was to follow signal flow and understand where things go wrong. I opened this video thinking “ ha wouldn’t it be funny if ….. “ and mildly delighted that was it . P.s. someone did come up with the answer the second to last day of the class p.p.s we only got 3 try’s per beginning of class
You told that lady from the electric company the story of her life ! and no joke , i tip my hat to the electric dudes , nobody would give a damn about a guitarist, Yeeey for canada
You're lucky to be in Canada. In my country, they would say they would look into it, send nobody out to check the problem and then charge me extra because the problem wasn't on their end.
Imagine how sammy g got jenny to wrap him in alluminum foil
"Hey can you wrap me in foil for a video?" "Haha okay!"
@@Weevil_Fam probably
Steve: Hey, babe? Can you wrap me in tinfoil so that...
Jenny:
She wrapped him in foil to begin with, so he had to make up a video to justify it.
CONGRATS on fixing the transformer issue! Your Dad's ALSO right!.... Keep a brass (heard it works best) chicken wire Faraday cage handy... Takes care of MOST RF interference. Cheap easy fix anywhere. I've had similar issues, but mine were INTERNAL (wire length between outlets/same circuit thing...) In closing... Happy New Year! LOVE your vid's, and may '21 make HALF your dreams come true! (Only half, cause you've always gotta dream!) lol CHEERS!
I wish there was a lot more mystery noises in SammyG's house, because these videos are one of the best videos overall
I found the source of the ticking... Its a pipe bomb!
This reminded me of better call Saul when the brother tore up his house cause of electricity.
Was having the exact same problem, wasn't even looking for a solution yet. The algorithm knows all.
There should be a new mysterious sound hunting series
Already know what it is I have same issue, and it’s coming from the pedal on my line 6 effects switch and vol/wah pedal, I can hear it oscillate when I push/pull pedal. Doesn’t happen all the time but only randomly when it decides to. There’s something with same mechanism that’s doing it for you. My pedal is connected to amp proprietarily via an Ethernet cable just for extra info
I think your audio engineering skills mainly consisted out of calling your dad... Dads just know things
This is sooo cool in so many ways, and according to my experience and the general opinion about the public services companies in my country, it could be more of a "happy ending fairy tale" than an informative and entertaining vlog, dude, really, congrats on everything about this :)