Hum and Noisegate
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I own the Spark amp for two weeks now and have been working intensively on it. I really like this little thing and have created a collection of sounds that I need for my playing and they sounds imo very good. Nevertheless, even with not distorted sounds, there is a humming noise that bothers. Accepting this to a certain extent without adding the noise gate leaves the sound unadulterated and good. But the use of the noise gate is necessary very early on. And this intervenes very strongly in the sound process even at the slightest turn up of the Noisegate and influences with its opening and closing the sound negatively. The best compromise for me at the moment if the Noisegate cannot be avoided: To use it but to turn both knobs totally to the left.
The Noisegates in Jamup or Bias FX are working much better.
Let us hope that PG will improve this significantly. -
Hum comes and goes. It is very much on the power supply noise in the house. Mine sometimes hum for 5 minutes. Before the update, I had electric shocks on the metal parts of the guitar, after the update, none.
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@de_cunny I agree, the noise gate is incredibly harsh, it needs to be tweaked to make it softer and more user friendly. Sustain drops off the cliff after 3 seconds ? Not good enough.
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I just tried the USB trick, the raw ungated hum definitely gets worse without it connected/grounded, but with the gate on its silent either way. I've ordered a universal power supply to replace the power supply, er, supplied. Might not make much difference except to my own peace of mind.
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Got a replacement earthed power supply today, and it makes no difference. So it has to be local interference causing it. The amp is situated in an area with multiple electrical devices nearby.
Grounding the usb cable to a nearby radiator pipe greatly reduces the excess hum, which allows a little less noise gate to silence fully. Not an ideal situation but until PG tweak the subtlety of the noise gate it's the best I can do.
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I don't have the hum but man the Noise Gate is aggressive. It doesn't allow for any real dynamics. It'll just cut. Some presets are set so high that it sounds like volume swells unless you really attack the strings.
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The noise gate is bad and in my opinion, got worse after the latest firmware update. I keep the gate off and I balance pedal gain/level and amp gain/volume so that the total volume is mostly controlled by my guitar's volume knob. The hiss is still present, but not as noticeable. Even when turning the volume up using my guitar, the hiss remains low. Not a fix, but it helps mask the problem.
This week, I emailed PG and included a video showing the hissing. They replied and said the next software update is supposed to address the issue and it should be out by next week. Hopefully it corrects the problem because I really like the amp.
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I agree with that. The noise gate has to be revised. As it is now, it is unable to suppress the noise without killing the tone. I use it, however, as already written, both controls all the way to the left. Just activating the noise gate brings a lot, but turning the buttons causes a lot of damage.
PG will fix that with one of the next updates, I'm sure.
Furthermore, there is a backup option on the wish list, a tuner also in the app and a volume button in the app, like the Amp has, to compensate for the volume differences between clean and distorted amps without always having to go to the amp. -
It's bad. Plugged my Taylor 214CE, turned it to acoustic...and it's instant hum unless i grab the metal part of the patch cord, then it stops. Guess my hand acts as a ground. This is NOT acdeptable! Positive Grid, FIX THIS!
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@dlw667 Follow-up:
I just received my Spark (USA) a couple of days ago and I am experiencing the same hum issue. Acoustic, Channel 1.......touch the metal on the patch cord and it stops. Sent an email to PG and they said they would send me another power supply (that's gonna be another 6 months). So, I purchased another supply, same voltage, amps, etc, but this one has a ground. NO LUCK. This has to be an internal design problem. Just wish this wasn't so as it's a major pain. I expect some on high gain, but from a Taylor 214CE, acoustic selected, and the "clean channel" 1.......goodness. Problems.......
