FM9 Send / Return Hum

[Stone]

Howdy all, so plugged in my ToneX One to my FM9 and low and behold ground Loop Hum
Does this happen all the time to users who use the in/out on their Fractal devices ? And is the only solution an expensive Humbuster cable? Or is there another less costly solution?

Cheers all
Mike

 

[James Freeman]

Are you using high gain presets on the tonex?

Unlike the Instrument input of the FM9 which has the secret sauce topology that is designed to have extremely low noise floor, the loop I/O do not. So any gain pedal in the loop will amplify the loop self noise.

 

[iaresee]

I have a VP4 in my FM9 loop. Dead silent. Have an M5 in my FM3 loop; also dead silent.

You can make a humbuster cable. You don’t necessarily have to buy one.

 

[Stone]

Are you using high gain presets on the tonex?

Unlike the Instrument input of the FM9 which has the secret sauce topology that is designed to have extremely low noise floor, the loop I/O do not. So any gain pedal in the loop will amplify the loop self noise.

Not particularly high gain EVH 1 and 2

 

[James Freeman]

Can you listen to the tonex without the FM9 with headphones?
Use the same power supply.
Any noise in headphones?

 

[Jarick]

Try the tonex by itself, mine is really noisy I think because captures are noisy. I don’t find any more or less noise hooked up with my fm9 in the loop. You could also check to make sure usb cables aren’t plugged in as sometimes that causes noise.

 

[Stone]

No its not a noise floor issue, OFC any gain will produce some noise but this is a 60Hz Ground loop issue
Ill just order some cable and connecters and make a Humbuster cable
Thank you for the diagram @iaresee

 

[Stone]

Try the tonex by itself, mine is really noisy I think because captures are noisy. I don’t find any more or less noise hooked up with my fm9 in the loop. You could also check to make sure usb cables aren’t plugged in as sometimes that causes noise.

All my USB cables plugged in my PC have USB Isolator
Im Very anal about any kind of un-pure noise lol

 

[Mongillo19]

I'm surprised you are giving the Tone X a go Stone!

 

[Stone]

I'm surprised you are giving the Tone X a go Stone!

For one specific thing though, and it absolutely nails it and its just the amp and cab rest is all still Fractal

 

[FuzzyAce]

Hope you get it worked out Stone.

 

[Stone]

Hope you get it worked out Stone.

Yes

 

[Jarick]

How do you like the EVH captures? Personally it thought they all sounded awful like something was wrong with the unit.

 

[dean701]

The loop on the fm9 is noisy. This can be compounded by a noisy capture but I use the tonex gate. I resorted to plugging into the tonex and going out to the fm9 guitar input for post effects.

 

[Jarick]

The loop on the fm9 is noisy. This can be compounded by a noisy capture but I use the tonex gate. I resorted to plugging into the tonex and going out to the fm9 guitar input for post effects.

Are you sure? I found it noisy, then went straight to Tonex by itself and it was just as noisy. Also tried the Fender TMP which has an analog effects loop up front and that was also noisy. Then tried the Tonex plugin and that was noisy. The culprit seems to be the models themselves are often quite noisy compared to a lot of other models.

 

[dean701]

Are you sure? I found it noisy, then went straight to Tonex by itself and it was just as noisy. Also tried the Fender TMP which has an analog effects loop up front and that was also noisy. Then tried the Tonex plugin and that was noisy. The culprit seems to be the models themselves are often quite noisy compared to a lot of other models.

I use 3 tonex pedals in serial then into my fm9 with my own captures. Low noise.
Phaser, then drives and amps are tonex, fm9, handles post.

 

[marshall2553]

Are you sure? I found it noisy, then went straight to Tonex by itself and it was just as noisy. Also tried the Fender TMP which has an analog effects loop up front and that was also noisy. Then tried the Tonex plugin and that was noisy. The culprit seems to be the models themselves are often quite noisy compared to a lot of other models.

Yeah, I had the big ToneX pedal and thought it was pretty noisy on its own compared to FM9/QC/Stadium.

 

[DrewJD82]

I use the 3rd I/O jacks for all the 4CM stuff I’ve done with the FM9; w/ a 5153, the Plexi50, Shiva and Electra Dyne and it’s been quiet as a mouse with no noise gate at all. Hahaha I was even boosting the Red channel on the 5153 and it wasn’t noisy enough to require a gate, at gigging volume.

 

[iaresee]

Which I/O loop are you using. @DrewJD82 brings up a good point: for unity gain applications like a ToneX pedal you want loop 3.