swampash Posted September 1, 2012 Share Posted September 1, 2012 For a while I have been dissatisfied with some of the on board effects on my Spidervalve mkII 112 amp. I decided to put together my own pedalboard instead of using the Line 6 integrated Shortboard. The pedals I bought are: Electro-Harmonix Memory Boy Electro-Harmonix Micro Pog Ibanez Tube Screamer TS9 Seymour Duncan pickup booster Jim Dunlop Fuzz Face TC Electronics Polytune Ernie Ball Volume pedal Here is a picture of the pedal chain as well as the shortboard above. When I disconnect the Shortboard, there is a huge amount of background noise which cannot be filtered out. I've tried moving some of the pedals in the chain around but the noise persists. It's like a cycling wave of static. Even when all the pedals are inactive, this noise persists. Also when the pedals are activated, there is a serious drop in the output and sound quality of the amp as well as all of all of the pedals. What is causing this noise? When I reconnect the Shortboard the noise goes away and all the pedals work perfectly so it cannot be an issue with the pedals. The shortboard connects to the amp by a cable like a network cable off a computer. I'm wondering if the amp only works with the shortboard but this sounds ridiculous and makes no sense. I've also dialled off all of the onboard effects on the amp but this makes no difference. I'm thinking about doing a factory reset of the amp with the shortboard disconnected to see if this resolves the issue which is happening on all effects banks and patches. I don't want to do this until I have exhausted everything else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CowboyBillyBob1 Posted September 1, 2012 Share Posted September 1, 2012 My first reaction is that your "short board" as you call it has a noise gate in it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Searcy Posted September 1, 2012 Share Posted September 1, 2012 The noise is being caused by your "one spot" power supply. If you run all the effect off batteries there will be less noise but it still will never be as quiet as the built in effects of your Line 6. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Versatile Posted September 1, 2012 Share Posted September 1, 2012 The other 'remedy' is to reluctantly keep the shortboard connected And run the stompers anyway (just to be awkward) V Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brad1 Posted September 1, 2012 Share Posted September 1, 2012 I use something similar to the one-spot (Powerall) and have 9 pedals, and have no problems with noise at all. The problem could be the outlet you have it plugged in to. You didn't say if you have tried a different outlet. So I would do that first. Try plugging it in several different outlets and see if that helps. It can make a major difference. It did in my place. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RaysEpiphone Posted September 1, 2012 Share Posted September 1, 2012 You try by-passing (removing from the chain) each peddle until you find the culprit? What about cable's? They look cheep. I'm not a big fan of Line 6 sound to start with but to each his own. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swampash Posted September 1, 2012 Author Share Posted September 1, 2012 I moved the volume pedal from the front of the chain to the back and strangely the whole thing now works. Makes no sense to me but I'm not going to mess with it now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RaysEpiphone Posted September 3, 2012 Share Posted September 3, 2012 Nice! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdgm Posted September 3, 2012 Share Posted September 3, 2012 So....vol pedal impedance mismatch? I know there are 2 models of Boss footpedal, one made to go at the beginning of the chain and the other to go at the end. I also have a Morley vol pedal which (they say) must go at the end of the pedal chain....not that I'm any kind of expert. Hope it is now sorted and sounding good! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T Bone Posted September 3, 2012 Share Posted September 3, 2012 The Fuzz Face is a notoriously finicky pedal also, and might have been the real culprit. They like to be first in line (which I assume it now is). I have the Hendrix version on my large pedal board, and found I needed to run it before my Cry Baby, as when I ran it after, it sometimes would somehow cancel out the Cry Baby and even kill the signal. Might've been the real cause of your trouble (but the "experts" generally recommend playing with the order in signal chain of all of your effects to see what's best, even though there are "standard" recommendations for various effects types). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swampash Posted September 4, 2012 Author Share Posted September 4, 2012 I think the Fuzz Face was the culprit here. :) It is first in line in the chain now. I'm actually having some issues with it. It isn't delivering anywhere near the amount of Fuzz compared to some videos I've seen on YouTube. In the videos, there is seriously Fuzz with the fuzz knob cranked up a quarter of the way and I don't even come near that with the fuzz knob at 100% I'm buying a brand new Duracell 9v battery on the way home to say if that fixes it or it will be going back to Amazon. It's not even two weeks old. When I got it, I had a couple of 9v battery knocking around so I'm not sure how well charged they were. Unfortunately, it's the only pedal in my chain that relies 100% on batteries as it has no 9v input. :( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Searcy Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 I have a fuzz face and I find it to be a nearly useless pedal for guitar. I like it for bass sometimes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dub-T-123 Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 I have a fuzz face and I find it to be a nearly useless pedal for guitar. I like it for bass sometimes. You should mod it. I like this circuit with much smaller input and output caps. Lowering the input cap takes away some of the overwhelming low end woollyness. Lowering the output cap doesn't affect the character of the fuzz so much but lets less low frequencies through. I've kinda settled on a 100n input cap and 10n output cap. Still has a fuzzy, woolly sound but isn't so muddy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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