Accoustic Amp interference question (Page 1 of 2)

Does it happen with a guitar plugged in or when it's just sitting there by its lonesome?

I used to have a Schure P.A. system that picked up C.B. radio signals. We would pause singing for a moment at our bar gig and "10-4 good buddy" would boom out of our P.A. speakers.

BGD, you can definitely pick. You are a snappy guitar player. Everybody loved that as well as your your voice. You have good range - smooth or groaty sound control. I envy you your youth and energy.
My pipes get groatier by the day. Most times it's fun. Sometimes it's painful.
Your first song was dynamite and I would like to hear it again.
A link would be appreciated.
Sure would like to hear you jump on some Southeastern material.
If you hear something you like in my song list you can use I can send U-Tube links, chords and lyrics. Would be great to have a jam archive available on Chordie.
toots
P.S. Joe, if you make it to Alabama (A.K.A. the Redneck Riviera) we can hoist a beer or 12, grill something recently deceased and do a sail out on Mobile Bay.

Ya know guys, I've heard of people getting ham radio interference with their cable television service - yup, ham radio going right through their TV.  Those people are never happy, but I don't think there's much you can do about it except to - like everyone else has said - limit the length of wires that may be acting as antennas.  There's so many FCC regulations and notices on allllll electronic equipment stating that they are within regulation and fine print about possible intereference that I don't think there's much you can even do legally to prevent such issues.  Like JX3 said though, maybe God's trying to tell you something!  ha ha! 

I would absolutely try plugging into a different outlet and wrapping the chord up so it's not stretched out, and try being as close to the outlet as possible and see if that makes a difference.  Radio waves are often hindered by metal doors and mirrors too... so perhaps there's a little decoration you could put up to help the issue out!    Just some thoughts!

Hey Jim,
That sounds like a bit of a nuisance all right.  I know nothing about electronics, so with a grain of salt, you might want to check out http://195.84.101.101/~goranl/interference/page6.html  The "fix" is pretty inexpensive and might be worth a try.
Jim

Though I'm not an electrical engineer, I do have a lot of experience with this type issue through my work.....couple of things: lots of times it's the inductive nature of the pickups that tend to "amplify" the signal, you can take them out and shield the backside using fine mesh cooper screen or, replace them with higher quality pickups.  Also, if you unplug the guitar and still hear the radio, same thing applies. take the chassis of the amp out and make a shield for the electronics or tube portion using fine copper mesh screen....without going into details, it's the Michael Farady principle about lines of (electromagnetic)force, using a very small mesh, non ferrous screen like copper, you can block the interference.....the previous post about guitar cable is important, using a cheap unshielded cable will definitely not help and, probably THE most important thing is to make sure your power supply is not "dirty". you can check this by using a simple multimeter....your looking for voltage between ground and hot (ground being the round portion of your wall outlet) meter between the two and make sure you have 0 voltage...anything more than .200 is bad.....maybe try turning off the toaster when you play because everything in the house shares the same neutral....or(finally) you can try using a ground lift adapter...you know those plastic adapters that turn 3 leg plugs into 2....about 79 cents at the store.....wow, I ended up posting a ton, hope I don't ramble that much in person.....

I see, guess we can discount the pickups. if your running a mic into an amp, then almost certainly it's in the amp or power, but not the cable. on a mic cable, your using low impedance which is very effective against radio interference.  Also, having a new house does not absolve the power issue as all house are wired the same. I still recommend lifting the ground as a cheap experiment to see if it helps eliminate at least some 60cycle hum. with a mic, you could also use a Direct box, it has a transformer built in to help eliminate hum....aside from that, perhaps another amp or setup....I have Garage band on my Mac and its the cats meow for guitars, mic's, keyboards or any instrument...either way, be persistent and you'll find the problem...good luck my friend!

Cheers

If you're using balanced cables that should eliminate them as a suspect.  What frequency on the AM does the radio station transmit?

Also "low noise" cables does not imply shielded.   Low noise generally implies a balanced cable (which should only be relevant on a balanced input) but they can still pick up RF.  Try some different cables and see if that doesn't help.

Sm58. Cheap and only live mic you'll ever need

Thanks Tuba and BGD, I'll look for the Schure Sm58. I appreciate your advice about this a lot!

SM58 for vocals, absolutely.  Depending on what you want to do with the amp, it will either work great for close mic, or if you have a nice room to play in and you want the "sound of the room," some form of condenser mic.