Who has ever picked up foreign radio stations through their amp?

[MajinMojo]

I'm almost sure it happens to somebody else out there, especiallly if you put the overdrive channel on. I've picked up fone conversations, and radio stations. Last night I was sitting there listening to a German-based London News broadcast about what Germany planned to do with suspected terrorists or something.

[educatedfilm]

YES! SOME ELSE!... one my freinds amp which I borrowed, cos at the time i didn't have enough money to buy me own, you could pick up some radio station, I never knew what it was, but it was english...

[pstring]

It's not too unusal to get RF interference with a cranked tube amp, I've picked up a few Spanish stations before. If you listen to Hendrix playing "Machine Gun" on the Live on the Isle of Wight, you'll hear security guards on walkie talkies coming thru his amp, saying "that's quite alright" or something to that effect

[Hootayah]

I used to live next door to a hospital & I'd get constant pages for doctors through my old 16 track. I couldn't count how many takes got ruined cause of it. I had to do all my recordings after midnight cause it was the only time they'd shut up.

[stratman42]

Before Black Sabbath were famous, Tony Iommi once picked up a police car chase on his wireless unit!

[Raskolnikov]

Only if you count a Bible Belt based religious broadcast a foreign radio station.

[Barreta_jetstream1]

i also get foreign radio stations on my amp. i live in sunny (ha!) old yorkshire but can only get a german show translated by my austrian friend as a gardening program and, realy weird, a japanese station. how on earth these signal get to me i have no clue. stranger still i can on get the signals when the lead is unconected from my guitar, pointing south and my wah-wah pedal is on and at about half-way. if anyone has any explination for this please say something!

[Lordathestrings]

A basic radio receiver consists of a detector, an audio amplifier, and a speaker. A guitar amp will do just fine if something acts as an RF detector.

In the 40's and 50's, kids often had 'crystal radios' which used a chunk of Germanium crystal as a detector. A cold solder joint has a similar crystaline structure. If that cold joint happens to be near a diode, you have a lovely setup for radio reception.

Cold solder joints are not the only possible culprits. A damaged, or failing tube can do it. Transistor amps are not immune either. Something as innocent as a loose input jack can do it to you.

You can reduce the likelyhood of encountering this problem by carefully checking your gear for loose connections. If you still have problems, you can have a tech go over your amp, and your guitar.

[Barreta_jetstream1]

yes that sound right, my leads are getting on a bit. thanks lord. on a different note, where abouts is that conversation in machine gun as i have a video of that gig but couldn't hear it

[SoS]

I have picked up numerous stations over my amp. And just other day i was playing my electric and i started to get hot so i cranked up the ceiling fan and when i turned the nobs to the right speed on the fan my amp made some sudden outbursts of fuzzy noises
Weird :D

[Lordathestrings]

That stands for ElectroMagnetic Compatability. I run a lab that tests products to see if they meet the applicable requirements for emissions and immunity.

The rules can't cover everything! A electric drill and a TV set might both meet their respective requirements, but you're still going to get a seriously hashed-up picture if you plug them both into the same outlet.

The guitar manufacturers have been very slow to include effective EMI shielding in their products. Even custom made instruments that cost thousands of dollars arrive without good shielding in the control chambers, much less in the pickup pokets or the wiring channels.

I advise everyone to visit http://www.guitarnuts.com/ and take a look at their tips on how to improve the shielding of their guitars.

[Incidents Happen]

i got a radio station on one of my friends amps, we werent sure if it were portuguese or spanish. but since they are pretty close to the same it really doesnt matter now does it

[canuck01]

I was at my folks place one day and the local radio station was comming in loud and clear through the speakers on the computer...even with the computer off and the power to the speakers off...it was totally weird.