1 (edited by whittin3 2020-11-10 23:53:08)

Topic: Achieving no hum / noise from guitar input

Hello All,

I have an RME UFX II and absolutely love it. I am new to RME and audio engineering in general. Currently, my PRS Custom 24-08 guitar is plugged into Mic/Line 10 (INSTR enabled) via an unbalanced cable. My Main output is phones 9/10 and I listen on passive Beyer Dynamics DT 1990 headphones. I have loopback enabled on hardware outputs AN 7 and AN 8. This is so I can quickly change snapshots and hear / assign different guitar effects through my DAW. In one snapshot I have the hardware gain turned up to 25.0 (and lots of overdrive though S-Gear via Reaper) and there is a small high pitch hum that gets amplified. If listening through RME Total mix on hardware input Mic/Line 10, the hum is barely there (however it is very noticeable if you turn the gain up to 35.0+).

I am trying to figure out if I can solve this issue with software and/or hardware.  I appreciate the added gain for legato playing but want a clean gain / signal. Will a DI box fix an issue like this (example: buying a LEHLE P-SPLIT III?), or can RME Total Mix FX correct this (I have muted the constant noise through DSP e.g. essentially a noise gate but this seems like a band-aid)? Maybe DSP compression? Note: In Reaper, I have master and channel volume sliders at 0db and guitar volume turned all the way up.

Appreciate any and all help / tips! Thank you!

2 (edited by whittin3 2020-11-10 23:54:37)

Re: Achieving no hum / noise from guitar input

Leaving the DAW and Total Mix RME without change, when I unplug the guitar there is no more hiss / buzz coming from the output. Plugging in a single coil guitar increases the noise versus a humbucker guitar which lessens the noise. Physically moving the guitar lessens the noise depending on the placement.

Any other means / tricks of eliminating this high pitch noise? (I dont believe a TRS cable would help since my guitar source is not balanced AFAIK).
Would a DI box help by running an unbalanced, shorter TS cable from guitar to DI box and then balanced TRS cable from DI box to RME UFX II? The current TS cable is 20 ft. I tried a shorter 6 ft cable and heard the same buzz / hiss.
Is gain +25.0 from UFX II pre-amps asking too much on INSTR for a guitar? Any recommended amp solutions? This is for a home studio FYI.