Renegade Hum Issue

[TrueBlueDrew]

I've been wanting an Egnater Renegade for a long while now, and I finally just got a head and a Tourmaster 212 cab at a great price. I turned it on yesterday to play it for the first time, and it sounded great! The tones are awesome, except for one issue...

When I play, the amp is quiet. If I stop playing and leave my hands covering the strings, it's still quiet. But, as soon as I take my hands of the strings, it has a loud hum/hiss. It shows up on both channels, at any setting. Thought it could be the input on my guitar, so I switched to a different one--same issue. Thought it could be a bad cord, so I tried 3 different ones--same issue. When I turn the volume on my guitar down, it's gone. And the really strange thing is when I slightly touch the cord, like by the guitar input or by the amp input, it also goes away. Seems like the cord would be the problem, but I have a hard time believing that every one of my cords are bad...

And after playing for maybe 5-10 minutes, it even started to hiss at me while I was playing. It would cut the hum on an off too, almost like a tremolo effect (if that makes any sense...) So, does anyone have a clue as to what I'm dealing with here and if it can be fixed? You'll have to excuse me, I'm no techie. So, hopefully it's nothing too serious... I appreciate any help or advice.

 

[BadBluesPlayer]

Sounds like there's two things going on.

Just guessing, but since the first hum/hiss occurs with any guitar, then it's probably not the amp. It's some kind of electrical interference that's being picked up by your guitars and/or cords, and then that interference is being sent to the amp. Check to make sure there are not any flourescent dimmer switches in your place that are on.

As far as the hiss that starts after five to 10 minutes of playing, that's probably something else that's happening after the amp warms up. That would be more difficult to figure out. It could be a tube or some kind of electronic component.

The Egnater guys will see this post and will help you out, too. They can help you try to diagnose the problem so you can figure out what to do. Give 'em a couple of days to get on here and respond. You can also contact support here:
http://www.egnateramps.com/Support.html

Hope this helps.

 

[Len Rabinowitz]

I agree. This sounds like grounding or some electrical issue- Might not be the amp. Try plugging it it into a different wall socket. See what else is on while you play- lights, computers (monitors and iPhones can play havoc)- and try shutting some of that off.

 

[Ian Egnater]

If this issue is persisting, you can e-mail nate@egnateramps, or hans@egnateramps.com and they will be able to help you trouble shoot more in depth. The first thing to try though, would be to unplug everything from the input(chord and guitar) and see if you are still getting these noises. Another thing to check, is try plugging the amp into a different outlet(in a different building if possible), just to rule out grounding issues in the wall plug. Another final thing that people never realize, is that any dimmers in your house that are not on or off all the way can cause noise in the outlets of your house.

 

[bbaug14]

If this issue is persisting, you can e-mail nate@egnateramps, or hans@egnateramps.com and they will be able to help you trouble shoot more in depth. The first thing to try though, would be to unplug everything from the input(chord and guitar) and see if you are still getting these noises. Another thing to check, is try plugging the amp into a different outlet(in a different building if possible), just to rule out grounding issues in the wall plug. Another final thing that people never realize, is that any dimmers in your house that are not on or off all the way can cause noise in the outlets of your house.

The dimmers are a great piece of advice. Even if you have them on all the way, you'll still get noise. They have to be completely OFF. Also, I'd suggest just plugging into a room that doesn't have dimmers at all. I had issues with my amps in my house because it had dimmers and you can never know for sure how electrical was run in old homes.