Ebtech Hum Eliminator

It is very easy to use, just two female 1/4" jacks per channel, one is "in" and the other is "out".

I bought this device to try to eliminate part of the 60 Hz hum that I get when I plug my guitar into the computer (which does not come from the monitor). In a scale from 1 to 10 (perceptual) I was getting something like a 1/10, which is little but enough to make it difficult to use any distortion-type effects (with the monitor on I get something like a 2/10). When I plug in the Ebtech Hum Eliminator, with or without anything plugged into the "input" port, I get a full blast 10/10 60 Hz hum. It is so much noise that I can't even hear the guitar. I noticed that putting my hand on it will reduce the hum to about 5/10, which is still worse than plugging the guitar in directly (and I need both hands to play!).

I don't know what to write here, the device is useless to me.

I didn't try to contact them but I read the very sympathetic comment above by Bill Wenzloff which makes me believe that they are serious company. I will not contact them because I live abroad (from the USA) and it would cost me several times the price of the device simply to ship it back and forth plus 100% customs tax. Additionally, the device might not even be broken, it might simply not work in my given situation.

I am not sure if the device is meant for situations like the one I needed it for, as I described above. Maybe computers and the Ebtech Hum Eliminator simply do not get along. I am guessing that it might be a 600 Ohm to 50 kohm conversion problem, since this device (and I cite): "converts automatically back and forth between balanced and unbalanced lines".

Just a little black box with two ins and two outs - cant get much easier than that

The purpose of this device was to remove a ground loop hum I had due to using a stereo guitar amp set up.

I run one guitar into a Looper aby box then out to 2 tube amps. The Looper does not get rid of ground loops hence the need for the Ebtech. I looked at other products but a number of them are quite expensive. I was a bit sceptical that a US$69 device could rid me of an annoying ground loop but the minute I plugged it into one of my cable runs to an amp the hum was gone.

Very simple and effective and doesnt appear to kill my tone to any great extent (the Looper does though due to splitting the guitar signal).

cant see anything ever going wrong as long as you dont use it for football practice

Excellent product for a good price. Does what it says it does - thats all you can ask of any product

Bill Wenzloff from Ebtech here. Just wanted to chime in about Ground Hum problems. Ground Hum is a very annoying and yet very common problem for musicians. The most important part of getting rid of noise is diagnosing it properly and then coming up with the proper solution. If you feel you need this type of assistance, we are here to help. Call me toll free at 1-800-284-5172 ext 12 or call Chad at ext 14 or email us at info@ebtechaudio.com

Could not be simpler. Plug it in between the 2 pieces of equipment that 'don't get along' and that's it.

sounds fine to me. basically it's just a box with 2 audio transformers in it, and that's what it sounds like. i put it between the 'control room out' of my console and the inputs of my monitor amp in order to eliminate a frustrating ground loop. it SEEMED to me like the ebtech took a little harshness off the audio but i am not sure. very hard to tell, which means thhey designed this thing very well. Fact is, if you're not using $5000 monitors in an acoustically perfect control room you will hear no difference when using this box. Furthermore, in a processing chain, most people feel that it will only improve, not worsen, the sound, to have some good transformers in the chain. they tend to lend a nice character.

can't imagine it would break but i just got it so i will reserve judgement here.

no idea.

i've been producing/engineering in purpose-built studios for 10 years and i never needed one of these things in my home set-up. then a got a new monitor amo and all of sudden i had hum in my monitors. this thing worked like a charm and i really wish i had gotten one sooner. i plan to buy anothe rone just to 'have around.' great product with suprisingly good sound quality for the price. plus, you can just walk into any guitar center and buy one. BTW this is the first time i have EVER been compelled to review a product for this forum.

Customer support is often unreported or poorly reported as assumptions are made without actually dealing with the company. Fortunately, many people have not needed any support with their gear. Therefore I feel I should report a first hand encounter I just had with EBTech. I am in the process of considering a purchase of their Hum Eliminator, and I had several questions about the product including what it will do and what it will NOT do, and if it would be useful in a couple of different scenarios I am experiencing in terms of noise. I spoke with one of their two (2 according to their web site) Technical Specialists. His name is Bill and he was the friendliest, most accomodating support person I've ever experienced by phone. E-mail can be done in a support person's own time, but this guy stopped whatever he may have been busy with, and stayed on the phone with me for 20 minutes or more thoroughly explaining his answers as well as offering suggestions that had nothing to do with selling more EBTech product. Very friendly, very willing, and very helpful. We as musicians need to keep in touch with and keep supporting these young, smaller, and hungrier companies. These guys are usually very eager to help us. They genuinely care and make me want to keep coming back to their products that they will always stand behind. Companies like Fender, Gibson, Marshall,...etc., (the list goes on and on) make me sick. They are like politicians saying they're on your side, but fully expect you to fall in line like zombies behind their (Brand) Name with its supposed impeccable reputation. They won't give you the time of day, and if you get lucky and reach someone by phone, set your timer because you've got 60 seconds...GO! And don't expect them to be very friendly because it's as if you owe them because they had products around during the classic days of rock and they're way too big to worry about one vote (customer). We owe them a debt of gratitude, for it was their gear that created the classics. Personally, I believe most of the great classics regardless of which decade they came from were great SONGS due to great song writing! These great songs were often played on crappy gear (especially by today's standards) that was manipulated by masterful hands and masterful engineers & producers to create masterpieces. [i.e. George Martin & The Beatles] I've never seen a paint brush that really got me too excited, but I sure have seen some awe inspiring paintings. That's not to say that I don't appreciate good tone. In fact, I'm a gearhead to a fault ($$$). As I play more gear, read honest testimonials from experienced players about gear, and listen more and more objectively to gear, I realize these big names mean nothing. Try being honest with yourself the next time you go out trying guitars. Try to not worry about what YOU THINK people will think if they see you playing a "copy" instead of the real thing. 99% of your audience doesn't know and frankly doesn't care. You just think they do because you are so passionate about guitars yourself. Try not to hear what you WANT to hear. Try not to feel what you WANT to feel. Likewise, try not to hear what you EXPECT to hear. Try not to feel what you EXPECT to feel. Try to be as if you knew nothing about guitars. If you care about possibly saving hundreds or thousands of dollars, go to a store with a large selection with a friend. Pick out an amp or better yet bring in your own, tweak it relatively flat.(avoid extreme settings) Then do not adjust the amp again. Put on a blindfold...(REMEMBER! $$$...tone or name?)...and have your friend keep bringing guitars to you without you ever seeing them. Have your friend set aside ones you like and blindly over time narrow it down to what you like the best. Let your ears and your hands decide. I've wasted a lot of money over the years following the big names without even picking up a "cheapy" or "no-name" model. There are a lot of diam

Just plug the problematic lines in any of the two, or both channels, depending the aplication.
First of all, you must know what kind of problem are you having, so you won't go wrong using the hum eliminator, I can tell you that if you don't use this box correctly, you'll get even more noise, so check first where you'll connect it.
The hum eliminator can make wonderful things!!! mine does it!!!

Well, one cool thing about this box is that you can use it in a lot of ways, virtually in any kind of audio equipment.
I'm a guitar player, and since I start using pedals at the front and back of my amps, I was having all sorts of horrible noise problems, due to the cables inductance and what not.
I knew about the hum eliminator's existence at guitargeek.com, Michael Einziger of Incubus is using one, thats how I started to investigate about this thing, and finally I bought it.
I was having the main problem at the lines that goes from my delay pedal to the effects loop of my amp, those two cables were causing me terrible nigtmares in live gigs, I completely cure the problem connecting the hum eliminator between the delay and the effects loop of the amplifier, in this way the effect loop cables are uncapable of induct any noise.
I also use a NS-2 Noise Supressor at the front of my amp, so I got the best result in this way, a noise supressor at the front of my amp, and the hum eliminator at the effects loop, now my rig is really silent, even when I use a lot of gain.
If you're having the same problem as me, go right now and get a hum eliminator, I really recomend it.
This box doesn't have a "sound" at all, but I'll give it a 10 in this category, because it gets rid of all hum without dealing with your playing.

Steel made, hard as hell.

I'm from Mexico, and nobody distributes EBTECH products in this country, but I had the chance to go to The Namm Show one month ago, and I use one of those days to go to a Samash Music store to buy this thing... What a great expirience being at The Namm Show!!!!!

I'm really satisfied with the results of the hum eliminator, my rig is really quiet now, as I always wanted, now I can crank my amp volume and leave the overdrive channel activated at a song break at all times and stay myself pretty cool because I know that I'm not filling with annoying noises the ears of my bandmates, or the guys at the mixing console, or even the audience.

Passive, no batteries or power. I have the two port model. Just patch it in line, within the problematic lines.

Noiseless, produces no noise I can hear.

Steel case built strongly. Has some kind of special torx-like screws for opening, so I guess you need a special tool. If I was a pro I would have more than one on hand, but I've had zero problems with mine.

Never used support.

It's supposed to get rid of hum and ground loops. I think it does, though I have only used it with my 2-amp guitar setup. Two instrument patches coming out of a rack effect with stereo (or A/B) outs or a pedal like a boss chorus with a/b outputs, plugged into separate amps, can create a ground loop, hiss and hum. In my case pretty bad. Using the hum eliminator on only one of the lines to the first amp cured all noise immediately - I thought I would have to use both channels. Supposedly the ground loop is eliminated without lifting the ground or creating some unsafe electrical condition. If you have noise from running 2 amps, this thing works. They make an 8 port 1U rackmount model too.