Electro-acoustic guitar + distortion pedal = too much extra noise >> what to do?

TECHNINOT

Member
Electro-acoustic guitar + distortion pedal = too much extra noise >> what to do?

Dear friends,

In my recording work I like to noise-up some of my songs with electric guitar sounds but I possess only one guitar - a Martin OMX series electro-acoustic. I love it. The problem may well be the FISHMAN built-in pick-up, but in any case, as soon as I open up the pedal, it provides not only great distortion sound but, unhappily, very disturbing auxiliary noise as well. I record onto a TASCAM DP-24SD.
The only "solution" I have found so far is to put the pedal on the floor, then place a bare foot on it (I'm not joking!). This works, but it's not really comfortable and, who knows, may it be dangerous!

Anybody got an idea as to how to save my sound,
and my foot?

Thank you ever-so much.
TECHNINOT
 
The answer is very simple: I don't have room in my micro-studio for another guitar. Secondly, I LOVE my guitar, the way it feels, the way it lives in my hands and sings to my heart. I am basically not an expansionist in terms of equipment, I am already truly grateful for the tools I possess.
 
Probably a grounding issue. You could put a gate on it and set it to the floor where you don't hear the noise, or ground the case of the pedal board to something.
 
Yes, it sounds like a ground issue if the noise goes away when you touch the pedal. Are you powering the pedal with an AC adapter? If so, try a battery. If battery is not an option, try a different power supply. I found that my Korg tuner, when set up on the separate tuner output from my Radial PZ-Pre created a hum when I powered it with the same power supply that was powering (using a daisy chain supply) the other pedals in the direct chain (except the Radial, which has a 15 supply of its own). Powering it with a different supply, or by battery got rid of the hum.
 
Now it feels like I'm getting close to solving the problem. The two pedals I use function with batteries, so it's not that the problem. The word "ground" has come up in my mind on several occasions but I have no idea as to how to create such a thing. How about a little hint? Where I record there is no plumbing, if that's what is necessary, and everything in my studio is powered from a multi-plug base whose original source is down the hall. What to do?
 
Ok, so the pedal is battery powered, then you should not have a ground loop issue.

With everything on, and the 'noise' happening, what happens if you touch the guitar jack (the metal part)? I'm not familiar with the Martin's Fishman but I know with my Taylor that has a balanced output, there is an inline fuse inside it - and if it blows, there is a hum.
 
Yes, in fact, if I touch the guitar jack, or even if I put my hand on the Tascam, the noise becomes reduced. So far, my bare foot on the pedal gives the best result, but it's not summer anymore here in Switzerland :-) As to the question of an inline fuse (?): if I realpass through the pedal without applying the effect, there's no problem, it sounds alright (except for the fact that I really don't like the sort of Ovation sound that the Fishman pickup has.
 
Yes, in fact, if I touch the guitar jack, or even if I put my hand on the Tascam, the noise becomes reduced. So far, my bare foot on the pedal gives the best result, but it's not summer anymore here in Switzerland :-) As to the question of an inline fuse (?): if I realpass through the pedal without applying the effect, there's no problem, it sounds alright (except for the fact that I really don't like the sort of Ovation sound that the Fishman pickup has.

OK, so the noise only happens when the pedal is active? Then the pedal is hte problem, there is something messed up in its circuit.
 
OK, so the noise only happens when the pedal is active? Then the pedal is hte problem, there is something messed up in its circuit.

I'm not sure that is actually the case. Since the pedal is a distortion box, it is adding a lot of gain which will turn up low level noise to the point that it is a problem. It sounds more like a ground problem.
 
Well, my first suggestion would be to use plugins in the DAW, except I see you're not using a DAW. So, I'll suggest getting a better pedal - something digital with really good emulations will have less noise. Analog distortion is inherently noisy, and the design may be making assumptions about impedance and even magnetic pickups that is really incompatible with the UST in your guitar. I had a Line 6 M5 that was great and had a boatload of usable sounds. I gave it to Guitars 4 Vets when I decided no more electric stuff, and you're in CH, so no help, anyway. There are other multi-FX pedals, so I'd be looking at something like that, and they do generally require AC/mains power, but I know my Line 6 was really quiet, which is why I liked it (used only for recording, in church 2x). It was limited to a single effect at a time, but there are other models that support multiple effects, like the M9 & M13, and maybe they've got a Helix-based version now.
 
Yes. Because, in fact, the same thing happens with two different effect pedals. But, I still find myself facing the same question - if it's a ground problem, WHAT DO I DO? As I mentioned already, the juice is coming from a down-the-hall source and there is no sort of plumbing readily accessible in my home studio. In the mean time, I'm obliged to use the presets in my Tascam, which are pretty good, but well, you know... when you wanna make a Martin electro-acoustic sound like a Les Paul with an Eric Clapton-sized distortion (of the CREAM period)...
 
Ah, okay... in fact I was thinking about getting a BOSS GT-1 - not too expensive - for discovering digital multi-FX pedals. What do you think?
And by the way, thank you for your very thorough response.
 
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