Hey guys so I've been beating my head trying to figure out why my Jackson has an irritating and extremely loud bbrrrzzzzzsssttt noise whenever I try to use distortion effects to play metal. It plays clean/acoustic just fine but any high gain or distortion effects and I get an obscene noise. Its slightly more bearable on my Katana MK II amp but the noise is definitely still present and loud. Amp sims produce the same irritating loud noise in my DAW.

I looked at all of my wires and none of them seem loose or corroded. I don't suspect its a grounding issue because of no visible damage and no electrical shock yet but I might buy a multimeter if you kind people cannot help me. I am aware that high gain/distortion will generate noise. I have tried turning down the gain and while it did help.. the noise was still there, which ruins any recording aspirations I have planned.

PLEASE help me figure this one out guys.. its been driving me nuts for over a year now.

Here is what I am using to record with:

DAW: Cakewalk
AI: Scarlett 2i2
Amp Sim: TH3 by Cakewalk

 

Here is how my guitar sounds without any high gain/distortion

 

Here is how my guitar sounds with randall amp sim in TH3. My Scarlett input is turned all the way down

 

Do the sounds change when you move your mouse or type on your keyboard? I used to have this problem and it was my motherboard picking up all kinds of noises from USB devices. When I got a new PC with a different motherboard and different power supply I no longer had that problem, now I just have a slight 50Hz hum that I can filter out easily though.

 

Thats a great idea and something I have considered.. I tested out the noise on a different computer by connecting it to my laptop with no external peripherals, no charger connected and I got the same exact bbbbrrrzzzzztttt sound that is present in that recording I linked.

 

Thank you for the suggestion! I'll give that a try right now and I'll reply if it helped or not

 

Yo dude... thank you so very much for your suggestion. I guess my pc emits INSANE EM waves because I have to stand 3-4 feet away and turn around, not face my computer, before the noise goes away. ITS GONE THOUGH!!! I'm so happy but a little annoyed that I have to stand so far away from my pc. I guess I'll have to get a wireless keyboard if I want to record anything.

This is what it now sounds like when I stand away from my pc. NO MORE BBBRRRRZZZZTTTTT!!

 

I'm a going to have to sample that riff. Thanks...

 

Happy you found the source ;D
Try to "angle" your guitar, instead of facing computer.
It may be enough.

 

look into Electro magnetic interference (EMI) / rf chokes / audio isolation transformers, as I'm guessing this is the issue, a simple rf choke is to wind around your hand 6 times your guitar lead (nearest to the scarlett input), tape it together, and see if that will suppress the unwanted electrical noise?

 

Last edited: Aug 21, 2024