Bedroom Studio Hum and AC Noise - Wiring Question

My one room studio needs minimal power consumption for my needs. I am getting some monitor hum when my laptop is plugged in and I get AC noise, clicks etc from my amp. When I place a ground adapter on my laptop the hum goes away. Bad idea I know. I only need one outlet for my needs. I read that one way to solve this problem was to run a seperate ground wire to a cold water pipe (Copper) and connect this to a ground adapter at the outlet. Use this plug/outlet for all equipment. Is this correct and safe? If not, what should I do? FYI. I'm using: Digi -002R 2 external hard drives daisy chained from laptop to -002R via firewire MIDI Controller Keyboard Laptop Powered Monitors 1 guitar amp That's it. Thanks.

Does your laptop have a "line lump" type power cord, where the transformer is in the middle of a cord? If so, does phyically moving the transformer away from other audio wires make any difference? Are you using the internal sound card of the laptop for your input, or a separate plug-in such as an Echo Indio, or what? Using just the laptop display, or adding an external LCD? I'm surely forgetting a few dozen things to check, but ya gotta start somewhere... Steve

knightfly wrote:

Does your laptop have a "line lump" type power cord, where the transformer is in the middle of a cord? If so, does phyically moving the transformer away from other audio wires make any difference?

Yes and Yes. Although it does not entirely eliminate the hum.

knightfly wrote:

Are you using the internal sound card of the laptop for your input, or a separate plug-in such as an Echo Indio, or what?

I am using a Pro-Tools Digi -002R. My mics and monitors go to it. My laptop is connected to the -002R via firewire. I have 2 external hard drives in the chain between the laptop and the Digi -002R.

knightfly wrote:

Using just the laptop display, or adding an external LCD?

I'm using the laptop display.

knightfly wrote:

I'm surely forgetting a few dozen things to check, but ya gotta start somewhere... Steve

I'm sure I can do a better job of routing all the cables. I'll start there. One of the biggest points of frustration is the noise coming from the amp/line noise. Any tips there?

I need specific make/model on the amp, and exactly how you have power and signal connected, and physically where each wire is in respect to other wires; maybe a digital pic with comments added in Paint would be easiest - also, no flourescent lights or dimmers near you, right? Steve

knightfly wrote:

I need specific make/model on the amp, and exactly how you have power and signal connected, and physically where each wire is in respect to other wires; maybe a digital pic with comments added in Paint would be easiest - also, no flourescent lights or dimmers near you, right? Steve

The amp is a Carvin VL100 Head and a 2x12 cabinet. It is plugged in to the AC in an outlet on the wall to the back the head. I have the cabinet about 6 feet away. No flourescent lights or dimmers. I'll work on the pic when I get back in town. Thanks.