Behringer 204HD help

Gear & Tools Talk šŸŽš Other Gear & Accessories
21

I may have asked this (and had this answered) before: does it still hum if the guitar cable is unplugged from the amp?

If it does, it points to some sort of ground loop or a noisy USB interface (Iā€™ve come across these before, especially on laptops). On a lot of computers, the USB sockets are not well grounded and they pick up, and transmit, digital noise. I have this on my laptop when the power supply is connected (if I disconnect the power supply, it goes away).

There are USB isolators available ranging from about Ā£8 upwards, with varying reviews. In theory, these devices may help in some cases and it may be worth trying one of the cheaper ones to see if they help. Iā€™ve never tried any myself, so I canā€™t say if they work or not.

Cheers,

Keith

22

It does. The only time it doesnā€™t hum if is when the amp is off which obviously is not much use!

Itā€™s worth a try.

23

Something like this might do the trick:

Youā€™ll need an extra cable.

Again, Iā€™ve not used one, so itā€™s a bit suck-it-and-see.

Cheers,

Keith

24

Thanks. Is this positioned before the AI, so Guitar > Boss DS-1 > amp > SubZero>204HD? Canā€™t quite work this out!

25

Yes, between the guitar amp output and AI input. Basically to provide isolation between the two.

Cheers,

Keith

26

@Majik So I bought one of the Hum Destroyer but it has not helped, in fact it has made it worse. I now have hum even when the amp is off!!

Iā€™m guessing that something is not right and will be having a word word with Gear4music!

The cable from the amp that went into the AI I put in the ā€˜inputā€™ on the hum destroyer, with a cable in the ā€˜outputā€™ to the AI.

27

Sorry to hear that, and sorry for suggesting it if it doesnā€™t work.

If you can, send it back and get a refund.

Cheers,

Keith

28

Not a problem and worth a try, although a bit frustrating, and taken the shine of home recording a bit to be honest.

Iā€™ve sent them an email about the problem. Letā€™s see what they say before I send it back.

1 Like
29

So Iā€™ve sent an email to Gear4music and received this standard response. Bottom line they couldnā€™t help and have been trying to send the unit back. They have refunded the money but donā€™t seem that bothered in have the item back!!

Anyway this still leaves me with an AI that hums, which even I can hear and moderate volumes!

I have been doing some testing to find out what may be causing this and have determined:

  1. The hum only happens when the amp is on.
  2. Itā€™s not the amp power supply as far as I can tell as I have tested with the power coming from a completely different socket.
  3. If I remove the cable from the ā€˜recording outā€™ socket on the amp the hum disappears. I know that this is obvious but wanted to check! The hum comes back if I touch jack of the cable. I have tested with different cables but makes no difference.
  4. The hum disappears if I set the 204 to ā€˜lineā€™ not ā€˜instā€™ but that means I canā€™t hear the guitar in my headphones.

At this point Iā€™ve no idea what is causing the issue and donā€™t know what to test further.

As an aside I have noticed that the 204 clips even with the gain really low. Volume on the amp is about 2.5 and about half way on the guitar.

30

Iā€™m not super experienced with this stuff, but Iā€™m sure that someone will correct me if Iā€™m wrong here. If you are going from the amp to the interface, wouldnā€™t ā€œlineā€ be the correct setting instead of ā€œinstā€ since it would be amplified at that point by the amp?

Not quite sure why that would stop you from hearing the guitar in your headphones though. Are your headphones plugged into the front monitor jack on the 204?

31

Yes, I agree.

So I did a test. I dug out my UMC204HD and connected it to the line output of my Bugera G5:

image
image1920Ɨ1145 302 KB

And, of course, to my laptop. In this case, running Ardour.

image
image1920Ɨ1079 213 KB

With the input set to LINE, I could hear it on my headphones and record into Ardour with good levels and no obvious hum (the waveform on the screen is the recording I made).

This is how I have the controls set on the UMC204HD (excuse the dust, butā€™s it been a while since I used it):

image
image1920Ɨ1080 296 KB

For clarity:

  • Iā€™m using input 1
  • I used a mono TS cable between the amp Line out and the input (standard guitar cable)
  • The LINE/INST button is OUT (for LINE)
  • The PAD button is OUT (for pad off)
  • When I play the guitar, the green signal LED goes on
  • I turned up the ā€œGain 1ā€ control until the red clipping LED went on when I strummed hard and then backed it off until it stayed off.
  • The Gain 1 control ended up at around 11 Oā€™clock for me, for you it may be different, but setting it to 12 Oā€™Clock should probably work OK, and then adjust from there
  • The Stereo/Mono button is IN (for MONO)
  • The MIX is at 12 Oā€™Clock (but adjust to taste)
  • The MONITOR A/B is set to out (for A)
  • The PHONES level is set to around 10 Oā€™Clock for me, but adjust to your own requirements

I hope that helps.

Cheers,

Keith

32

@Stuartw any help?

Cheers,

Keith

33

Apologies for the lack of response. Life and work got in the way. :slight_smile:

Many thanks to both @Majik and @deiussum for your help which helped greatly and all is working well with no ongoing hum.

@Majik Had to adjust the gain and headphones levels done a bit but think that I have it about right now.

1 Like
34

I know that feeling. I was away for a couple of weeks and missed your previous response.

I was mainly concerned that you hadnā€™t seen my message as I actually responded to @deiussum and I wasnā€™t sure if you would get an alert.

Great to hear you have it all working though. Thanks for the update.

Cheers,

Keith

35

No problem. Ironically Gear4 Music still havenā€™t asked for the SubZero back!

1 Like
36

Glad to hear you got it working!

1 Like