Ableton Forum

Does anybody play a tele plugged into Live. Mine buzzs so loud I cannot use it. Anything I can do????

Your guitar probably needs a complete setup. Take it to your local music store and have the tech make the necessary adjustments.

or it could be interference from speakers, other electronics in your room. what kind of buzz?

I know all teles buzz a little, due to single coil pick ups, but mine is worse with effects like distortion. Any tele players out there?

How is your guitar connected to your computer? Through a separate USB interface, through the sound card, through an outboard preamp, or some other way?

I'm asking because if what you're describing is magnetically induced hum, then it can potentially be reduced in a number of ways, including an appropriately impedance-matched preamp mounted as close to the guitar as possible.

Another couple of things,,
What kind of computer monitor??
Is the buzzing being recorded??
What kind of lighting are you sitting near??
What happens if you move the guitar cable???
Does the buzzing stop when you turn the distortion pedal off??
Does it happen on both pickups??
Do any of the pots or pick up selector make sound through live when you move them???
What color T-Shirt are you wearing???

it's connected to a little pre-amp going to a digi 002, and a imac 2 gb. I have other guitars(strat and les paul) that don't buzz. When I touch the volume knob it stops but not completely. It buzzzs sometimes when plugged into my guitar amp but not too bad. The tele isn't that old so I don't think anything is wrong with it. I really like playing it, it's a shame I can't record with it.

If you have a CRT screen on your imac it would cause the buzz, but then it would on any single coil (like your strrat). If it hums more than your strat take it in for repair.

Hi Bubbd202

I play a tele and never have this kind of problem. If the buzz goes away when you touch the bridge or volume (is the volume knob metal?), then to me indicates there are some earthing issues.

You might want to lift the scratch plate up and check all metal componets are earthed to the shield of the input jack.

Lj

bubbd202 wrote:it's connected to a little pre-amp going to a digi 002, and a imac 2 gb. I have other guitars(strat and les paul) that don't buzz. When I touch the volume knob it stops but not completely. It buzzzs sometimes when plugged into my guitar amp but not too bad. The tele isn't that old so I don't think anything is wrong with it. I really like playing it, it's a shame I can't record with it.

Thanks for all the responses. I"ll keep working on it

Look into shielding it. I have a similar issue with my strat.

Live-Life wrote:. If the buzz goes away when you touch the bridge or volume (is the volume knob metal?), then to me indicates there are some earthing issues.

You might want to lift the scratch plate up and check all metal componets are earthed to the shield of the input jack.

Lj

That would be my first guess,,,
If your not confident with what to do once under the hood,, take it in to the place you bought it and have them take look at all the soldering joints,,

Shielding and checking soldering is good advice, as is cleaning and dedusting etc.

My Yamaha Pacificas all have a little buzz on pickup position 2 and 4 *single coil* but are OK (minimal noise) on 1 and 3 *single coil* but definitely position 5, the bridge humbucker is the quietest pickup.

They pick up interference more on the single coil pickups too, for instance if my laptop screen is moved closer to the guitar, buzzing occurs on the single coil pickups.

bubbd202 wrote:I know all teles buzz a little, due to single coil pick ups, but mine is worse with effects like distortion. Any tele players out there?

In my experience, if something buzzes adding an effect to it will generally increase, no highlight that buzz.
Especially if whatever distortion youre using has a gain boost. Youre basically making the signal louder, so the buzz follows suit.
You might already know this and your problem is more complex than my suggestion, but I thought Id offer it up anyhow..... Buy a humbucker! ^_^

You could buy the Seymore-Duncan tele pickups that are reverse wound reverse magnets so that when you have both pickups on they act to cancel the hum. I used to own a 'Lite Ash Tele' which had these pups and I found them very effective. (but there was still some hum when I used the pups on their own).

But from your description it sounds like an earthing problem