Help me troubleshoot my problem!!!

W

whattaguy

New member
Here's my gigging gear and the order of my pedals:

G&L Legacy HB

Sonic Research Strobe Tuner
Maxon OD9
ProCo Rat (Big Box)
Boss DD5 with tap tempo
Line6 DL4
Dunlop Volume/Wah

Roland Cube30, Fender Custom Vibrolux Reverb, or Johnson J-Station

On Saturday night, I practiced for a couple of hours with all my pedals going through the J-Station and everything worked fine. However, on Sunday morning at church, things started not to work when I used the Cube30. There was a weird delay and linear volume fade happening. Sometimes the guitar would delay or completely fade out. It would then come back after a few seconds. I thought it was my DL4 or Dunlop Volume/Wah, so I took them out of the chain. Things worked. However, during worship at mid song, the volume would cut out again. It was very frustrating and embarrassing.

If it's the amp, what could be the problem? It might be my cables, which I haven't checked, but I used them the night before with no problems. What else could be the issue?

Thanks. Your help and insight is much appreciated!
 
There's no easy answer. Even if you have loads of experience troubleshooting and repairing your own gear, each situation has its own variables. But, what I would do is ask myself a string of questions.

  1. How often does the sound cut out?
  2. Does it return to full volume on its own right away? Or.....
  3. Do I have to persuade it (with a smack or a kick) to return?

If you are smacking the amplifier to get your sound back, the problem is obviously the amplifier (likely a cold solder joint on the input jack). If that ain't it, it's a cable or pedal problem. Try your best, and this is difficult (I know, I've tried myself), to use only the tuner and the OD9 for a whole Sunday. If it worked great, add just the Boss DD5 for the next Sunday. Maybe the DD5 and the Dunlop if you feel lucky and/or brave. Now only the Rat and the Line 6 remain. It's asking you to go cold turkey by using just a pedal or two at a time, but you'll get the answer, I promise.
It may be a pedal board power supply problem. It may be a cable. You won't know until you divide and conquer.
 
Eliminate.

First, play directly to your amp for a while, if it plays allright, it's not the culprit.

Then divide the pedals in two, try the first batch, if it messes around, it's something in those pedals, if not, the culprit lies in the other batch. Then try'em one by one.

Go through all the cables, they're often broken.
 
Jouni said:
Eliminate.

First, play directly to your amp for a while, if it plays allright, it's not the culprit.

Then divide the pedals in two, try the first batch, if it messes around, it's something in those pedals, if not, the culprit lies in the other batch. Then try'em one by one.

Go through all the cables, they're often broken.
Click to expand...
ditto ..... the FIRST thing you do is check the cables. The fact that they worked the night before doesn't really mean anything. Everything that breaks works fine until it doesn't.

If it's not cables ..... then follow Jouni's advice. Eliminate everything but the amp and add stuff until it does it again.
I will say that with a pedal board ... I regularly have problems with corrosion on the jacks 'cause I live in Fla. with the salt air and all .... I have to clean them fairly regularly and they will cause the exact problem you've described.
 
whattaguy said:
On Saturday night, I practiced for a couple of hours with all my pedals going through the J-Station and everything worked fine. However, on Sunday morning at church, things started not to work when I used the Cube30. There was a weird delay and linear volume fade happening. Sometimes the guitar would delay or completely fade out. It would then come back after a few seconds. I thought it was my DL4 or Dunlop Volume/Wah, so I took them out of the chain. Things worked. However, during worship at mid song, the volume would cut out again.
Click to expand...
Did you at any stage of your life sell your soul to Satan in exchange for musical prowess? Might not be your gear at all, he just might not dig being in a church. :p
 
Lt. Bob said:
dirty or broken?
Click to expand...

Don't know. When I wiggle the cable end in the board, the signal would crackly then fizzle out. The signal would then come back in after a few seconds.

I haven't got a clue if that's a result of the jack being dirty or broken.

Any ideas?
 
whattaguy said:
Don't know. When I wiggle the cable end in the board, the signal would crackly then fizzle out. The signal would then come back in after a few seconds.

I haven't got a clue if that's a result of the jack being dirty or broken.

Any ideas?
Click to expand...
well I'm not familiar with your board but if it's the output jack of a pedal I'd just about bet it was dirty rather than broken.
And if it's a jack on the pedal board itself I'd still lean towards dirty.

Every musician should have some DeOxit contact cleaner. You can get it at Radio Shack or order it from somewhere like Musicians' Friend for a lot cheaper.
Anyway ..... try some contact cleaner first since it's easy. If that clears it up you're done.
 
Lt. Bob said:
well I'm not familiar with your board but if it's the output jack of a pedal I'd just about bet it was dirty rather than broken.
And if it's a jack on the pedal board itself I'd still lean towards dirty.

Every musician should have some DeOxit contact cleaner. You can get it at Radio Shack or order it from somewhere like Musicians' Friend for a lot cheaper.
Anyway ..... try some contact cleaner first since it's easy. If that clears it up you're done.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I thought I had a bottle of that somewhere. I must've lost it in a move.
I guess I'll go out and get me a bottle of DeOxit.

Thanks!
 
whattaguy said:
Don't know. When I wiggle the cable end in the board, the signal would crackly then fizzle out. The signal would then come back in after a few seconds.

I haven't got a clue if that's a result of the jack being dirty or broken.

Any ideas?
Click to expand...
It sounds to me like a cold solder joint. If the jack is soldered to a circuit board inside the gizmo, then it sounds even more like that to me. Did you tighten the nut that encircles the jack? If that gets loose you could have a grounding problem. If it's a problem with the jack itself you may have to have it replaced.

The cheapo plastic encased jacks that they use nowadays are really crappy.
 
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