If your sister is humming, it might be taken as a sign of happiness. But if your sound system is humming, it can be taken as a sign that someone has made an improper connection or placed wires where they don’t belong.

The two most common causes of sound system hums are ground loops and induction.

First, a discussion about ground loops. It starts with the Service Entrance Section (SES), that big gray box outside buildings that delivers electrical (AC) power. If you take a look at an SES, you may well see a heavy copper wire that is connected to a long copper rod (called a Ufer ground) driven about six feet deep into the ground. As you might have guessed, this is how a building's electrical system is grounded.

Now, for purposes of discussion, let's assume the SES is located outside the northeast corner of a church. Moving inside, let’s assume the mixing console is also positioned in the northeast corner, and is plugged into a circuit fed from the interior breaker panel only 10 feet away.

First off, Marshall’s history is legendary. Making amplifiers for guitarists for almost 50 years Rock-N-Roll would not be the same without this iconic brand. Van Halen, Green Day, Clapton, Tool, Megadeath, Kiss, The Who, Led Zepplin...The list is long and impressive.

So, we get this new Marshall MG102FX amp into the store. It is a 100 watt 2x12 combo that has all the familiar visuals: black cloth speaker grill, white logo and gold faceplate. It looks pretty extreme sitting on one of those Gator amp transport case things (perfect fit).

Let’s plug an ESP Eclipse into this bad boy. Turn the Master Volume, Mod and Delay controls all the way down. Turn all the other knobs up to 12 O’clock. Fire it up with the round power switch to the right. First thing you will notice are all the mode LEDs. Some indicate what channel you are currently in (this is a 4 channel amp by the way). Others give you status on your FX settings.

Avoiding the error of purchasing and using an inadequate amplifier based on misleading wattage claims

At some point in the past, certain power amplifier manufacturers got hip to the fact that the only specification most power amp buyers pay attention to is wattage.

Sadly, they decided that misleading specs were OK as long as it created better sales. Hmm....

For purposes of our discussion, let’s consider two amplifiers. Amplifier A is rated at 1,000 watts (per side), into a 2-ohm load, with .1 percent Total Harmonic Distortion (THD), measured at 1 kHz, while Amplifier B is rated at 1,000 watts (per side), into a 4-ohm load, with .03 percent THD, measured full range from 20 Hz to 20 kHz.

OK…it’s true, I am a lover of vintage gear!!

This is most likely because I am somewhat “vintage” myself, and I make no apologies for that. I bought my first guitar shortly after the Beatles appeared on the Ed Sullivan show and have been “hooked” on music ever since that time. I love vintage guitars, amps, and effects, which leads me to the topic of today’s blog.

My first effects pedal was a Maestro Fuzz Tone. They sold for $29 bucks at that time, and I felt like a real operator because I got mine for $25 (when you are delivering papers 5 evenings a week and getting about $5 bucks for your efforts, that was a huge savings...HA!)

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but most frustrations that notation users have with these programs is the concept of using a MIDI controller/keyboard with it. Most feel that by plugging in the controller, they can press record and their notes and rhythms will magically appear in perfect form on the screen. Here is the bad news: it rarely ever works that way.

There is an evil-doer for this problem: LATENCY!

Latency is the amount of time it takes for your computer to recognize you are playing a note and plays it through the speakers. If your computer is not up to speed RAM- and processor-wise, you will experience a very high amount of latency.

Other things that affect this: running multiple programs in the background, even using too long of a USB cable, running your controller through too many other peripheral devices, or even Virtual Instruments can throw it all out of whack.

How does this affect your score, you say? If you are listening to what the computer is notating against your playing, it will really throw you off. Even if it's behind by 1 second, you have to constantly adjust your playing.

However, there is help for you if this is your problem!

Every now-and-then, a new product comes to surface and you say “Man, I wish this would have been my idea!!”. Such is true with “The String Cleaner®” from the guys at ToneGear. Keeping your guitar strings clean, which will extend their life, has never been easier!

The String Cleaner is made of heavy duty plastic that snaps open revealing 2 micro-fiber pads. Slide one portion of the tool under your guitar strings and adjust the other portion over the top of the strings and shut it. Simply slide it up and down the fingerboard and micro-fiber pads remove all the gunk and grime that the strings have accumulated. The pads fit tight so that the entire string is cleaned--all 360 degrees of them. It needs no cleaning solution, and the micro-fiber pads are cleanable, so you can use them over and over again.

I know notation software tends to scare people...well, most software scares people. Finale tends to be the main culprit with this fearful bunch. But I have news for you: Notation software should not be scary to anybody anymore! Finale should not be scary to anybody anymore!

Why? Notation software has gotten to the point that virtually anybody, whether you are a new computer user, master computer user, the creator of the computer, etc, can use it. Seriously! And Finale, the be-all of notation software, has figured out a way to let users do what they want, however they want, without making it overly complicated.

Finale has been around since 1988, and through most of its transitions, it has been notorious for over-complicating tasks. However, it was a very powerful tool, so powerful, most engravers and publishers would (and still) use Finale for their professional needs. However, when Sibelius came into the fray, a good number of Finale users jumped ship and went to the “easy” program.

Records to SD or SDHC media. Two great sounding electric condenser mics and 2 GB SD card included. Awesome practice tool for musicians and is perfect for recording lessons, classes, or lectures.

Fits most popular amp sizes! Cases are available in 1-12" or 2-12" sizes. Lightweight molded design cases are virtually indestructible. Doubles as an amp stand, as amps will sit securely on top of case during stage use. Equipped with casters for easy movement!