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Ground Loops - Causes and cures
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A ground loop is defined as
"an unwanted electric current path in a circuit resulting in stray signals or interference, occurring, e.g., when two earthed points in the same circuit have different potentials."
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The quick fix is to grab a 99 cent "ground lift" and pop it on the power cord. So what are you really doing with a ground lift? By removing the "ground" from the power source you are also disconnecting that ground from the conflicting ground that caused the problem in the first place. That is the idea, right? NO! By removing the ground protection in that circuit you are opening yourself up for a lot of problems. If the problem is a guitar amp (it usually is, LOL) and your guitarist steps up to a wired mic to sing.... POP followed by a few select words... Man!, that mic shocked my lips!! Why was that? The ground that you lifted earlier simply completed the circuit through the mic, the lip, the hands, the guitar strings, the guitar cable and ultimately the circuit in the amp. This is dangerous and should never be done. Ground loops are caused by dissimilar earth ground. If you have them get your wiring checked out.
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Second, "Now its the keyboard and I know my power is good."
Some complex sound reinforcement applications can have multiple sources interconnected. The equipment used in these applications are manufactured all over the world and can sometime cause hums or "ground loops" even with clean power. An example would be running laptop audio from the headphone jack to a mixer input. There is no "Ground" on a laptop using a battery and some power supplies will not have a ground as they are simply there to charge the battery. In this case we would "Isolate" the ground with an in-line ISO box (look left). These ISO boxes come in a variety of I/O configurations. I keep XLR to XLR and TRS to XLR units handy at all times.
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For even more in depth review of Ground Loops, Causes and Cures please hit the link below.
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