Marshall MG30CFX annoying whistle/bell/ring sound behind strums

A

avenger

Member
I am getting these annoying whistles while strumming my guitar atll the time.

Before you watch the vid below, for some who provided feedback at marshall forums, they can't listen the strange "background whistle" in the vids. So seems it is not audible by everyone, or maybe you need a good headset to listen to it, but I swear it is legit. I have recorded the same whistle that annoys me, and I could hear it in the recorded video and also in the uploaded video on youtube.


It is pretty annoying. The only way I found to get rid of it was to completely muffle the tone knobs of the guitar. If I switch it to mid+neck pickups, halfway in the tone knob of the Squier Strat Affinity (vintage-ish pickups), I get best results (get treble and least whistle).

Any hint about that? Could that be some high-ends leakage in the amp?

That amp has at least some weak solder points, as the FX knob only activates the octave (last) effects when the amp is warmed up for some two hours of playing. After I let it cool down and played for another hour+, I couldn't warm it up again enough to fix the knob once again. But it will eventually work on high temperatures; the weak solder is not in the knob (touching and pushing it around does not help making the effect kick in -- nor kick out when it is warmed up).
 
avenger said:
I am getting these annoying whistles while strumming my guitar atll the time.

Before you watch the vid below, for some who provided feedback at marshall forums, they can't listen the strange "background whistle" in the vids. So seems it is not audible by everyone, or maybe you need a good headset to listen to it, but I swear it is legit. I have recorded the same whistle that annoys me, and I could hear it in the recorded video and also in the uploaded video on youtube.


It is pretty annoying. The only way I found to get rid of it was to completely muffle the tone knobs of the guitar. If I switch it to mid+neck pickups, halfway in the tone knob of the Squier Strat Affinity (vintage-ish pickups), I get best results (get treble and least whistle).

Any hint about that? Could that be some high-ends leakage in the amp?

That amp has at least some weak solder points, as the FX knob only activates the octave (last) effects when the amp is warmed up for some two hours of playing. After I let it cool down and played for another hour+, I couldn't warm it up again enough to fix the knob once again. But it will eventually work on high temperatures; the weak solder is not in the knob (touching and pushing it around does not help making the effect kick in -- nor kick out when it is warmed up).
Click to expand...

1. What you are hearing is feedback and it is normal.
The guitar needs to be 10 feet away from the amplifier. The guitar cannot be in front of the speaker, or it will feed back.
The feedback increases when the bass control is increased - this is normal.

2. When the electric guitar is played:
the strings need to be muted if you are not playing.
If you sit the guitar in front of the speaker, turn up the volume- feedback is normal.
This happens on all electric guitars.

3. The springs inside the Stratocaster: take the rear plastic plate off the guitar. You will see the springs.
The springs will cause resonance and low frequency ringing.
A piece of cloth can be used to deaden the springs inside the guitar body. Wrap a piece of cloth around the springs to stop the springs from vibrating.

4. If there is bad solder connections inside the amplifier,
OR if the effects control is worn out or dirty, it will cause problems.
You need to get the amplifier repaired.

Learning electric guitar needs some practice. It is not like a acoustic guitar.

Watch the video and learn about the low frequency ringing of the tremolo springs:


 
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Oh I know those spring, this could be them. At least in part. My other guitar does not employ springs (the pickups' rods are pulled up/down, not the whole pickup in fenders). The other guitar also got everything at front and the tremolo is a single, very short spring. I have a vid on my Jennifer Magnos but I never shot it open. I did open it some ~18 years ago, not long after I got it, because it had some issues with the tremolo handle and lots of things vibrating on it like the spring nuisance you shown. Tamed'em all and played with it ever since, doing some external patches here and there (rubber patches, the string tone adjusters do like to vibe (as like, vibrate, that is!).

Amp Mad Scientist said:
1. What you are hearing is feedback and it is normal.
The guitar needs to be 10 feet away from the amplifier. The guitar cannot be in front of the speaker, or it will feed back.
The feedback increases when the bass control is increased - this is normal.
Click to expand...

You mean with feedback the constant sound it emits to the speakers, right? That's fine to me. I am pretty sure (which means, I could very well be wrong!) the ring is at the highs, and very high at it). I will try to put that video under a decent software eq to see if I can reduce the problem to a frequency range.

Amp Mad Scientist said:
2. When the electric guitar is played:
the strings need to be muted if you are not playing.
If you sit the guitar in front of the speaker, turn up the volume- feedback is normal.
This happens on all electric guitars.
Click to expand...

Mute as, reduce the volume, just to cut its feedback, right? The constant "hum". I think I have this tamed to my ears content. I probably failed miserably to focus on the nasty whistle/ring, and confused you regarding that. o_O

Amp Mad Scientist said:
3. The springs inside the Stratocaster: take the rear plastic plate off the guitar. You will see the springs.
The springs will cause resonance and low frequency ringing.
A piece of cloth can be used to deaden the springs inside the guitar body. Wrap a piece of cloth around the springs to stop the springs from vibrating.
Click to expand...

This suggests I may really be barking at the wrong tree here. So... Should I hear that same ringing if I strum hard the guitar while unplugged? Because I don't. It's nothing I can hear from the guitar's own sound. I got an (unknown) strat 70s by Jennifer Magnos luthiery and it does not employ those strings. And any annoying ring I used to hear while strumming the unplugged guitar are "tamed". But that Jennifer Magnos has "fatty" pickups (more lows than the Affinity), and rings a little less. So... Should that support the fact that the ring is in the highs? I really need to put that sound into an eq.

Yesterday I have experimented playing with the tone knobs fully off (at position 1) and it was pretty enjoyable, with no chimes. This would eliminate the springs' issue, right? I have experimented with that, in the vid I took above. It is just much worse than having the clean bright highs (other than the whistle). Yet, marshall does so good a job it still sounds better than my bee box! lol

Amp Mad Scientist said:
4. If there is bad solder connections inside the amplifier,
OR if the effects control is worn out or dirty, it will cause problems.
You need to get the amplifier repaired.
Click to expand...

The amp definitively has bad solder connections. The octave FX only works when the amp warms up... about 2 hours of playing on average volume, ~28C (~82F) ambient temperature.

When the amp heated up, the chime behavior didn't change. I would expect some kind of "feedback" about that (as like, change in the intensity, etc) as the temperature changed. So, this fact may suggest I should try something else first. In fact, in my bee box, it simply filters out this chime but, depending on the FX I apply through my Zoom 505-II effects pedal, I can catch the chime -- even in the other amp! I think it does not chime without effects simply because it is not capable of reproducing the frequencies, be they high or low. So this suggests the issue may be with the guitar.

And on that topic... it may be, given I isolate the annoying frequencies without compromising overall sound, I could make a hi-pass or low-pass little circuit to filter them out in or between the FX pedal. Unfortunately my pedal offers a not-so-versatile equalizer and I couldn't get an eq preset that eliminates only and only that chime, so...

Amp Mad Scientist said:
Learning electric guitar needs some practice. It is not like a acoustic guitar.

Watch the video and learn about the low frequency ringing of the tremolo springs:


Click to expand...

I hear ya! I got one for ~18 years and only play casually for a few chords. Always been on a brandless bee box. The thing is loud and it's eq is very wild (allow lotsa bass and lotsa treble. In one side it is good, I got control over it. On the other way around, you always find yourself clipping in lows, mids, and highs. :) It's a wild beast. Only now I decided I couldn't die without living a bit of the "marshall tone" I always see in stages! :)
So I couldn't agree more I have a lot to learn here, and I am happy there are people like you around willing to help that! (y)

Thanks a lot for the vids and suggestions, I may really be barking at the wrong tree here and I will isolate the frequency that rings comes from. Maybe I do another vid with the full sound and then the chime isolated.

I will watch your vids on the guitar muting tricks, thanks! I just need to break up in the reply for now as I'm getting late. :) Thanks for the warm welcome!
 
avenger said:
I am getting these annoying whistles while strumming my guitar atll the time.

Before you watch the vid below, for some who provided feedback at marshall forums, they can't listen the strange "background whistle" in the vids. So seems it is not audible by everyone, or maybe you need a good headset to listen to it, but I swear it is legit. I have recorded the same whistle that annoys me, and I could hear it in the recorded video and also in the uploaded video on youtube.


It is pretty annoying. The only way I found to get rid of it was to completely muffle the tone knobs of the guitar. If I switch it to mid+neck pickups, halfway in the tone knob of the Squier Strat Affinity (vintage-ish pickups), I get best results (get treble and least whistle).

Any hint about that? Could that be some high-ends leakage in the amp?

That amp has at least some weak solder points, as the FX knob only activates the octave (last) effects when the amp is warmed up for some two hours of playing. After I let it cool down and played for another hour+, I couldn't warm it up again enough to fix the knob once again. But it will eventually work on high temperatures; the weak solder is not in the knob (touching and pushing it around does not help making the effect kick in -- nor kick out when it is warmed up).
Click to expand...

Watch the video about guitar shielding of single coil pickups:

 
eSGEe said:
also the combo of neck and middle --- or middle and bridge pickups on your Squire SHOULD be "hum canceling" to a point -- try using 2 pickups not just the neck that may bring some hum down as well. ;)
Click to expand...

For hum canceling, one PU needs to be reversed in phase, and the 2 pickups need to be wired in series.
In other words, reverse the 2 wires of the fist pickup to make it the opposite phase of the second PU.
 
I used the heat shrink approach and ended up creating a whole new plink noise.
It was somewhat hard & stiff shrinkwrap, and when the springs would extend, they'd plink on retracting when the coils passed the shrinkwrap.
So I cut the shrinkwrap off & stuffed the insides of the springs with a bent strip of weatherstripping foam.
Worked like a charm, but the downside is it squelches the natural acoustic (reverb) of the strat type guitar.


If this doesn't make sense, I'm referring to the trem springs in the back of the guitar...
 
Last edited:
eSGEe said:
Actually TMK-- most modern Squire strats have the middle pickup reverse polarity fromthe factory (if a 5 way switch is employed) but also reverse phase, so hum cancels but sound is in phase. Same as the two coils on a humbucker.
Click to expand...

There are a lot of Strat-sized, hum canceling pickups out there. GFS has the most economically priced ones. Its a worthwhile investment to eliminate the buzz that is inherent to a Stratocaster single coil...

Do you play blues, jazz or rock/metal????
 
avenger said:
Oh I know those spring, this could be them. At least in part. My other guitar does not employ springs (the pickups' rods are pulled up/down, not the whole pickup in fenders). The other guitar also got everything at front and the tremolo is a single, very short spring. I have a vid on my Jennifer Magnos but I never shot it open. I did open it some ~18 years ago, not long after I got it, because it had some issues with the tremolo handle and lots of things vibrating on it like the spring nuisance you shown. Tamed'em all and played with it ever since, doing some external patches here and there (rubber patches, the string tone adjusters do like to vibe (as like, vibrate, that is!).



You mean with feedback the constant sound it emits to the speakers, right? That's fine to me. I am pretty sure (which means, I could very well be wrong!) the ring is at the highs, and very high at it). I will try to put that video under a decent software eq to see if I can reduce the problem to a frequency range.



Mute as, reduce the volume, just to cut its feedback, right? The constant "hum". I think I have this tamed to my ears content. I probably failed miserably to focus on the nasty whistle/ring, and confused you regarding that. o_O



This suggests I may really be barking at the wrong tree here. So... Should I hear that same ringing if I strum hard the guitar while unplugged? Because I don't. It's nothing I can hear from the guitar's own sound. I got an (unknown) strat 70s by Jennifer Magnos luthiery and it does not employ those strings. And any annoying ring I used to hear while strumming the unplugged guitar are "tamed". But that Jennifer Magnos has "fatty" pickups (more lows than the Affinity), and rings a little less. So... Should that support the fact that the ring is in the highs? I really need to put that sound into an eq.

Yesterday I have experimented playing with the tone knobs fully off (at position 1) and it was pretty enjoyable, with no chimes. This would eliminate the springs' issue, right? I have experimented with that, in the vid I took above. It is just much worse than having the clean bright highs (other than the whistle). Yet, marshall does so good a job it still sounds better than my bee box! lol



The amp definitively has bad solder connections. The octave FX only works when the amp warms up... about 2 hours of playing on average volume, ~28C (~82F) ambient temperature.

When the amp heated up, the chime behavior didn't change. I would expect some kind of "feedback" about that (as like, change in the intensity, etc) as the temperature changed. So, this fact may suggest I should try something else first. In fact, in my bee box, it simply filters out this chime but, depending on the FX I apply through my Zoom 505-II effects pedal, I can catch the chime -- even in the other amp! I think it does not chime without effects simply because it is not capable of reproducing the frequencies, be they high or low. So this suggests the issue may be with the guitar.

And on that topic... it may be, given I isolate the annoying frequencies without compromising overall sound, I could make a hi-pass or low-pass little circuit to filter them out in or between the FX pedal. Unfortunately my pedal offers a not-so-versatile equalizer and I couldn't get an eq preset that eliminates only and only that chime, so...



I hear ya! I got one for ~18 years and only play casually for a few chords. Always been on a brandless bee box. The thing is loud and it's eq is very wild (allow lotsa bass and lotsa treble. In one side it is good, I got control over it. On the other way around, you always find yourself clipping in lows, mids, and highs. :) It's a wild beast. Only now I decided I couldn't die without living a bit of the "marshall tone" I always see in stages! :)
So I couldn't agree more I have a lot to learn here, and I am happy there are people like you around willing to help that! (y)

Thanks a lot for the vids and suggestions, I may really be barking at the wrong tree here and I will isolate the frequency that rings comes from. Maybe I do another vid with the full sound and then the chime isolated.

I will watch your vids on the guitar muting tricks, thanks! I just need to break up in the reply for now as I'm getting late. :) Thanks for the warm welcome!
Click to expand...

I really wasn't sure if you were talking about:

A. Low frequency acoustic feedback
B. Resonance of springs inside the guitar adding noises...
C. Buzzing of single coil pick ups.

Therefore I posted solutions for all 3 problems.
And, these are pretty common complaints (all 3 are) that I hear from players.
 
Robert Herndon said:
There are a lot of Strat-sized, hum canceling pickups out there. GFS has the most economically priced ones. Its a worthwhile investment to eliminate the buzz that is inherent to a Stratocaster single coil...

Do you play blues, jazz or rock/metal????
Click to expand...
depends on my mood ------which guitar Im playing and which amp I am using ......the day of the week......the current humidty level--- which dog is snoozing by the amp --- and a few other "variables" ;)

or if its Thursday only play Reggae on Thursday -------

;)
 
Sorry guys, I failed miserably in showing the issue I am having it seems. I got quite a busy weekend and I will try to find some time to edit a bit of the initial video in a good vid editor and "equalize out" to leave just the annoying whistle. I am kind of inclined to believe the weak solders in the amp may be intensifying that annoying whistle. Unfortunately getting the amp warm didn't change the behavior of the whistle; this weighs against being weak solder joints (but does not rule them out!).

My second suspicion (which is still a "little" unbelievable) is just that the amp is letting go (by design) some high frequencies people usually don't perceive and I am crazy enough to have a superhuman kind of eardrums to catch those up. See? Quite unbelievable sort of thing. That's crazy, I don't even know why I'm suspecting this, ok? :)

I must rule out these:
- Hum/feedback: the beebox can get plenty of that, and I am kind of waiting the guitar warranty to be gone before I rip it open to shield. My old jennifer has a lot less hum. Both my guitars are single coil, noise pickup-driven. I can change this kind of noise by taking the amp far/close to the amp, by just turning around 90 degrees or so (power lines induction is pretty strong and I'm at the 4th floor, just close to one), and some neighbor taking a bath in electric heated shower, or using the microwave.
- Springs: I would hear them by strumming the guitar hard while unplugged, this Squier is dead silent in that regard (that's what I concluded from the the vid on the les pauls' provided first)

I am pretty inclined to say the annoying whistle lies in highs. But I might just get surprised with how "low" that is. So I must submit the recorded audio to an equalizer.
 
Hackmaster said:
I used the heat shrink approach and ended up creating a whole new plink noise.
It was somewhat hard & stiff shrinkwrap, and when the springs would extend, they'd plink on retracting when the coils passed the shrinkwrap.
So I cut the shrinkwrap off & stuffed the insides of the springs with a bent strip of weatherstripping foam.
Worked like a charm, but the downside is it squelches the natural acoustic (reverb) of the strat type guitar.


If this doesn't make sense, I'm referring to the trem springs in the back of the guitar...
Click to expand...

This answers why I could get some nice reverb with the guitar when cranked up. So if that's those springs I could say I sort of like their feedback :)
 
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