Electro Harmonix Hum Debugger

[Ian B]

I can't remember who first posted (Lunch Money?) about this pedal, but I've just got one and it is fecking great Even single coils with as much distorion as I can throw at it, there's not a hint of hum I'ts amazing in use and worth every penny of the £65 I paid.

Even better, it came supplied with a UK 3 pin wall wart instead of one of those horrible 2 pin jobbies.

Big thanks to the OP who mentioned it, like as not, I would never have heard about it otherwise.

'EDIT'

Feck, after a bit more use, this pedal has got even more impressive. Single coil mode with my ProCo Rat 2 or Hughes and Kettner Warp Factor into my Microcube, set on H Flier (sic) for the ultimate distortion/hum reduction test I can manage at home, it passes with flying colours. Ok, there's 'some' noise present, but definitely no hum. Amazing

[dysfunctionz]

I wonder, would this get rid of noise generated by a combination of a CRT monitor, fluorescent lighting, and generally poor wiring in my house? To record with a remotely acceptable noise level I have to turn off every light in the house except the one in the recording room, and sit way far back from the computer. If this could fix that, it would be well worth it.

[guitarzan]

The OP was Stupid American Pig here.
I'm glad to you reminded me of it, and I'm glad to hear another positive review of the Hum Debugger ... now I definately need to pick one up!!

[Ian B]

The OP was Stupid American Pig here.
I'm glad to you reminded me of it, and I'm glad to hear another positive review of the Hum Debugger ... now I definately need to pick one up!!

Cheers for the link, I searched but couldn't find the thread.

Like S.A.P, I can hear no loss of tone/character, the hum has just gone. I wish it had been available/I'd known about it years ago, I could have saved a small fortune on replacing single coil pups.

In use, there's only two settings, normal and strong, and so far normal is all I've needed, no matter how much hum I've tried to introduce into the signal. I can say buy one with confidence, you won't be disappointed, you're more likely to be as amazed as S.A.P and myself at how good it actually is.

'EDIT'

I don't know why I'm surprised, but it's just as effective when using ampsims like the fantastic SimulAnalog Guitar suite

[Ian B]

I wonder, would this get rid of noise generated by a combination of a CRT monitor, fluorescent lighting, and generally poor wiring in my house? To record with a remotely acceptable noise level I have to turn off every light in the house except the one in the recording room, and sit way far back from the computer. If this could fix that, it would be well worth it.

Hi,
I would hazard a guess at yes, it would fix that, I'm staggered at how effective this pedal is.

[Ian B]

I posted about this pedal over at CM forum, someone there has found a couple of reviews at www.guitarcenter.com

When I first plugged it in I was amazed. I have an old house with power lines going right by my music room. I switched it on and the hum was gone. It sounded good too. I didn't notice how it changed the sound until I started doing some A/B tests. It's hard to describe how it affects the sound, but it gives a slight reverb or doubling effect to your sound. If you are using a lot of other effects and distortion, it will probably go unnoticed, especially when playing chords.

The change in tone is most noticeable when doing clean or simi-clean solos, and especially on the higher notes. Your notes kind of loose a bit of definition (if that makes sense) like you might get with a chorus or an extremely short delay.

I can't deny I've noticed the reverb/doubling effect he mentions, but 'only' when switching the pedal on and off while using it, and even then, it only lasts for a second or two at most. It's as tho' it has to somehow sync up to the source of the hum before it can cancel it. I've not noticed any loss of tone/chracter/definition, call it what you will, at all, no matter where I am on the fretboard.

Some one should have thought of this before, I'm playing in an old house where the old wiring makes single coil guitars unusable, now thanks to this pedal I'm able to use duncan phat-cats in my Hamer studio, normally I would have to change them out and use humbuckers. This pedal will also be real useful if you use a compressor, I'd quit using them because the raise the hum when you are playing more softly, now I can concentrate on my music. I gave it a 2.5 for quality because it quit working one day and had to "reboot" it by umplugging the ac adapter. They don't say it, but this pedal has to be digital, line voltage has an axact frenquency of 60.000 hz, so a digital devic could subtract only that EXACT frequency while passing everything, 59.999 hz and below and 60.001 and above would be unaffected, theres an intensity swith that chooses to block just even harmonics or both od and even. They need to build this circiut into a guitar amp!

Seems a reasonable explanation of how it works, and I've not had it long enough to judge the quality. Hopefully it won't suddenly quit working on me, but only time will tell.