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So I accidentally mixed up the Instrument/ Amplifier cables on my Crybaby...

SoloTy

By SoloTy
in Epiphone Electrics

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SoloTy

SoloTy

Posted
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..And when I turned it on, there was an ear-piercing noise like a screaming woman or whimpering dog or something....

It was controllable by both the wah pedal and volume knob on the guitar, and when I say controllable, that means I could change the pitch within like a 1.5 octave range.. It was really cool actually...

So what exactly happened? Does anyone know? I'm utterly confused, but it was rather cool...

Did I do any damage? Let me have it...

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L_Mo

L_Mo

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So you plugged your amp into the crybaby input, and the guitar into the crybaby output?

 

I'm not sure about the shielded/unshielded cable thing, but if you got a high pitched sound it's just feedback. Plugging into the input created an unstable oscillator in the amplifier circuit. It's not that hard to do accidentally - I built a pre-amp manually and if I put a resistor/cap in the wrong spot you can create some wonderfully awful noises. Switching the output/input on the crybaby just set up something similar.

 

The reason you could change the pitch of the noise with your volume and pedal is because the resistors you're adjusting were part of the circuit. By adjusting the resistance with the knobs, you just change the resonant frequency of the oscillator, and hence change the pitch.

 

Anyway, I doubt you damaged anything. Most effects pedals are just passive filters of some kind and your guitar puts out a very small signal. I'd be surprised if you could overload any of the components in the pedal by plugging it in the wrong way... I wouldn't try it, though :-k

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L_Mo

L_Mo

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Hm perhaps I was confused.

 

Originally I was thinking you just connected the guitar to the output and the amp to the input.

 

However, perhaps you meant that you didn't hook it up wrong, you just switched the cables? In this case I can only guess that the capacitance of the instrument cable created the unstable oscillator between the crybaby and the amp. If that's the case I'm a little surprised, b/c the crybaby shouldn't put out that much signal, and that's a pretty beefy capacitance.

 

 

Nice explanation HERE

 

I'm not sure that's exactly what's at play here. The issue in the link you provided is when you accidentally use an instrument cable to connect the amp's output to a speaker cabinet. The amp's output is obviously a very high signal, so the thinner insulated cable could very well melt and cause a short, which would be bad.

 

However, in this case we're talking about the small signals before going through the amp. The crybaby is only powered by a 9V, so any guitar cable can handle that.

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L_Mo

L_Mo

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Be careful with that stuff' date=' I've seen CryBabies go ****-up from having the wires hooked up incorrectly.[/quote']

 

I'll believe you've seen it, but I'm curious how that's possible. If you've switched the input/output on the pedal your guitar is sending a 0.2V (at least, on mine) signal to the output and the amp is sending nothing to the input. That's not enough power to damage anything. At least, it shouldn't be... Maybe it's damaged through a mechanism I don't understand...

 

Now, if you switched the input/output wires with the pedal going between the amp's output and the speaker cabinet... that could do some damage.

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SoloTy

SoloTy

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Hmm... Rereading my post, I'm seeing that I didn't phrase very clearly..

I accidentally plugged the cable from my amp into the intrument side of the wah, and the cable from the guitar into the amplifier side.

L-Mo, you were right the first time..:D

So was Gary thinking that I was mixing up different kind of cables..? Cause I wasn't...

I just tried the reverb/ delay thing... It really was a lot of fun, something I could see doing live someday... :-

Anyways, thanks for the input, all :D

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Funkwire

Funkwire

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Plugging in a wha like that backwards will produce a semi controlable effect like a seagull squawk' date=' Hendrix used that effect a few times. Put some reverb and delay on and have fun.[/quote']

 

I read that Jimi created the seagull effect by putting his headphones around the vocal mic and moving them around to create the different pitches.

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