Beavis Audio Research

Download as pdf or txt
Download as pdf or txt
You are on page 1of 4
At a glance
Powered by AI
The Huminator is a simple circuit that can be built to eliminate hum caused by cheap power supplies in guitar pedals using common electronic components.

The Huminator uses a diode, resistors and capacitors arranged in a filter circuit to reduce hum coming through the power supply.

The parts needed are an LED, two resistors, a diode and two capacitors.

Beavis Audio Research

http://www.beavisaudio.com/Projects/Huminator/index.htm

The Huminator
Do you have a hum or other noise in your pedal(s)? A very likely cause is noise coming through your AC adaptors. Many cheap adaptors lack even basic power supply filtering, so any noise in your AC mains ends up coming through to your pedal.But dont despair. Heres a useful and simple project: build a box that will eliminate hum in your pedal caused by crappy cheap power supplies. And all the parts are easy to find at your local Radio Shack.

The Schematic
Power enters through J1. D1 is a diode the protects against reverse-polarity, i.e. hooking up the wrong polarity adaptor. R2 limits the current the LED which expects 3 volts and would quickly burn out if directly connected to the 9 volt source. R1, C1 and C2 form the filter that reduces hum.

The Parts List

Parts Substitution
If you cant find the exact parts listed above, you can substitute the following values/types: LED: any kind of visible LED 3.3K ohm 1/2W 5% Carbon Film Resistor: any resistor of watt or higher, values anywhere from 1k to 4k ohms. 100 ohm 1/2W 5% Carbon Film Resistor: any 100 ohm resistor of watt or higher. 1N4001 Micro 1A diode: Could use just about any 1N400X value 0.047F 50V 10% PC-Mount Capacitor: any 0.047F film cap rated for 18 volts or more

1 de 4

30/07/2011 15:30

Beavis Audio Research

http://www.beavisaudio.com/Projects/Huminator/index.htm

Let's Wire it up!


Ive arranged the wiring so it closely matches the schematic. That way it is easier to translate the schematic into actual wiring. The orange lines indicate the positive voltage and the yellow lines indicate the negative voltage, also known as ground. You can do the wiring by soldering components directly to wires, or use a small bit of perfboard/circuit board. To ensure this thing actually works for you, be sure to check the connections on the DC power jacks before you solder them. Remember that the standard for pedal powering is tip-negative.

I decided to build mine by using two wires that acted as positive and negative connections. Then I soldered parts between the wires to match the schematic.

2 de 4

30/07/2011 15:30

Beavis Audio Research

http://www.beavisaudio.com/Projects/Huminator/index.htm

After testing all the connections, screw the top on, and make up a quick label with my Brother PTouch label maker!

Make a Patch Cable


To make a power patch cable to go from the output of the Huminator to your pedal, get two 2.1mm DC plugs, and a length of two-conductor wire. Solder the two-conductor wire to each of the plugs and youre ready to go.

Hooking it Up
Plug your 9 volt AC/DC adaptor into the input. Then plug a 2.11mm DC to DC patch cord into the output of the Huminator and then into

3 de 4

30/07/2011 15:30

Beavis Audio Research

http://www.beavisaudio.com/Projects/Huminator/index.htm

your pedal. No more hum!

(c) 2005-2010. Some Rights Reserved - This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License

4 de 4

30/07/2011 15:30

You might also like