Squier makes clicking noises through amp when back power switch is turned on?

[tyoder]

When I plug my Squier into the amp, everything is fine and I don't hear any background noises when nothing is being played. As soon as I turn the on/off switch on the back of the guitar to on, I hear a clicking tone like a metronome coming through the amp. The noise is not super loud but it's noticable. Also, when I press face buttons, I hear modulations in the noise. A particularly distinctive modulation is heard if the start and back buttons are pressed at the same time. I scanned the recent posts about the Squier but I didn't see anyone else talking about this behavior. So has anyone else noticed this? Is it normal behavior or do I have a defective guitar? I wouldn't expect the MIDI operation of the guitar to bleed into the analog output. This makes it a bit annoying to play through the amp while also playing the game. I have an XBox 360 but it shouldn't matter for this issue since I hear the noise even without a MIDI cable hooked up to the guitar.
Thanks for any feedback!

[rflagg77]

I noticed this on mine as well - haven't heard of anyone else mentioning it though.

[Tomserv0]

The way I see it you have two seperate power sources feeding sensors in the same housing, it seems like its bleedover, since the pickups have to pick up vibration they're likely to pick up the games sensors current. I don't care for that part of the design so far, especially since cutting on other objects plugged into other outlets in other rooms has been able to make it better or worse for me (to the extent that the game thinks the strings are vibrating even if I mute them)

[platchy]

Mine does this too. More oddly, I have a power strip that when my amp is plugged into, if my guitar is plugged into the amp, I get a ton (almost constant) phantom strums.

Weird.

[davidshek]

It's electronic interference. There's nothing you can do about it, unfortunately.

[JPS2010]

It's electronic interference. There's nothing you can do about it, unfortunately.

I'm kinda scared of challenging anything you say, but I'm pretty sure it wouldn't hurt to try and find the source of the interference ? Inferior cables or other appliances even can cause it.

Or grounding / not grounding. Again for the amp and / or other appliances.

[ThornDavis]

This happened to me about 15 years ago with my first bass. It drove me nuts trying to work oput what was causing it, but it turned out to be my wristwatch. The ticking of the second hand was being picked up by the pick-ups. May not be the problem here, but the symptom was exactly as you describe.

[davidshek]

I'm kinda scared of challenging anything you say, but I'm pretty sure it wouldn't hurt to try and find the source of the interference ? Inferior cables or other appliances even can cause it.

Or grounding / not grounding. Again for the amp and / or other appliances.

The source of the interference is the electronics used by the gaming mode of the Squier. It's not external to the guitar, which is why I said there isn't anything you can do about it. Sure, if you wanted to go about replacing all of the internal wiring with something more robust and shielded, you could do that...and void your warranty.

[mdbell79]

I'm having this same issue. What a bummer. Seems like they must have been aware of this issue, and decided not to bother fixing it. Hopefully Harmonix will have a solution, but I can't imagine what it would be outside of a hardware replacement.

[deathmonkey]

I thought the instruction manual said to NOT have the switch on the back in the on position when playing the game...