Is guitar hiss normal or is there something wrong with my audio interface?

[SkyBlue]

After 3 years of using purely acoustic guitar I finally bought electro-acoustic one for last Christmas. It’s Enya Nova Go SP1, travel sized guitar. I love it so far as it’s so easy to grab and play and go anywhere with it. Finally I got time to play with it’s “electric” side and I got it connected to my laptop for some “electric guitar feel” and most importantly for effects/looping. I thought about buying electric guitar specifically and while it’s perfect for looping and effects I got turned off by it’s complexity and amount of amps, pedals and other stuff. So I got simple audio interface for connecting to DAW and playing with amp simulators and effects.

What surprised me is that there was audible hiss on some amps I tried, on some less on some more. It’s like constant sssssssssssss sound, I’d compare it to white noise in a way. Since I am, obviously, total noob in this field I’d like if someone with more experience can tell me if this is normal. Since I have audio interface (and guitar for that matter) still covered under warranty I am wondering if I should file for refund/replacement? I really have no clue if it’s normal or not. On some amps it’s present, on some not. On Blue Cat Audio free amp sim it’s quite bad, I tried Scuffham, and some other I forgot name it was less so, but depends on preset I was using. Of course, if I turn the volume knob on guitar down (I guess it’s input gain) the hiss is less loud. It bugs me when I want to play some ambiental slow note plucking it muddies my recording.

I believe on more expensive guitars and audio interfaces there is less of this problem, but this is just hobby for me and paying a lot is waste of money to me to just have some fun with looping recording. So is this a normal thing and I shall live with it or should I use my warranty?

Thanks for any input

[math07]

I ran a few tests for you, since most amp sims are designed for electric guitar. I thought maybe that’s where the issue might be. Thought, I was pleasantly surprised by the result.

I tried the ones I have from Neural DSP ( Tone King and Morgan ). I picked a fairly clean preset, added a bit of effects, and it actually sounded fine on my electro-acoustic guitar, fun to play with. I even tried some rock power chords with higher gain presets and it sounded fine. Not as good as an electric, but good enough to have some fun and experiment effects like you want.

Usually, if you hear hiss in your amp sim, it’s because the input gain on your audio interface is set too high.

For example, with Neural DSP amp sims, you should set the input gain knob on your audio interface to zero. Also, if you’re using something like a Focusrite, there’s an INST (Instrument) button that enables the Hi-Z input, which helps.

It feels odd at first, because we’re always told to raise the gain on the audio interface until the light turns green to ensure enough input level … but that doesn’t work well with most amp sims.

[simon_plays_bass]

It’s a while since I recorded my electro acoustic.

Hopefully one of the electronic whizzes will jump in on this one.

The pickup on mine is a piezo rather than a mic, or electro magnetic pickup. I seem to recall that I did have some hiss when I was setting up my rig for recording. I think I probably reduced the “presence” (I have bass, mid, treble and presence controls on the guitar’s onboard pre-amp). Note this “presence” is (I think) different to the one on a guitar amp which is something to do with the way the power amp treble frequencies are controlled. Anyway, it is probably worth trying reducing the treble frequencies (by whatever name they are known in your set-up) and seeing if that makes a difference.

I may have reduced the volume on the guitar preamp.

I think I probably also had to run with the input gain on the audio interface a little lower than I would have liked to, in order to avoid hiss.

I’m guessing that different amps have different preamp gain characteristics. If so, what works ok (no hiss) for one amp might give hiss for another. You could check this by reducing the preamp gain on one of the hissy amps and see if you can remove the hiss.

If you are using a non noise cancelling electro magnetic pick-up, that can pick up noise from a room with electrical activity going on (lights, computers etc). This tends to be more of a hum than a hiss though.

The other thing that has caused me hiss problems is compression. If an inaudible hiss is present a compressor can amplify it and make it audible. I’m guessing you aren’t deliberately using compression but it’s probably worth checking if you have any in the signal chain (particularly if you are using a pre-set that you haven’t configured yourself). If so turn it off and see if it makes a difference. Note, I’m a fan of compression and can usually get it working well, but if I’ve a hiss it’s usually worth turning off to check if the hiss goes.

Also have a think about where you have gain in the system. Each gain stage has the potential to increase (maybe also introduce) any noise / hiss that is in the system. I think I probably had 2 stages (guitar preamp and audio interface input gain). I suspect you have 3: the 2 I mentioned plus the amp. So you could try turning them all down to see if the hiss disappears, or remove the amp completely.

So I can’t answer whether you should send it back. But maybe there are a few things for you to try, before deciding on your course of action.

[sequences]

Noise is a fact of physics in any electronics. It will be there. There are things that can be done to avoid it being worse than it needs to be, but it will be there. Noise is a well-known factor in designing circuits.

Lower gain (and by ‘gain’ I do mean the real meaning of the word, not distortion as guitarists often use) in your audio chain will help reduce the noise you hear. I’m not sure how an electro-acoustic is set up, but in a regular electric guitar, it is better to have the volume knob on the guitar up and the volume and gain on the amp down to just what is necessary.

The idea is to keep the signal level high compared to the noise level coming into the signal chain. This is most impactive very early in the signal chain, so the guitar volume is first choice to set high. It also means that keeping the gain (the amplification of the initial signal) to only what is needed will help a lot as well. If you have a lot of amplification on the signal chain, then you are making the noise that is always there larger in volume and you will hear it. if the guitar signal is small, then it won’t be as loud compared to the noise. When both are made louder in the amp, then you hear both.

If you are using a headset, you are more likely to hear the hiss than if you listen through the amp. This will likey also be the case running through an interface and eventually into a stereo system.

If you are hearing more of a buzzing, then it is more likely a problem with external signals getting into your system. that is not what you describe however.

[jkahn]

Some kind of hiss is normal, but how much hiss depends on your gear.

Humbuckers on electric, high quality amp & AI, good software, clean tone? No or super minimal hiss.
Cheap pickups (single coils on electric or acoustic pickup), low quality AI, a bit of distortion and gain? Loads of hiss.

Add bad cables and some electro-magnetic interference - from a generator, or old fluorescent lighting for example - and you’re in hiss-town.

You might be somewhere in the middle of that. It’s a bit of a process to work out what is hissing. There’s not necessarily a fault as such with any part of your setup, it could be the nature of what you’re using. Or there could be a fault…

[Goffik]

If you’re recording at your PC, make sure you sit as far away from the actual PC as you can and so that your guitar’s mic/pickups are not facing directly at it. They’re a massive source of electrical interference which can cause awful hiss.

[SkyBlue]

Thanks for replies. I didn’t provide some additional info. Yes, it’s cheep-n-cheerful interface and pickup is piezo undersaddle one. The interface is Behringer Guitar link and it has one input for guitar and other for headphones, volume knob for headphones and Lo/Hi level (I suspect that is high z and low z???). I use it on high level to get louder sound and I can only control guitar signal level with knob on guitar itself (i suppose same as in electric?). However guitar has also USB input, so I can connect directly to laptop without audio interface. I can say sound quality is quite good considering I haven’t invested much. With some mild noise reduction I guess it sounds good enough. I personally can’t hear difference between direct USB connection and over Guitar link, but maybe that’s just me. Also, this noise is only appearing on some amp sims, not on everything and not when no amp sim connected. Recording clean guitar sound (no amp sims) in DAW produces clean sound. So I guess it’s normal. Also, I read noise gate and noise reduction is often employed in guitar recording.

[mundeli]

FWIW: From a fellow noob:
another data point:
I have a Yamaha FGX830 (acoustic guitar with built in pickup) → Scarlett Solo → GarageBand
The Yamaha has an under saddle piezo pickup.
No appreciable hiss in my recordings.

Can you eliminate/swap out some components from your setup and see if the hiss persists? That is, plug your guitar into a neighbor’s setup, if you bought it at a local store, plug it into their equipment. Can you put your headphones earlier in the signal’s journey?

The Scarlett Solo I use has a “monitor” option so I can eliminate some potential causes trouble

• the cable from Scarlett Solo to computer
• computer USB
• GarageBand software
• OS software

This still leaves, as potential sources

• the piezo pickup (which can become dislodged when there are no strings on the saddle)
• the electronic hardware in the guitar
• the cable from Guitar to Scarlett
• Scarlett Solo
• headphones

As someone with virtually no knowledge of electronics, I would try to eliminate “degrees of freedom” that are potential sources for the disquieting hiss–strip your system down to the most minimal it can be, or swap out your gear for someone else’s, and see if the problem remains the same.

@SkyBlue

What surprised me is that there was audible hiss on some amps I tried, on some less on some more. Maybe something(s) in your setup is creating a signal that some of the amps boost more than others?

As a computer programmer, I’ve learned that it is not uncommon to have multiple causes for an issue–some more salient than others.

Cheers,
Bruce