Winter-time / forced air can make the air extremely dry and prone to static electricty. And I can't see any reason you couldn't earth-ground them all together in the way you describe, but I have some doubt that static electricity is your problem. Unless you've altered it, your equipment should already grounded sufficiently to discharge static electricity before it builds up. This sounds like either a cable or a physical problem (bad solder) with a fader.

A bad cable and phantom power is a recipe for ungodly loud snaps, crackle and pop.

I'd start by disconnecting every single input cable and turning off the phantom power to all channels. In a couple minutes (when the phantom power has fully discharged) mute all of the inputs and try moving the master sliders -forward and back and gently side to side - see if it pops.

If it's behaves OK at this point, plug in one cable at a time and deliberately work the connection and cable near the strain-relief and see if it starts acting up.

Good luck.

thanks dvdhawk

yeah, you might be right there..i might be lumping 2 seperate issues together.
i do get static shocks from touching the board but
the thing is, this slider spike has only happened twice in two months
and i do remember now that it's been the left channel that spiked both times and i didn't have any phantom power on last saturday. but hey, i can replace every left input and output cable on the rig..they're all 3 footers and i got lots of those.if it does it again i'll switch mic cables and if it happens again,it' probably a bad solder point or something along those lines.
thanks for getting me going,sometimes i forget to think.lol

"i do get static shocks from touching the board..."

What are the chances you have a synthetic carpet on your floor? These carpets are known to produce static electricity buildup.

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Space, post: 301117 wrote: "i do get static shocks from touching the board..."

What are the chances you have a synthetic carpet on your floor? These carpets are known to produce static electricity buildup.

most of this house is laminate flooring and i get little jolts everywhere but only certain times of day and not everyday..i also get them off my truck so it's probably more this particular canadian winter. it is extra dry cause there hasn't been much snow here in the west.
we had to make snow for the olympics wich is unusual for us.lol

Hey boxcar where do you live?

Grounding all your gear to the same potentional is a good thing. However if your not at that potentional when you touch it you will zap the gear. You could try a grounded wrist stap. Get one with a 1meg or more resistor in series.

Digi-Key - SCP141-ND (Manufacturer - 2214)

Link555, post: 301139 wrote: Hey boxcar where do you live?

Grounding all your gear to the same potentional is a good thing. However if your not at that potentional when you touch it you will zap the gear. You could try a grounded wrist stap. Get one with a 1meg or more resistor in series.

Digi-Key - SCP141-ND (Manufacturer - 2214)

im in the okanagan..

if by a grounded wrist strap, you mean that i woul be tied to a wire somehow..that wouldn't work for me cause when we jam i have to move around the room to set up the tracks in the daws and operate the board.
or is the wrist band wireless?

No its on a wire, can you take it on and off? or at least touch a ground potetnional before you touch your gear? Also do you have a guitar in your hand when you adjust the faders? Is your GTR amp grounded properly?

my amps are well grounded, the wireing here is good also.all plugs test correct.
i get static with or without the guitar in my hands.
it's my first winter in this house as i bought it last oct. so i suspect it will stop as summer gets closer and the forced air furnace stops.in the meantime i will use one of those bracelets on and off.
i remember what they are now,the bracelets you use when working inside computers and stuff.
im looking into some spray too that someone suggested.
thanks for the reply..

Shoes?

It could be your shoes - do you always wear the same shoes?

You could try wearing anti-static dissipative shoes or buying antistatic straps to place over your shoes to ground any static charge.

Static discharge is not an equipment grounding problem if your equipment is already properly connected using 3 pronged AC cords....it is a difference in charge potential between you and the grounded equipment you touch caused by you moving through the air, plus carpeting or other fabrics...scuff your feet quickly and and touch a large bare metal object and you'll get a nice healthy static shock!
A couple of things you can do to fix it:
If you can get a section of electrostatic mat they come with a snap (metallic) on them to attach an electrostatic wrist strap.
Put that on your desktop under your board. Orient the metallic snap so you can easily touch it or connect a wrist strap to the mat and use the strap.
Before you touch anything else in your room touch the metallic snap on the mat or wrist strap. If you get up and move around you should get in the habit of touching that metal snap on the mat or picking up the wrist strap (it only takes a second)
This will safely discharge you and bring you to the same potential as the rest of the equipment in the room..
If you are sliding around on a chair or sitting at a mix position you could wear the static wrist strap and they're designed to be un-snapped from the coil cord so you can get up and walk around leaving the wrist strap on your wirst....eventually the weather will change and you won't notice the problem as much