rainbowreality Posted November 3, 2013 Share Posted November 3, 2013 (edited) Hi all, I've recently bought a zoom be and it's great apart from one thing, it's pretty noisy. At first I thought maybe the guitar needed more shielding as when I touched the strings the buzzing stopped to a large degree but it seems it may be the power supply as when I use usb power the buzzing stops. I can even power from the plug and as long as I have the usb also connected up to my PC there's no buzzing. Also if I put in a shorted Jack in the input and have a normal plug power without usb it's ok. The buzzing also stops if I hold parts of the case too. I've tried a couple of basses at a couple of different places and same result. Has anyone else had this happen and is it a faulty power supply? Any advice appreciated as it's driving me bonkers! Edited November 3, 2013 by rainbowreality Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dannybuoy Posted November 3, 2013 Share Posted November 3, 2013 I've had a B2 and B3, and both buzzed when being used in a daisy chain shared with other pedals, but fine when on their own isolated power supply. If yours is noisy with the bundled power supply and it's not daisy chained to other pedals then perhaps something is up, do you have another 9v supply you can try? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ratman Posted November 3, 2013 Share Posted November 3, 2013 I've had no problems with my B3 and it's daisy chain. I'd try another psu. If in doubt get the B3 replaced, it could be faulty. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lefrash Posted November 3, 2013 Share Posted November 3, 2013 that exact thing happens with my b9.1ut. its ok at gigs. but very noticeable at home practice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rainbowreality Posted November 3, 2013 Author Share Posted November 3, 2013 Thanks for the replies! It's not being daisy chained and I'm using it's own psu that came with it. Unfortunately I don't have another psu to try to eliminate that but I'm thinking whether to buy one as a back up, the original seems like kinda of flimsy, can anyone recommend a decent one? I bought My B3 from guitarbitz which seems a decent company but they don't have any more in stock so it would probably be have to be sent off for repair if it is faulty. Which is a bummer as I really like it otherwise! One thing I've thought of, each time I use it, it's been on a strip socket multi plug type thing. Could that possibly affect it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lefrash Posted November 3, 2013 Share Posted November 3, 2013 (edited) I could be wrong but I think the thing you're describing wont have anything to do with the PSU. I did for a wee while use a different PSU from a TV (as I had left the original PSU at a gig) and the noise from it was very noticeable, but it wasnt linked to the grounding hum. I got a decent one from Maplin and it eliminated the additional hum, but hasnt stopped the grounding buzz. Edited November 3, 2013 by lefrash Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rainbowreality Posted November 3, 2013 Author Share Posted November 3, 2013 (edited) Do you mean a grounding issue with the B3 as opposed to grounding on the guitar? Edited November 3, 2013 by rainbowreality Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lefrash Posted November 3, 2013 Share Posted November 3, 2013 On the effects unit. Exactly as you described on the opening post. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rainbowreality Posted November 3, 2013 Author Share Posted November 3, 2013 Oh ok, so do you reckon the unit is faulty then? Sorry for all the questions! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bartelby Posted November 3, 2013 Share Posted November 3, 2013 I was noodling about the other evening and my B3 was barely useable due to buzzes and hums. I then noticed the lamp, next to me, was still plugged into a timer switch. I unplugged the timer switch and the B3 was noiseless once again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Japhet Posted November 3, 2013 Share Posted November 3, 2013 I have a B3 which is fine at home and when I occasionally use it at gigs, but it buzzes badly at rehearsals. Can only put it down to an issue with the 240v supply there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rainbowreality Posted November 5, 2013 Author Share Posted November 5, 2013 I emailed the zoom people with regard to this and I got a response from the engineer The low volume buzzing he describes is almost certainly due to Zoom's use of a switch mode type power supply and his monitoring the output via a headphone. This type of supply is not grounded as is evident by the use of a solid plastic earth terminal on it's supply connector. Also to conform with electrical approval and CE compliance the output negative connection is normally decoupled to the supply neutral, albeit with a very small value high voltage capacitor, which promotes a condition know as standard mode rejection. All switch mode unearthed class 2 supplies do this and the solution to the buzz is to have a ground connected to the B3 via an output screen connection. This is what would happen normally when it is connected to an amplifier via a guitar lead. The USB connection to a PC would do much the same as it connects the B3 audio earth to the low impedance ground plain of the computer's. All manufacturers are now using switch mode supplies for DC regulated supplies as the price of copper for traditional transformer based adapters is at a premium. This is unlikely to change in the foreseeable future. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Musky Posted November 5, 2013 Share Posted November 5, 2013 That rather suggests the amp isn't earthed properly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rainbowreality Posted November 5, 2013 Author Share Posted November 5, 2013 It does, yes. Nice they answered quickly and actually gave a decent explanation rather than a dumbed down fobbing off some companies try! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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