Amp problem

I'm getting a kind of buzzing ring, not out of my guitar but out of my amp. When I hit certain notes together for example if I hit

E------10-----
B------12-----

It makes a really crazy sound, hard to describe. Both notes sound fine alone but if I hit them together it sounds bad. It also does this in several other places on the fret board. any ideas?

Are certain pitches causing vibration in the grill or casing?

I don't think so because it does it at very low volume.

could be your speaker is shot or damaged...the extra vibrations of certain pitches may screw with a damaged speaker. try playing through a different amp and see if that helps.

Hmmm... I was afraid it might be something like that. I was thinking about taking my guitar to the shop and trying it out on another amp. I might just do that today. thanks.

I wouldn't think anything "broken," maybe there was some missing glue or some other tiny, tiny issue and when you hit such and such frequencies, which are in turn, amplified through the speaker and vibrate all around, including that part of the speaker cabinet.

Have you tried it at different volumes? Either way, try and get some one to play those notes, while you search the amp for anything loose (including the wood/plastic of the amp's walls itself).

I've never experienced, or heard of such an issue with the speaker or amp. Its usually just something loose or poorly made in the cabinet.

Best of luck.

First thing that came to mind was the speaker also...or mounts

Thanks guys. I went to the guitar shop today and tried it out on another amp and it did the same thing. Could it be anything to do with the pickups? I didn't have time to let them look at it, I had to pick up my little girl at school. Might take it back tomorrow.

Maybe... is there any way you can record the sound and upload it. It'd be a lot easier to identify the problem then.

No. I wish I could record but I don't have any kind of recording gear at all.

Is there any notes that just don't go well together and maybe screws with the overdrive, you know I have never noticed it on the clean channel. I'll try it out real quick.

I think it's because your strings might be slightly out of tune. You're playing a B and a D, which is a minor 3rd, and if they are slightly out of tune (I'm talking by a really small amount), then you get a slight pulsating effect. It's not as exaggerated as when you play the open E and the 5th fret on the B and bend the B upwards to push it out of tune by a very small amount. The reason this occurs is because there is a slight difference in the frequencies of the two notes (frequency --> pitch) and they interfere with each other. Sometimes the two sound sources produce constructive interference, and sometimes they produce destructive interference, depending on where the peaks and troughs of each sound wave are.

This image might help.




On the top picture, when the peaks of the pink wave and the light blue wave are occuring at exactly the same time, the wave on the bottom picture (which is what you hear) is at a maximum (loud sound produced). When a peak meets a trough, then the amplitude of the wave on the bottom picture is zero (no sound produced). This is how you get the pulsing sound.

So, to cut a long story short, make sure your strings are in tune!

maybe its ur pickups? if ur playing it, and it sounds good with no amp, maybe its ur pickups? but its prob the speaker most likely

@ blackholesun

I tuned my guitar and it helped considerably, it wasn't to far out of tune at all. I think maybe some new strings and hopefully problem solved. I really thought it was coming out of my amp, glad it wasn't. I never even thought about my strings needing changed. My strings are about a month old and I play a lot. How often should you change them?

Could be what Blackholesun pointed out. I noticed some guitars have "dead notes" or bad notes that results from bad manufacturing. It could also be you tried a solid state amp (some do that) It could be your action or bridge is not correct.

Every thing was fine a couple of weeks ago. I'm gonna say strings right now, that would be the best case scenario. If that's not it I will go from there.

i change my strings about every two weeks when im not recording...give or take a few days. if im recording than about every week.

I like to change strings every 2 or 3 weeks, any longer and I find them sounding dull and even with finger ease they still feel really grimey.

Hmmm... Well even if that's not the problem it sounds like I am over do.

im gona ask a question on this to avoid it on another forum: my g string kinda vibrates real fast if its played open. what i mean is it sounds like a tremolo reverb but really fast, i know the cause, i dont know how to fix it. the cause: when i was playing it in the store for the first time, ther wer no probs, but when i came and bought it, the g string poped out of its stopper thingy at the top of the fret board, i hope u know wut i mean. anyway, i said, what about the g string, the guy picks it up (it was in the b strings compartment thingy) and moved it to the proper one. now theres a slight but apparent shaking of the string, and it doesnt play right. is ther anyway to fix it w/o going to the store?

I used to change mine about every month but now the sound is 'processed' through my work station, it always sounds the same regardless of string condition, so I 'play em till they break' now (saves me a packet)!

Of cause, that wouldn't be advisable if you're gigging!

EMB- maybe the groove in your nut is too shallow. i had that probelm with my older guitar. if thats the case, you can do two things...one- take off the string and layer a tiny amount of super glue in the groove to add height, use a tooth pick to do this. you only want a small amount! let the glue dry then restring you guitar. Or, you can just buy a new nut all together, which would be more ideal. a good nut should be no more than 20 dollars. there are a few nut materials to choose from. graphite is probably the cheapest...but i wouldnt recommed them. go for either ebony or ivory. an ivory nut may be more expensive because they are rare because people started replacing ivory with graphite...i would recommend an ebony nut, but if you want to spend a little more get ivory.

Wow, I change my strings every 6 months or so. I used to change them more frequently. I have never had a string break from normal use even with the floyd rose. About the g string vibration (sounds dirty) It would most likely be the nut.

wow.....this is too funny....i had the same exact issue not long ago
on my les paul. pretty dam close to the same frets too.
(ac/dc's for those about to rock intro) i couldn't figure out for
the life of me what was up. a couple days later i happend to retune
and it didn't make that noise anymore. i still had no clue what happened
until comming across this thread. blackholesun's explanation makes
perfect sense...

i think that image can also help explain why intonation is so important.

the nut is the white plastic thing where the headstock joins the neck that the strings are held in, and yeah you can replace it easily

ahh, gs id prob just buy one, thnx 4 the info

woh w8 a sec....i got the same shaking/really fast kinda trembolo on the g string even when i fret it. sorry to bother u guys with these questions. btw the shaking is slight and its bearly noticable, but i fear it may get worse and want to take care of it now.

check ur bridge and tremolo system... when mine did that one of my saddles was loose... do you have a stoptail bridge or trem or wrap around bridge?? If case stop or trem the saddle either overly tight or way loose .... if wrap around the grooves may be poorly cut..

the bridge is the part bolted to the guitar the saddle is the part that has a groove or notch the string sits in....some times they're one peice which is a wrap around usualy

can you post a pic of ur bridge for me???

and the pick ups may be the problem but i can't really see how unless the coil has been partially unwound...?

uhh.....u lost me at saddles, wtf is a:
saddles
stoptail bridge
trem
wrap around bridge
trem or saddle again

and yes pic is coming

crap it didn't post... shoot SHORTENED VERSION!!!
saddles: thing that hold the strings off the bridge it self
stoptail bridge: think LP or Sg style
trem: Tremolo system AKA whammy bar
wrap around bridge: (see pic) string go in on hte pick-ups side go through the bridge then WRAP AROUND -hence the name

sorry i made so many typo's yes i speak english


http://www.edroman.com/techarticles/images/PRS_wraparound.jpg
sorry had up loading troulbe and I'm lazy...

EMB, not trying to be a dick or anything, but you really need to learn all the parts of the instrument. It'll help you understand what people are talking about in forums like these.

The parts are: Bridge, saddles, pickups, body, neck, fretboard, frets, headstock, nut, machineheads (tuners), tuning pegs, strap button, etc. Just memorize them all.

i know... wtf do they mean is my prob.i fixed the prob btw. the nut was loose/broken

Wait, EMB: you're new to guitar aren't you? In which case... Skold, don't be so harsh, he'll pick it up by asking questions like this.

What's the saddle? I'm thinking where the Bridge sits, I've never heard that name used with a guitar part before so don't kills me *Hides*

didnt seem like to me that skold was being harsh. just pointing out that he should try to learn the part names.

the saddle is the part of the bridge where the string actually contacts the bridge. it is kinda like the counter part to the nut. and you adjust the saddles to adjust inotation. prob not the best explanation

ah, so it's the bit with the springs on, on an electric?

yeap depending on which type of bridge you have you should have a screw for each saddle to adjust its position.

yep :) Thanks for clearing that up mate.