Noisy Rig; Soliciting Suggestions

[synrgy]

Djentlemen and Ladies,

I'm playing in a band again! Super stoked, and it's going very well. However, I'm experiencing some serious noise issues with my amp/rig. I recently acquired a Boss NS-2 in an attempt to address the issue with only so-so results, but I'm not sure if I have my pedals hooked up in the most ideal way, and I wanted to see if you guys notice any glaring holes in the way I have things set up:

Amp = Marshall AVT150H -- This seems to be where all the noise comes from. I mostly use the OD-2 channel, which is high gain. When the amp is on that channel, even if nothing is going to the amp's input, there's a ton of noise coming from the speakers.
Pedals = Boss tuner, Boss NS-2, Digitech Whammy, Morley Bad Horsie, Boss DD-3.
Pedalboard = Furman SPB-8C
All cords = brand new Livewire, Advantage series.

Currently, all pedals take power from the Furman unit; no 9V batteries in use. The Morley and Whammy are both using their respective proprietary wall warts. Speaking of which, the Morley is brand new, and I'm amazed at how noisy it is whenever I engage it, even when using the proprietary Morley power supply. Could this be a proximity issue, where maybe I have it set up too closely to the plug?

As I'm sure most of you know, the NS-2 has both in/out and send/return. For the purposes of this post, we'll call in/out 'chain 1' and send/return 'chain 2'.

Chain 1 = Guitar --> Tuner --> NS-2 --> Delay --> Furman 'in from pedals' -->Furman 'out to amp'
Chain 2 = NS-2 --> Whammy --> Wah --> NS-2

Now, my amp does have an effects loop. Should I be incorporating that, instead? Or something? I've read some documentation about wiring the NS-2 through the Amp's loop in an 'x pattern'. Is that theoretically a better method, in SS.org's estimation?

Thanks in advance for your time and consideration!!

 

[Itchyman]

Could be a ground loop between the amp, furman and pedals.

 

[TheKindred]

in my experience, if you're only going to run the 1 noise gate, it works best in the 4 cable ("x") method. This way it will quiet the pedals as well as the amp.

 

[clintsal]

Ground loop seconded, you could try the ebtech hum x for the most problematic pieces. Also, new low noise preamp tubes for the amp might help lower the noise floor on it.

Also the ns2 should work better if the second loop is in the fx loop of the amp. Delay might go better after the ns2 since the ns2 might choke out some of the later feedback. Might put the tuner after the first ns2 stage in case it is causing any noise.

I'd go
Guitar - ns2 - tuner - whammy - wah- furman- amp in - fx send out - ns2 - delay - fx return

 

[CTID]

If I read this right, you're only gating your pedal chain, not your amp at all. If there's a ton of noise coming from your amp that you want to gate out, you need to have your NS-2 in your effects loop.

 

[synrgy]

Thanks for the replies, everyone. You've confirmed my suspicions. I need to acquire a couple more long cables to run through the amp's loop, but I'll give that a try and report back.

Also, thanks for the extra tip on the preamp tube. I hadn't thought of that, but it's definitely worth looking into.

*edit* any experience-based suggestions for specific low-noise 12ax7 tubes? I've only purchased a tube for this thing once, and at the time, I went with the cheapest option. Based on a few reviews I've read, I'm currently eyeballing a few:

http://www.thetubestore.com/Northern-Electric-12AX7
http://www.thetubestore.com/Preferred-Series-7025-12AX7
http://www.thetubestore.com/Tung-Sol-12AX7

 

[synrgy]

No luck at all running the NS-2 through the amp's effects loop. Didn't make any audible difference what-so-ever, actually. Back to the drawing board.

Tube, then?

 

[vick1000]

If it's a humming noise, there may be external sources causing it. Fluorescent lighting and dimmer switches being the main culprits. With just the guitar plugged straight into the amp, and volume down, you should get no noise at all. If you are still getting noise then, you have a bad cable or bad connection in the amp, or seriously noisy power.

 

[clintsal]

I've never used a Marshall amp, but I'm a big fan of the Tung-Sol 12ax7's in both the Engl E530 and Blackstar HT-5 I've put them in. Very clear and present, w plenty of clear lows and pleasant mids. Brighter than JJ's, higher-def than Mullards (also great for warmer, more organic tones; they break up easier though), and clearer / less harsh than sovteks and chinese ones.

How did you put everything together when you did the NS2 in the loop? Could you give us a diagram?

Finally, does the Furman have any type of ground isolation? I had a lower grade Furman power conditioner, then upgraded to one with the LiFT technology, which made a drastic reduction in the noise and increase in clarity. I was shocked.

 

[synrgy]

To clarify:

The noise/hum increases (or decreases) with the amp's volume control accordingly, and occurs even when nothing is plugged into the amp's input jack.

The noise/hum occurs the same regardless of whether it's plugged into my Furman power conditioner, or any standard wall outlet.

If these details raise any eyebrows, I'm all ears.

 

[synrgy]

How did you put everything together when you did the NS2 in the loop? Could you give us a diagram?

For testing purposes, I removed all other pedals, and tried hooking up only the guitar and NS-2, in the 'x pattern', demonstrated below:

 

[vick1000]

Could be a bad ground inside the amp.