HORRIBLE experience with Hardwire line at GC

[Big John Studd]

Hey yall. I went to GC after work to try out the Digitech Hardwire line. I've been reading/watching the reviews and so forth, and I wanted to hear the distortion ones mainly. They had the little Hardwire display setup with all of the different pedals bolted down and connected. Man, they were THE NOISIEST pedals I have ever heard in my life! Seriously, the noise just coming from the pedals themselves was unbearable. AND there was an obnoxious click every time I engaged any one of the pedals. I tried different amps and different guitars and the result was the same. Of course you can't actually get anyone to help you at GC so I just kinda left really disappointed. Any ideas? Did I just run into a bad instance of this display unit or what?

[teleNtweed]

Not a representative audition. If you just did not like it then I could accept that but noisy? Nah. I have never played a noisy hardwire. Must have been their set-up. They are true bypass and can sometimes make a pop but not very often in my experience.

[chrisgblues]

If the whole line was that noisy I don't think they would have sold any!

There must have been a ground loop problem with that display unit, or power supply, or bad wiring in the building, or something of that sort.

JMHO.

[Big John Studd]

They were so noisy that honestly I could not even sit there and decide whether or not I liked them. It was weird. I would have loved to just grab a new one out of the box and plug it into an amp, because who knows what sort of rat's nest of instrument and/or power cabling lurks beneath that demo setup that they have. But again, it was GC...no customer service in sight, and I didn't have time to spare.

[gypsyseven]

I had the overdrive and it was more quiet than anything!?

[Suicideking]

Originally Posted by chrisgblues

If the whole line was that noisy I don't think they would have sold any!

There must have been a ground loop problem with that display unit, or power supply, or bad wiring in the building, or something of that sort.

JMHO.

Agreed there are a LOT of things that could be causing the noise, and IMO the pedals themselves are probably not on that list. Bad cables, or even the setup of the effects themselves as well as bad power or ground loops are most likely the culprit....

[smoss469]

Have you seen the GC power setup? It's usually massive amounts of surge protectors plugged into just a few outlets. I can't imagine the amount of power hum they get from their setups! I've tried a few amps that I've actually managed to unhook and move to a free outlet just to get rid of some of the noise!

[Chiogtr4x]

Originally Posted by Big John Studd

They were so noisy that honestly I could not even sit there and decide whether or not I liked them. It was weird. I would have loved to just grab a new one out of the box and plug it into an amp, because who knows what sort of rat's nest of instrument and/or power cabling lurks beneath that demo setup that they have. But again, it was GC...no customer service in sight, and I didn't have time to spare.

Hey big guy it's Joe C!

I tried out ( temporarily bought) the Hardwired Tube OD from GC last year, but I just thought (as with the Bad Monkey) the OD sounded a little too smooth and processed, PLUS the chrome caps that go over the actual plastic knobs became unglued so the chrome caps rotated around the plastic shafts w/o actually turning the pots- 4-5 days after purchase and this was at home, not a gig....just NOT acceptable for $99, and I got my $$ back asap.

[Big John Studd]

Haha...hey Joe. Did you get your MXR Classic OD today? I might go back there and grab one myself...as much as I hate going there.

[Chiogtr4x]

Originally Posted by Big John Studd

Haha...hey Joe. Did you get your MXR Classic OD today? I might go back there and grab one myself...as much as I hate going there.

I edited my post above, and yes I will get another MXR Classic OD tomorrow to use as my "Tube Screamer" and put it right next to my Blues Driver or MXR Classic Distortion(depending upon which amp I use)- makes for a good one-two punch. I can set the BD-2 (or MXR Classic D) as a pure clean boost to the MXR Classic OD (set at high Gain), or just use each separately

edit: hopefully the new MXR won't have the ground noise my old one had (I think I f***ed it up by opening it up too many times, it is cheap...) as I really do dig this OD as a rocker!

[JeradP]

Maybe it was your playing that was noisy...

[Chiogtr4x]

Originally Posted by JeradP

Maybe it was your playing that was noisy...

Yup, John makes a lot of noise when he plays guitar, thank God, he has a great voice! ( kidding, very good player too!)

edit: we have matching "bookend" Midnight Wine Telecasters (Big J is a lefty!)

[Big John Studd]

LOL...no, I even totally unplugged the guitar at one point (I never sounded better!!!!) and there was still horrendous noise coming from the pedals on the rack, mostly from the distortiony ones, but also to a lesser extent from the modulationy ones.

[schenkadere]

Not the pedal line...just a crappy set up at the store.

[jefcon1]

I think a thread titled "HORRIBLE experience with ___________ at GC" would go viral. Truthfully, I could put "Telecasters" in that blank. I've had several HORRIBLE experiences playing Telecasters at GC, but I'm pretty sure they're decent guitars. In fact, I regularly play my Telecaster though my Hardwire Reverb with good results (minus the playing).

[colchar]

I have a Hardwire SC-2 Valve Distortion that I use with my Fender Pro Jr. The PJ is a little bit noisy itself as I still haven't changed the stock tubes but when I plug in the pedal it gets ridiculously noisy. I like the pedal but not the noise and am trading it in towards a MXR Custom Badass '78 Distortion pedal that should arrive at the store sometime this week.

[elicross]

I've got a HardWire DL-8 Delay/Looper that's plenty quiet. Unless the amp you used to audition the pedals was a master volume type with the gain cranked way up, I'd agree it was probably just bad wiring in the demo setup.

[Thighbanez]

I'm fairly certain that the noise was coming from the daisy-chained power supply that they rigged the pedals up to.

find out if they will let you try the pedals individually with a separate power supply each and you will see much lower noise levels....if any noise at all.

[Tele-phone man]

Originally Posted by colchar

I have a Hardwire SC-2 Valve Distortion that I use with my Fender Pro Jr. The PJ is a little bit noisy itself as I still haven't changed the stock tubes but when I plug in the pedal it gets ridiculously noisy. I like the pedal but not the noise and am trading it in towards a MXR Custom Badass '78 Distortion pedal that should arrive at the store sometime this week.

I have the same pedal, and one of the things I liked about it was that it was one of the LOWEST noise pedals I have ever tried. Even at near full-gain, the level of hiss was very small, and there was no hum or buzz.

You cannot judge the noise of a pedal unless you audition it BY ITSELF with a low-noise guitar. Remember, all dirt boxes amplify the noise present at the input. If you precede the pedal under question with a chain of pedals with buffer amps, each one of those will add a minuscule amount of hiss, which the dirt box will then dramatically amplify. Likewise, a noisy guitar will sound REALLY noisy when put through a high-gain circuit. You must also use batteries or a high-quality regulated and isolated power supply to eliminate power supply induced noise. I found that my SC-2 will not tolerate being on a daisy-chain power supply. It insists on its own power supply, or it WILL hum.

Don't count out the Hardwire pedals because of this one experience. Insist on demoing the pedal by itself with a low-noise guitar.

[colchar]

Originally Posted by Tele-phone man

I have the same pedal, and one of the things I liked about it was that it was one of the LOWEST noise pedals I have ever tried. Even at near full-gain, the level of hiss was very small, and there was no hum or buzz.

You cannot judge the noise of a pedal unless you audition it BY ITSELF with a low-noise guitar. Remember, all dirt boxes amplify the noise present at the input. If you precede the pedal under question with a chain of pedals with buffer amps, each one of those will add a minuscule amount of hiss, which the dirt box will then dramatically amplify. Likewise, a noisy guitar will sound REALLY noisy when put through a high-gain circuit. You must also use batteries or a high-quality regulated and isolated power supply to eliminate power supply induced noise. I found that my SC-2 will not tolerate being on a daisy-chain power supply. It insists on its own power supply, or it WILL hum.

Don't count out the Hardwire pedals because of this one experience. Insist on demoing the pedal by itself with a low-noise guitar.

I was using the pedal with just my guitar and amp so there was no daisy-chaining involved for me. I used other pedals (borrowed a couple from my next door neighbor) with the same guitar, amp, and cables and they weren't as noisy.