Help! May I have some advice on a noise suppressor pedal?

[DrugDM]

Also +1 on the power conditioner...If possible I would avoid a noise gate as they are just horrible for tone and the reason why most pro's do not use them...i had a board professionally built for me a year ago and unless you are using crazy metal type of gain which VH is not, a guitar with good pickups, good cables, good power source should not be very noisey. Additional, what power are you using to power your board?

 

[DrKev]

STOP! If it's hiss, I don't know if the power conditioner will help. (I know, I know, I mentioned the power conditioner, but before I read the word "hiss").

Tell me more about the hiss. Is it worse at high gain?

If the hiss vanishes when you turn down the gain or turn the ODs off, a power conditioner won't help. It's just part and parcel of the hiss that goes with high gain. You're back to noise suppressor.

 

[Tollywood]

STOP! If it's hiss, I don't know if the power conditioner will help. (I know, I know, I mentioned the power conditioner, but before I read the word "hiss").

Tell me more about the hiss. Is it worse at high gain?

If the hiss vanishes when you turn down the gain or turn the ODs off, a power conditioner won't help. It's just part and parcel of the hiss that goes with high gain. You're back to noise suppressor.

Yes, the hiss is worse with the od pedal on, and not very noticeable with the od off. I say "not very noticeable", but the hiss is still there slightly. My old fashioned house wiring may be an issue, though. The system may not be grounded properly.

 

[DrugDM]

That helps and leads me to believe that you need to look at your board. I would strip it down and then add one pedal in at a time until you find the offender. Additionally, how hot do you run your pedals as those are higher gain pedals into a hot rodded Marshal type amp which is a recipe for some hiss...BtW a very nice setup between your guitars, amp, and effects...You are ready to play some stadiums!

 

[DrKev]

The system may not be grounded properly.

Perhaps, but poor ground noise is not hiss. And would not be confined mostly to one OD pedal.

There is always some hiss from an amp or rig. More noticeable at higher volumes but higher gains makes it even worse. In fact there is always hiss in any system we just hope it's so much smaller than the signal we're interested in that it's not an issue. But when we add gain or distortion, the hiss becomes bigger relative to our guitar signal coming out of the speakers and eventually it may become a problem.

If you do get a power conditioner, make sure you can return it if it makes no difference.

 

[tekwerk]

Just for fun, try removing the buffer. The Morley Wah has a buffer built in that seems to be on all the time. I would see if the that quiets the noise down at all.

My amp is a Roccaforte Custom 80. It does not have an effects loop, which I believe I need for the decimator?







korg tuner > buffer > morley wah > wampler pinnacle overdrive > suhr riot overdrive > mxr flanger > mxr phaser > boss digital delay

I'd say my problem is not hum, more of a static hiss. The overdrives are an either/or situation. I never use both at once. The pinnacle is early vh, the riot is set with more gain.

Thank you so much everyone for your replies so far. I will check out that rocktron, Pete.



Is my Buffer pedal a power conditioner? It boosts the signal to get through the long distance to the amp, as far as I know.

 

[beej]

Yeah it's a pain to figure out where the noise comes from. Bad power, too much gain, RF, ground loops ... yada yada yada.

Step 1 for me is always to pull everything apart and try one thing at a time. Amp noisy on it's own? Is it the guitar? A particular cable or pedal? Two pedals together? Etc. As you add stuff, you'll usually find the offending item.

Certainly having a good, isolated power supply for the pedals (Voodoo Labs, etc.) is pretty key. That's an easy one to rule out, esp. for ODs. For hiss ... anything that adds gain (compressor, OD, etc.) is going to increase the noise floor.

 

[Eric O'Reilly]

What about one of those big battery power strips? It draws power to fill the battery and what you plug into it runs only ob the battery power, so i would think that power would be clean, right? I have one, would it work do you think?

 

[beej]

For pedals you want isolation so noise from one doesn't transmit from one pedal to another.

For example, digital pedals like delay often produce a lot of noise and if you share power with an OD pedal it can be amplified. So sharing power from a single battery powered source isn't the best approach. Though sometimes it works fine- just depends what the pedals are, and what gain levels you're playing with.

 

[ozzyrules]

Thank you very much, guys. I will get a power conditioner right away as "step 1" in resolving my problem.

And I will let you be the test dummy for the power conditioner as well.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[paranoid70]

I would just try a Noise Reduction Pedal anyway. I've got a simple BOSS NS-2 running through the effects loop and it works quite well. Some places (like our practice studio) are much noisier than other places. So IMO if you like to play with high gain (and I do!), you should have some kind of Noise Reduction pedal on your board.

 

[paranoid70]

Oh, and definitely use the configuration as follows for setting up the Noise Reduction pedal in your FX loop.

 

[Tollywood]

Hello Eric. Thank you for the excellent diagram. My amp doesn't have an effects loop, though.

So far, I have ordered a furman power conditioner; a cheap one like a power strip. I forgot to mention that I had already ordered a replacement for the boss digital delay pedal, and it arrived yesterday. It is a Catalinbread Belle Epoch Tape Echo. I swapped it onto the board, and I still had the hiss, but I like the delay pedal.

Certainly having a good, isolated power supply for the pedals (Voodoo Labs, etc.) is pretty key. That's an easy one to rule out, esp. for ODs. For hiss ... anything that adds gain (compressor, OD, etc.) is going to increase the noise floor.

Oh, Beej, I forgot to mention that I do have two voodoo labs iso-5's under the big zip ties, just in front of the wah.

So, I unplugged the buffer and there was no change. Then, I lowered the gain knob on my amp from 9:00 to pretty much zero gain and the hiss quieted to the level that I always had before, which I can live with. So, for now I will play like this and await the arrival of the power conditioner to see what that does.

Also, I am going to hook back up the buffer, even though I have one built into the wah. The reason being, it was a gift from my sons and every time I see it I am reminded that they bought it for me with their own money, which is pretty awesome since they are teenagers with very little money. So, I really want that to stay on my board. I'm wicked sentimental.

Thank you everyone for all of your comments. I've enjoyed reading each and every one so far.

I've got a Rocktron Hush (rack mount) that is awesome -- I've heard great things about the pedal version

This will be my next step if the power conditioner doesn't help.

 

[BrickGlass]

I have an ISP Decimator pedal and it is actually quite amazing and truly does not effect the amount of sustain. Really impressive pedal.

 

[DrKev]

Oooh Catalinbread make nice sounding gear!

 

[Tollywood]

Oooh Catalinbread make nice sounding gear!

I chose this one because it sounds close to an Echoplex. It it well built and sounds wonderful. I am very happy with it.

 

[DrKev]

There is something about the echoplex tone that is wonderful. I have a TC Electronic delay and Andy Summer's "Walking on the moon" Echoplex toneprint is my current go to sound.

 

[paranoid70]

Oooh Catalinbread make nice sounding gear!

I just picked up a Sabbra Cadabra disortion pedal over the weekend. I'm still messing with it but so far I am really digging it.

 

[Tollywood]

Well, the power conditioner didn't help. I'll keep it, though.

Next, I will pick up a Rocktron Micro Hush pedal.

 

[QuietSpike]

Yeah, the power conditioner is a must for any tube amp, IMO.

The rocktron micro I think will do the trick... Just make sure it is after everything, but before the delays/reverbs. Good luck