Hi everyone, so for years now i've had a mix of balanced and unbalanced patchbays.. obvious gear that i know is balanced would go through balanced and stuff i was pretty sure (synths, effects) would often go to the unbalanced..

However I was noticing some issues with my effects.. i noticed that if I had the ins and outs going into an unbalanced patchbay, I'd get a distinct 60hz hum.. like a grounding issue.. however if i simply took the input to the effects out of it and say.. plugged a guitar directly into the effects and then routed the out through the patchbay to a mixer / recording interface, the hum would be gone.

I'm about to do some pretty major rewiring of the studio.. i have two balanced patchbays close to the mixer / MOTU 2408 / preamps / etc.. basically all of the stuff that's more about recording than effects / instruments.

Then over to the left I had an unbalanced patchbay by itself that i routed various effects / instruments through.. i had like 6 lines from that 48 point wired to 6 ports on the balanced patchbay..

now my intent is to replace that unbalanced left side patchbay (the balanced patchbay is here next to me in my office) with a balanced one and use balanced (stereo 1/4") cables as much as possible

I know that if I plug an unbalanced instrument, like a guitar into something balanced isn't going to make the instrument suddenly balanced.. however will the signal once it leaves the unbalanced world (up to the balanced patchbay) will at least this keep the signal from the patchbay (now balanced, I hope) effectively shield hum / noise from that point on?

I got to thinking maybe if an unbalanced cable plugs up to a balanced patch bay that maybe the unbalanced nature of that signal and wire completely ignores any balanced signal sending right up to the mixer / digital audio input device.

I'm just trying to arm myself with some solid knowledge as I reorganize / optimize the positioning of easily a dozen or more different effects / instruments in rack gear.

Thanks,
Caleb