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robert W. Recipient

can hear pump through guitar amp

Sun, 03/25/2018 - 7:38AM
I am 49 and got my lvad in September 2017, I have been playing guitar since I was 10 . Now the problem is my electric guitar picks up the pump and transmits it through the amp to the point of not being able to play. I don't think there is going to be any solution to this but I thought I would throw it out there and see if anyone else has had this problem and or possibly had a fix for it.
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Barbara G.

Mon, 03/26/2018 - 10:34AM
My husband had an lvad for almost three years before being transplanted in 2016. He also plays guitar and had the same problem with the humming of the pump coming through the amp. While he didn't ever get rid of the problem completely, he was able to mute it slightly by insulating the cavity where the pickups are with copper shielding. He also would hold the guitar away from his body and place a pillow in between the guitar and himself. It was frustrating, but small price to pay for the quality of life he gained from the lvad. And there's always acoustic! Wishing you all the best. (One of my husband's docs had mentioned that he saw a guitarist somewhere who seemed to have solved the problem, but we were never able to track him down. Maybe someone out there knows who that might be!)
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robert W.

Thu, 04/12/2018 - 9:18PM
Thank you for the reply. I have shielded all the cavitys and it seems like it might have helped a little. And you are right about the small price to pay. I hope your husband is doing well with his new heart. I hoping I will be blessed with one myself.
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Kevin H.

Tue, 03/27/2018 - 1:08AM
What your previous poster mentioned. I am a amateur radio operator and understand your problem. The gituar pickup is a magnetic pickup that hears your pumps magnets as they sin around at 9-10000 rpm. If you can pull the pickups an line the hollowed out area with a steel can and ground it to the ground lug on the cord. We also use toroid coil aroing the gituar cord. Such as these. https://www.ebay.com/p/36mm-Outside-Dia-Green-Iron-INDUCTOR-Coils-Toroid-Ferrite-Cores-N3/1468926241?iid=282116452171 You may try one or two wraps through the center of the iron core an see how that works. Kevin
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robert W.

Thu, 04/12/2018 - 9:33PM
Thanks for the reply Kevin. This is something i have not heard about. I am not sure I understand how and where to place them on the cable. I am definitely willing to try it. I apologize for being so unknowledgable, If you could explain it to me exactly what to do I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks, Robert
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Paul B.

Sun, 12/09/2018 - 4:10AM

My guitars with Hum Bucker pick ups were not so bad. I replaced my telecaster with something called bladed pick ups that look like single coils that are voiced as single coil. My Stratocaster I replaced with single coil noise reduction lace pick ups .find a good guitar technician and explain the problem. Both of these solutions work fine for me. Hope this helps. Good luck 

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Rob S.

Wed, 01/02/2019 - 5:13PM

I have a Strat and ran into the same issue. Only got my LVAD 3 months ago and when I was able to play again thought it was crazy that I heard the device through my amp. After reading others comments I went about my solution in a slightly different way. Instead of making modifications to my guitar, I thought how could I filter the sound before it gets to the amp. I bought a few different guitar pedals to see what would happen. As it turns out I am able to clear out the LVAD sound on 2 of the 5 pickup positions on the Strat. Not sure why its not on all positions but I'll keep working on it. What I used is a Donner reverb pedal. Even with it not turned on it filters some of the LVAD out the amp. Im also trying to filter the out put sound through my computer. 

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Maurizio B.

Wed, 01/16/2019 - 2:47AM

Hi y'all, LVADder from Italy here.

I have been playing guitar for 30+ years now and was playing live till 6 months ago before my heart failure cond went so bad I got my LVAD on Dec 3rd.
I would so much love to be able to play the electric again AT HOME but I am worried about the pump noise showing up through the amp because of pickups picking it up.
Haven't tried it yet as I only strummed on the acoustic on the sofa, but will have to as I want to record some playing while I am at home recovering and relaxing.
Given my tech background I think that you don't hear the noise on your strat in positions 2 and 4 (you have a 5-way PUPs selector switch) because in those positions, two coils are wired up in a counter-phase fashion and the noise which is picked up is rejected since it is common-mode coupled. I believe that a guitar with humbucker PUPs should be much less picking up the pump (if not at all).
I also plan to shield ALL the cavities in my telly and strat with copper shielding tape to see if it helps (will post the outcome anyway)
I also wonder if the earthing circuit which forms when touching the strings (strings, PUP, wire, amp, house earthing) may upset our LVAD or not. Any more thoughts on this? any tips (like always connect your amp to a earth-equipped wall-socket plug, use the Fender amp rather than the custom wired one, etc.)?

thanks in advance for any reply that will come.

Best Regards,
Mo

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Julia K.

Thu, 02/07/2019 - 5:56PM

I have been a professional guitarist for more years than I want to believe.  In July of 2014 I had a Heartmate II put in and found I had the same noise issues.  What I found that worked to take out the noise is a Rocktron Hush Unit. http://www.rocktron.com/hush-the-pedal.html. This did take out the vast majority of the hum, but I personally don't care for how it changes my tone.  When I not using it, which is most of the time, I just put up with the noise which isn't too bad with my Parker Fly Jazz guitar and its humbucker pickups.  I play a lot of Jazz and really don't want to sacrifice my tone for the Hush unit so I just put up with some of the noise when I'm playing and teaching guitar to my students.  Nobody seems to be concerned with the noise and I really don't hear it as I'm playing.   Maybe you want to check out a Hush pedal and see if it works for you.

Jim Klaverenga --- Happy to be around and still playing!