Background noises when aux cable is connected

[ikyokara]

Hi everyone,

I have an issue with background noises whenever I connect my pc to a bass amp (rumble 40) via aux cable. If I then plug in my headphone, all the noises are coming through the headphone as well with the noise also being amplified. The moment I unplug the cable between pc and amp the noises are gone.
This is are bearable if listening through the amp speaker alone, but sometime using the speaker is not always appropriate. Does anyone have a solution for this?

Summary
bass → amp - no noises
bass → amp → headphone - no noises
pc → aux → amp ← bass - noises

sndup(.)net/ygg2/ (noises sample) sorry, I don’t know how to embedded audio directly to the forum yet.

[Mike_NL]

Are the PC and the amp plugged into different sockets? Try plugging them both into the same power socket/strip and see if the problem goes away.

[mr.crispy]

Yeah, sounds like you’re experiencing the dreaded “ground loop”. If plugging into the same outlet isn’t an option, there’s devices you can get that will stop the loop.

I have this one and it works great: Amazon.com

[ikyokara]

I was using the same power strip for both, then try to plug one (amp) into another socket from an adjacent wall outlet. The noises seem to be reduce a little, but still significantly annoy after something is played on the computer, the noises getting louder for a few seconds then reduced when its idling (happened regardless of where I plugged).

I then tried using my laptop, battery w/o power adapter and power w/o battery using same power strip as the amp both yield the same result, NO noise.

Seem like the problem lied solely on my pc.

[ikyokara]

I was thinking the same thing, but I just found out that this issue doesn’t happened on my laptop w/ battery pulled out and using power adapter only (ac adapter plugged in the same socket of the amp) does not caused the same issue at my pc.

That thing is half the price of the amp, so I may saving it for now, thanks for the suggestion.

[Barney]

I had the same problem with my Rumble 100 @ikyokara

If I used the Aux in from my computer, no matter how I configured it, then it’s noisy. But If I just plug in my phone and stream music etc into the amp it’s completely silent.

I don’t use my amp to practice this way anymore but the problem you have is not unique.

[ikyokara]

The last statement make me wonder, what are your practice setup at the moment. Would you mind sharing, maybe I can learn something from you.

[JerryP]

Is the aux cable being used shielded? Have you tried a different aux cable?

[qenden]

Hi,
I was having the same problem with my rumble 40 and my PC.
It’s probably a ground issue
If I use the jack out on this pc it makes noise
Bought a usb to jack adapter and now the problem ( noise ) has gone

[Barney]

@ikyokara

what are your practice setup at the moment. Would you mind sharing, maybe I can learn something from you.

I stopped using the aux in on my amp to practice.

I bought a cheap Zoom B1 Four and used headphones to practice with.

If I did use the amp I would use my phone to play songs / jam tracks / drum loops to avoid getting the noise.

[ikyokara]

@Barney

Zoom B1 Four

I’m not sure mine is shield or not, but this is the one I used, and I only have one at the moment…

[ikyokara]

This is neat, and doesn’t cost much. Maybe I’ll order one and see if it help. Thanks

[ikyokara]

@Barney

cheap Zoom B1 Four

Hmm, I was thinking you might be practice using the audio interface, but that Zoom thing look so complicated.

[Marcel]

when you use a pc , always best to use the audio in and outputs which are in the rear side, as these are mostly directly on the motherboard.
the connectors on the front end mostly use unshielded flimsy cables to connect to the motherboard

make sure the aux cable is of good quality

[chris_van_hoven]

Did you look at this discussion?

SOLVED: ASIO output "choppy" on WIndows 11

Hello my friends, today I had an issue with very choppy ASIO out audio. It drove me absolutely mad! Yesterday, everything worked perfectly, today I could not play anything through my computer. No music, no bass, nothing. Checked Windows, drivers, apps. Reinstalled the ASIO driver. Took me two hours. Nothing worked. Then I looked at the USB cable connecting my Notebook to my Motu M4 audio interface. It was very close to my QC3.0 USB Ports Multi Ports Charger that has a wireless charging fea…

[chris_van_hoven]

@qenden

Bought a usb to jack adapter and now the problem ( noise ) has gone

Sometimes, such adapters introduce latency - did you notice that?

[Billn]

So do pedals and plugins. Probably not a big deal.

For example latency on a ehx pitch shift pedal:

More Pitch Shifters

[qenden]

No not really, but that should not matter when playing along with a song and not recording anything ?

[chris_van_hoven]

@qenden

but that should not matter when playing along with a song and not recording anything ?

No, it should not.

I used my Fender Mustang Micro on vacation and happily streamed the play-along song via Bluetooth - which has terrible latency! But that did not matter, as the Fender has no noticeable latency for the instrument itself, if you listen through the headphone on the device.

It’s different for some devices when playing to/from PC.
Haven’t checked for the Fender (as I will replace it with a Katana Go) but both my Spark Mini and Go have terrible latency when recording.
This might be due to A/D conversion or sh#tty implementation otherwise.
A USB to analog adapter always does D/A conversion, so it might introduce latency, especially if it’s a low end device.

That is why I always check for recording latency on any new device.

[faydout]

Or skip trying to record through it and just use your dedicated DAI? I’ve got the micro also and found it unuseable to even play through into garageband. I keep it to use while I’m sitting in boring work meetings that I don’t really need to be a part of and it’s fine with an earbud in.