Changing around my pedals... need some advice

thebigcheese

"Hi, I'm in Delaware."
My pedal setup contained all of the following until recently:

Vox V847 wah (modded for true bypass)
Digitech Whammy
BYOC Overdrive 2 (essentially a tube screamer)
BYOC Large Beaver (essentially a Big Muff)
BYOC Tremolo
Digitech DD7 digital delay
Rocktron Banshee

I picked up a new amp recently, a Vox Night Train (which I love), and now that I am using the amp's gain for distortion instead of pedals, I started to notice that there was a lot of hiss coming from my pedal setup. All of the BYOC pedals are true bypass, so at least in theory there shouldn't be any hiss coming from those. So I did a little experimenting and discovered, much to my dismay, that the Whammy and the DD7 are really contributing the most to the hiss level (I don't have the Banshee on the board anymore, so I'm not sure about that one). There are plenty of other delays and harmonizers on the market, so it's not a big deal, but it's hard to really tell how much noise a pedal is going to contribute when you're just playing with them at GC where everything is connected at once... So what I want to know is what your experience is with various delay and harmonizer pedals, both bypassed and on. For instance, the DD7 contributes hiss when bypassed, then it contributes even more when I turn it on, so ideally, I wouldn't have hiss in either instance. True bypass would be ideal; I think it's a fairly simple matter to mod the EHX pedals for true bypass, but I'd still like to know about the noise level when they are active.
 
I have similar 'problems' with the whammy, but they're not really problems for me as I really like noise and jangly feedback. That said, there are times when I want a completely silent clean signal.

I have a Radial Loopbone that divides my effects into different lines, so when I want a clean signal I simply deselect Line A, which is the whammy into an OCD. Loop 2 is a Catalinbread Ottava Magus into a Moog Ring Mod. Having different FX lines greatly decreases the amount of signal loss when you're using a lot of pedals, and cuts down on the tapdance. I can turn four pedals on with one foot stomp, for example, instead of trying to double tap with both feet.

For what it's worth.
 
Well, I thought about doing that once, but decided it wasn't really worth it considering that I don't actually need most of my pedals for anything... I used the OD2 a lot when I was still using a Blues Jr., but now my Vox distorts so well I only need the OD2 as a boost occasionally. The Big Muff is there in case I ever want fuzz instead of distortion (like if I'm covering Smashing Pumpkins). I like delay, but in terms of actually using it in a song, I have one song where I use it to self-oscillate and another where I actually use it, but that's it. I haven't used any of the other pedals for any song I've ever played... I just like having them because they do cool things :)

I'm thinking that until I have a need for a harmonizer, I'll probably go without. The Whammy isn't that great with more than one note at a time, either, which is kind of unfortunate (though expected, I guess). I notice that all the EHX harmonizers only do octaves (well, the Hog does octaves + fifths); are there other pedals that do something more along the lines of what the Whammy does?

I would like another delay pedal, preferably one that has a looping function so I can practice with myself, but that'll probably be the extent of my needs.
 
Anyone? The TC Nova Repeater seems like a good deal, but I haven't gotten a chance to test it out yet. As usual, the display setup at GC was broken. I'll probably be interested in another noise suppressor at some point, too. The Boss one seems to alter my tone, which I was not too fond of.
 
Has the Night Train got an FX loop? If so, are you using it? I'd suggest you check out an AKAI Headrush II for a pretty versatile delay with some basic looper functionality - it wont break the bank either.
It doesn't at the moment, but there's a guy who does a mod service that adds one, and I don't plan on using delay until I have one--I don't gig much, so I can just add delay with my DAW.
 
Have you checked the power supply adapters to the pedals, it's possible you may have bad power or maybe underpowered current to the pedals. Like maybe a pedal needing 500 milliAmps and the supply is only 200 milliAmps-that would cause a lot of noise from the pedal.....:eek:
 
It's mostly just hiss, the kind you get when you turn up the gain on the amp. I didn't notice it with my Blues Jr. because I was using an overdrive pedal for distortion instead of cranking the preamp, whereas I am now using the preamp for distortion and the overdrive pedal sparingly for boost. The hiss becomes very apparent at the higher gain settings, but it bothers me the most when I am trying to play clean. I expect a certain amount of hiss when I'm distorting, but I hate things ruining my clean tone... As for the pedals, when I was testing them out, I was hooking them up one at a time to my Pedal Power 2 (or, in the case of the Whammy, directly to its own adapter), so there should've been enough current. I've heard that the original Whammy isn't so noisy, so maybe I'll get one of those when I have the money and the need one day in the distant future...

The annoying thing is that I originally bought the Boss DD-7 because my Digitech DigiDelay was so noisy and I figured Boss pedals were better quality. And I was right, but still not noise-free. Is that even really possible? So frustrating...
 
You just need to change your configuration.

Guitar > Amp > Speaker

Pedals > Ebay
 
You just need to change your configuration.

Guitar > Amp > Speaker

Pedals > Ebay
Haha, I'm considering it. I've gotten frustrated enough that I've just been going straight into the amp, which I haven't done in quite some time. I'm starting to find that just about every pedal on my board is there "just in case" more than out of necessity.
 
Back
Top