Noise from dimmer lights with a 2001 ...

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Author Message tdukes Member Username: tdukes Post Number: 65 Registered: 4-2008 Posted on Thursday, December 04, 2008 - 11:55 am:    I have a 2001 Tribute. The sanctuary at church where I use it has stage lighting that causes hum in the pickups. I am using a noise gate to some effect to eliminate the noise when I am not playing, but I was wondering if there was more that I could do. It has the old electronics where the guitar gets louder as you turn on more pickups. I wanted to upgrade the electronics early next year. Could something be added to reduce the hum picked up from this lighting. (I am only assuming the pickups are picking the noise up from the lights. There is no noise when the lights are off and the orientation of the guitar changes the amount of noise.) Several of my guitars (Les Paul, Byrdland, PRS) are quieter than the Tribute while others (Benedetto Benny, 57 AV reissue strat) are noiser. Todd. mario_farufyno Member Username: mario_farufyno Post Number: 52 Registered: 9-2008 Posted on Thursday, January 01, 2009 - 5:46 am:    Change the power source. You must avoid using the same circuit that feeds the lights. Do you use a Power Conditioner? It seems you have grounding issues on that house... jimmyj Junior Username: jimmyj Post Number: 25 Registered: 8-2008 Posted on Thursday, January 01, 2009 - 11:52 am:    Sorry, it's not the power source if your strat is worse ... it's just life with single coil pickups. I am not familiar with the Tribute's electronics and don't know if there is any hum balance control. But generally in these situations you want to be physically far away from the offending transmitter (dimmer packs), find the quietest spot in the band's area to set up, search for the best orientation and aim your instrument in that quiet direction for the soft musical passages. I know, not ideal, but it's what we do. Or you could work on the source of the problem and try to convince the church to install a true Variac dimmer! Good luck, JJ tdukes Member Username: tdukes Post Number: 73 Registered: 4-2008 Posted on Saturday, January 03, 2009 - 10:09 am:    I don't really know what kind of lights they are. The brightness varies, I don't know how. I do know the noise is gone when they are off. I will try turning the noise gate off and seeing how much changing which way the guitar is positioned changes the noise. Thanks, Todd.