Make it stop!!!!

[Teleblooz]

Lately I'm on a quest to get the @#$%^ buzz out of my system, and I feel like I'm stuck. Any help would be appreciated.

I play a MIM Std Tele with a SD Lil 59 in the bridge into a rev C Blues Jr, through a pedalboard as follows:
Cry Baby wah
Danelectro Tuna Melt tremolo
Ibanez Super Tube overdrive
Ibanez SC-10 Super Chorus

The steps I've already taken include shielding the Tele per instructions from GuitarNutz, and I just finished doing the BillM reverb mod (which works fantastic by the way).

I've got it to where everything's nice & quiet with just the guitar plugged into the amp. Now it seems like it's come down to the pedalboard. I power all 4 stomp boxes from a single wall-wart transformer, which I've mounted on the board itself, with an extension cord going to the AC outlet.

When I plug the active pedalboard into the amp, whether the guitar is plugged in or not, I'm getting painfully apparent 60-cycle buzz. I've tried using a wall-wart at the AC outlet to get the transformer itself out of proximity to the signal line, and while this does lessen the buzz, it's only just barely.

For experimentation purposes, I tried running the boxes off batteries (at least the ones where I can get to the battery compartment without dismounting them from the board). Lo and behold, it works fine. While there's a little noise contribution, it's no more than you'd expect from adding anything to the signal chain.

So am I stuck with buying s$%&loads of batteries for the rest of my days, or is there something else I can do so I can run off AC?

[Lance]

You didn't mention what type of power supply you're using. That sounds like your problem. A decent supply can make a huge difference. I use a pedalpower....expensive but I guess it's a once in a life investment. It's dead quiet. However, there are a number of more reasonable alternatives these days.

I've also got a 1-spot....it's a nice backup and very inexpensive....and also quiet. The only problem is that I can't use it to simultaneously feed my effects with reversed polarity.
If you don't have any effects with backward polarity, I'd recommed a 1-spot or any of the other similar supplies.

[bowlfreshener]

+1 on the One-Spot by Visual Sound. Also you might want to look into a noise gate or suppressor. I like the Boss NS-2, and actually get some good results running it first in my chain to get rid of the single coil hum, though you have to make sure its set just right so it doesn't "squash' your sound.

[marc sosnoff]

its seems to be your p/s as mentioned in the above posts
the one spot is very good and isnt very expensive

one other thing if one pedal in your setup isnt working to spec it may cause that problem to so start with one pedal inline add in one pedal at a time to make sure all the pedals are quite

[Lance]

Well....I'd hold on the noise suppressor. He did say that things sound OK on batteries. Power supply first.

[Teleblooz]

Well, after doing a little experimenting, I'm thinking you guys are right in pointing at the power supply scenario. Oddly, it seems that any SINGLE pedal works more-or-less OK on AC power (a little hum, but not horrendous like before), but if I combine 2 or more on the transformer, the problem surfaces.

[backalleyblues]

Definitely sounds like the power supply...
It's very possible that the wall wart is not capable of delivering enough amperage to all your pedals, the chorus being the biggest draw of the bunch. Look at all your pedals, and write down how much current they draw (it will expressed as XXma, or XX milliamps). Add up the total of the pedals, then compare it to your wall-wart's rating...

+1 as well on the One-spot, thing is an absolute champ, and it provides 1700ma of power, more than enough to power your collection...

Franc Robert
Back Alley Blues Band

[bobthecanadian]

Originally Posted by Teleblooz

Lately I'm on a quest to get the @#$%^ buzz out of my system, and I feel like I'm stuck. Any help would be appreciated.

I play a MIM Std Tele with a SD Lil 59 in the bridge into a rev C Blues Jr, through a pedalboard as follows:
Cry Baby wah
Danelectro Tuna Melt tremolo
Ibanez Super Tube overdrive
Ibanez SC-10 Super Chorus

The steps I've already taken include shielding the Tele per instructions from GuitarNutz, and I just finished doing the BillM reverb mod (which works fantastic by the way).

I've got it to where everything's nice & quiet with just the guitar plugged into the amp. Now it seems like it's come down to the pedalboard. I power all 4 stomp boxes from a single wall-wart transformer, which I've mounted on the board itself, with an extension cord going to the AC outlet.

When I plug the active pedalboard into the amp, whether the guitar is plugged in or not, I'm getting painfully apparent 60-cycle buzz. I've tried using a wall-wart at the AC outlet to get the transformer itself out of proximity to the signal line, and while this does lessen the buzz, it's only just barely.

For experimentation purposes, I tried running the boxes off batteries (at least the ones where I can get to the battery compartment without dismounting them from the board). Lo and behold, it works fine. While there's a little noise contribution, it's no more than you'd expect from adding anything to the signal chain.

So am I stuck with buying s$%&loads of batteries for the rest of my days, or is there something else I can do so I can run off AC?

Hey there,

I don't know if it will make any difference to your buzz problem, but have you tried a different pedal order? If it were me I think I would do the following. The signal flow seems to make a little more sense to me.

Cry Baby wah
Ibanez Super Tube overdrive
Danelectro Tuna Melt tremolo
Ibanez SC-10 Super Chorus

or

Ibanez Super Tube overdrive
Cry Baby wah
Danelectro Tuna Melt tremolo
Ibanez SC-10 Super Chorus

Oh, yeah. Having a dedicated power supply is very helpful. I am almost of the opinion that anything is better than using batteries. Oh, yeah. Make sure that you have good cables connecting everything together.

Peace,

Bob

[maestrovert]

are the amp and pedalboard plugged into the same outlet strip, or separately into the wall ?

[Razzamatazz]

Originally Posted by Lance

I've also got a 1-spot....it's a nice backup and very inexpensive....and also quiet. The only problem is that I can't use it to simultaneously feed my effects with reversed polarity.

Visual Sound sells small adapter cables for reversed polarity, voltage doubling, 9V battery clip, those little jacks on the old Ibanez's, you name it. Such an adapter is also easy to DIY: buy a male and female plug and reverse connect them with a piece of cable.

[Teleblooz]

Originally Posted by maestrovert

are the amp and pedalboard plugged into the same outlet strip, or separately into the wall ?

I've tried it both ways. No difference.

[bobthecanadian]

Try adding one pedal at a time until you find the culprit.

[Teleblooz]

First of all , let me say that I really appreciate the responses you guys are giving me. It's nice to have a resource like this forum available. I'm looking at likely fixes:

I use a pedalpower....expensive but I guess it's a once in a life investment.

If I'm understanding the company's website, this device essentially provides a separate power supply for each box - is that right? And yes, they're pretty spendy. Is this what bobthecanadian refers to as a dedicated supply?

Make sure that you have good cables connecting everything together.

Check. Good quality shielded cable, Switchcraft plugs, and very short cable runs.

It's very possible that the wall wart is not capable of delivering enough amperage to all your pedals, the chorus being the biggest draw of the bunch.

This might be pertinent - I haven't had 4 being powered off a single transformer before I put this board together, and it definitely sounds like the 1-spot would solve that, packing 1700mA. But, in the course of my testing & fiddling, I did determine that it starts buzzing if I have as few as 2 pedals plugged in. And I know the wall wart packs enough current for just two - I've run 3-on-a-wart for a year or more. I'm not real clear on what makes the 1-spot special, other than the beefier output. Anyone?

I'm afraid my electronics knowledge is a lot like my guitar playing - 90% hands-on, and just enough theory to thoroughly confuse myself much of the time.

[bobthecanadian]

Recently, somebody in another thread was wondering if the the BOSS TU2 works well as a power supply. And you know what? It works. I think it is cheaper than most power supplies and it even gives you an inline digital tuner, too. Maybe check this out.

Peace,

Bob

[Teleblooz]

Looks like the 1-spot did the trick! Took a drive down to the local GC today & couldn't be happier with the results.

Just for that extra little bit of insurance I picked up a couple of Mogami Gold cables. Set me back about a hundred smackers for the pair, but if they live up to their press I'll be happy. I did notice that with these cables I don't pick up any hum regardless of where I'm standing in relation to the amp. That's an improvement already.

[Montana_Dawg]

The main culprit for noise in pedal chains is the ground loop. The biggest cause of this is the wall wart transformer. Also, the makers of the wall warts tend to skimp on filtering. Both of these make for a noisy supply.

The 1-spot eliminates this because of the serial connection. However, it can be a problem for mixes of pedals that have different requirements.

The Voodoo Labs Pedal Power2, on the other hand, is really the best way to go all around. With each output isolated, the problem of any ground loop is eliminated. It also has different configurations for pedals that have different voltage requirements.

[Lance]

Originally Posted by Razzamatazz

Visual Sound sells small adapter cables for reversed polarity, voltage doubling, 9V battery clip, those little jacks on the old Ibanez's, you name it. Such an adapter is also easy to DIY: buy a male and female plug and reverse connect them with a piece of cable.

Razz....yes - these adapters can change the polarity but that's not the issue. With these power supplies, you want to run more than one effect. If you simultaneously power a positive and negative tipped pedal through the same circuit, you'll short. It won't work.

That's why some of the fancy adapters have separate outputs for each effect. Each effect gets its own supply and there's no short.

To do the same with a 1-spot or Visual Sounds adapter, you still need two adapters. One for the positive tipped and one for the negative tipped pedals.

Montana_Dawg pointed this out as well but I just wanted to highlight this point....it's possible to fry your pedals so be careful.

Regardless, I'm glad the original poster found his solution!!!

[johnnytronics]

Take up keyboard already.

[BobbyB]

Originally Posted by Montana_Dawg

The Voodoo Labs Pedal Power2, on the other hand, is really the best way to go all around. With each output isolated, the problem of any ground loop is eliminated. It also has different configurations for pedals that have different voltage requirements.

+1 on the Pedal Power II
I had noise problems with a One Spot too!
The Pedal Power II has a isolation transformer built inside....totally kills any hum or noise. However...Its Expensive.

[Teleblooz]

Originally Posted by Montana_Dawg

However, it can be a problem for mixes of pedals that have different requirements.

Fortunately all my pedals are the same polarity etc. Actually it's not all luck. On at least one occasion, the power compatibility issue was the deciding factor between two similar pedals.