Hum in distortion pedals

[Mercwilly]

Hello fellow builders,

I have a question concerning hum in fuzz or distortion pedals. Especially when gain is turned up, the level of hum becomes unwanted.
I have built several projects, strictly using the suggested parts, but I am not pleased with the results. Although one can never be sure, but I don't think I have made soldering mistakes, or misplaced parts.
Can anyone suggest soltutions, or name me a better project.
I already built the Deadringer, the MXR distorion plus, The Guv'ner, the Gretsch Controfuzz, the Ross compressor and the Uproar, but I am not happy with the amount of hum they produce.

In my other projects, like the Pork barrel, or the PT-80 analog delay, I have no hum at all.
Hope you can help me out.

I have another question about the Uproar: the tone control doesn't seem to make that much of a change, and the overall tone of the box is pretty dull. I have already tried different caps for position C8 and C9, but it still is pretty dark. Any suggestions? ( I am now using 15n for C8)

Thanks in advance,

Mercwilly

[jkokura]

I've built some of those, and haven't experienced more him than I would usually expect. Could you take some pictures of the insides of your pedals and post them so that I can see what you are working with?

Jacob

[stecykmi]

any circuit with a lot of gain will have some noise. there's a good chance that it's actually your guitar pickups producing the hum. you can try plugging everything in and turning everything on except for the guitar. if there's still noise, there's likely a problem with the circuit, but if there's not, it's just your guitar.

[Mercwilly]

The guitars that I use are fully shielded, and otherwise humfree, and I use a guitar fitted with EMG's. So I would say that that should not be the cause of it.
The hum I am experiencing is a lot like the hum in "Back to the future part I" in which Marty cranks up the professor's equipment to the level: "are you nuts"

Mercwilly

[junkemail86]

Some hum can be introduced by your power supply.  Are you using batteries or wall wart?  If you are using a wall wart, is it a decent one (which will have better filtering, etc.)? 

As for the Uproar, it was also too dark for my taste.  By the recommendation of Bootle at Freestompboxes.org I tried 4.7nf for C8 and C9 and ended up with a much more usable tone sweep.

[mattpoole]

i have built a few neutrinos and they all hum past 12 o'clock with my single coil guitars, just as my lovepedal does. i think it may be just the nature of the beast. however they don't hum so much with bucker's.

what emg's are you rocking?

[jkokura]

I've built some of those, and haven't experienced more him than I would usually expect. Could you take some pictures of the insides of your pedals and post them so that I can see what you are working with?

Jacob

[Mercwilly]

Hi Mattpoole,

I use EMG 89's on my guitar, and they are hum free, however loud I play my amp. This is why the whole hum matter bothers me.

Mercwilly

[juansolo]

The higher gain pedals can pick up hum. You have to just keep the cables inside to a minimum. Use shielded cables for the input/output to the switch and to the board. A lot of it comes down to how you build them. But there are some pedals that having some hum is unavoidable.

[mattpoole]

do you still get hum if you roll your volume all the way down or does it stay constant regardless of the guitar's volume?