UA Dream 65 Ground Hum

[ddavis20341]

I'm experiencing a weird issue with my Dream 65. Whenever the volume knob is below 9 o clock, there is a prominent ground hum that goes away as soon as the volume knob goes above 9 (and is replaced with high frequency noise you would expect as you turn the gain knob up on an amp). I've tested with my unit, and also just purchased a new replacement unit which experiences the same thing. It's powered by a Truetone CS12 run off a Furman PL-Pro C through a APC LE1200 Voltage Regulator. It only happens with the Dream - whenever it's turned off, the board is silent.

Anyone have any ideas? Any weird crosstalk sort of stuff like the equivalent of running a Strymon and Tumnus together that could be causing an issue?

 

[klasaine]

All of that is possible including possible power supply issues and even something weird in a cable/jack.
Trouble shoot by unhooking and unplugging everything and then add one by one.

 

[ddavis20341]

I just did some pretty extensive troubleshooting and couldn't get the problem to go away. Here's a sample of it (when the low hum appears is when the volume is below 9 o clock, and when it goes away is when it's above 9 - I'm moving the pedal's volume knob back and forth during this):

UA Ground Hum

I tried taking it off my pedalboard and using different cables, different power supplies (Truetone CS12, Voodoo Labs PP2+, One Spot), plugged those power supplies into different outlets, different DIs, unplugged everything from my patchbay, tried it with no guitar or cable plugged in, different preamps, etc. Like I said, pretty extensive.

Obviously it sounds like some sort of a grounding thing, but what could cause it? My power is pretty well conditioned through all of those channels and an isolated power supply, and it obviously appears in the recordings, so it isn't just ground hum on the monitors or something from the pedal. Very confused why it's only there at the bottom range of the knob, and also that it happened with a brand new pedal, so it doesn't seem like it's a defective thing with just this pedal.

 

[JW93]

I’m having the same issue with my Dream 65. Loud hum when my guitar volume is rolled to 9 or below. I’ve run it from a mains powered PSU and a battery powered PSU too so I know it’s nothing to do with bad power.

 

[Doug Byf]

I'm having a similar problem. I get short bursts of static and after a bit I get what sounds like a loud beep. I've run Dream by itself, with different cabling, different PS, etc nothing helps. The first 3 weeks that I had Dream, it ran perfectly. Strange thing is, Iridium does not have this problem when I run it in place of Dream.

Doug

Setup: Mary Cries Compressor-->Dream 65-->Ox Stomp

EDIT: Just a thought: The above setup is connected to the same house plug as my computer. Could that be the cause of the static?
Thanks.

 

[Doug Byf]

Problem solved: Amazon shipped me a new Dream 65 that works.

 

[alancarl]

I experienced the same problem with a Dream 65 that I bought and then returned promptly….when I went back to the store I tried another D65 and it did exactly the same thing.
—So one user in the thread got a new one that didn’t exhibit the problem which is great. So I would hypothesize that there could be any cause for the hum but I would narrow it down to two causes:
1. There is a hardware weakness that has given it up on the four or five units that we know about in this thread that present ‘the hum below 9 0’clock(seems a little unlikely but…)
2. This issue reminds me of various tube amp malfunctions that I have experienced over the years(I love my tube amps but the 100 lbs dead lift called a MESA Boogie just plain hurts to move after the gig)
Sooo I really wonder if Universal Audio modeled a black face fender that needed service….maybe a cap Job or something in the preamp circuit?
Line 6 once modeled a JTM 45 that had a bad power supply filter cap and it sounded like a ring modulator and I remember just scratching my head as to why they didn’t fix the donor amp first?
I would’ve if it were my precious tube amp
Oh well—
All in all the UAFX pedals sound great like other universal audio offerings over the years!
I just couldn’t get past this weird 60 cycle home it was definitely not my power supply bad cables and the like so next…
Thanks
Al

 

[Cradleplayer]

Same problem here.
Got in new in 06/2023 and didn't realise it at first, but think it was there from the beginning.
As other members described bevor, i tried different power supplys and cabeling, nothing made it go away.
To hear it best, the out level is at full, and the volume knob between 7 and 9 o'clock.
When out level is at 12 o'clock, it's ok, but not dead quiet.
I wonder too, if there is an hardware issue with some of the produktion run of the units, and other have not?
Like to hear more replies here.

Greetings,
Frank

 

[fulvio011]

Same problem here too.
Brand new unit received 2 days ago.

Prominent hum noise when volume knob is below 9 o'clock.
Better above 9, but not dead quiet; so same as others reported here.
Power supply is a an isolated Cioks SOL and I'm confident it's not a PS issue.

Did anyone in the end understood if it's an hw issue with defective runs of the units?

Really thinking to try to return it.
Also wondering if the issue affects how the modelled amp breaks up: the edge of breaks up tone I'm getting it's harsh and far from what I heard in the tenth of videos available.

Tnx and regards

Fulvio

 

[UniversalAudio]

Same problem here too.
Brand new unit received 2 days ago.

Prominent hum noise when volume knob is below 9 o'clock.
Better above 9, but not dead quiet; so same as others reported here.
Power supply is a an isolated Cioks SOL and I'm confident it's not a PS issue.

Did anyone in the end understood if it's an hw issue with defective runs of the units?

Really thinking to try to return it.
Also wondering if the issue affects how the modelled amp breaks up: the edge of breaks up tone I'm getting it's harsh and far from what I heard in the tenth of videos available.

Tnx and regards

Fulvio

Be sure to get a ticket open with Support, they'll have things for you to try. Go to help.uaudio.com, click on the Support bot icon in the lower right corner and type “create ticket”