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Eliminating Pedal noise?


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i've been fiddling with pedal order and what not trying to get a good sound, i've got it sussed now, but noise is a fair problem!

at the moment im going

guitar > original crybaby > MXR jimi hendrix octave fuzz > marshall jackhammer > amp

FX send > Boss CE5 > Boss DD2 > wholenote DL-8 > Danelectro flange > EHX Small stone > FX return

i've been told running the pedals in the FX loop off a different power supply will help, but my main problem is when having the jackhammer on, i dont have the gain past mid way, but its still making a god awful noise.

and i use the octave fuzz with the fuzz right down because it sounds better just in line with the distortion, however this adds too the noise, despite there being no extra fuzz or gain on it.

and! the 2nd overdrive on my amp, marshall AVT150H, with the gain at 3 hums horribly aswell!

any ideas? noise gate my best bet?

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A decent noise gate will work wonders. It'll not only eliminate pedal noise, it will eliminate the buzz you get from single coils, without sucking any volume or tone, as long as it is a decent gate. NS-2's are cheap, and have their own FX loop. It is open to experiment if you want to keep your pedals in or out of the loop, and place the gate before or after noise making pedals. I put mine right at the start, and I use alot of gain and alot of distortion pedals (often 2 or 3 blended together plus a little bit of amp crunch), and I get no hiss or feedback. Some people like to put their dirt boxes in the loop, but I don't like the sound I get from that, but it depends on the pedal. Some pedals don't respond well to being in the loop for some reason.

Another factor to bare in mind is your power supply. Pedals are really fussy about the power supply. Are you using batteries or a PSU? I had a Dunlop PSU which came with an old wah pedal, and used the TU-2 to daisy chain the rest of my pedals, and it would hiss and howl like hell. You'd think a PSU made especially for pedals would be ideal, but apparently not. I replaced it with a cheap multi voltage powerpack from Woolworths. 2.99, and it is silent. Best one I've ever owned.

One other thing, is that Marshall Valvestate OD channels are very noisey, and there is little that can be done about it. Maybe a good clean of the pots and whatever gubbins are on the inside. I'd recommend just using your distortion pedals on the clean channel if it's an option though.

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Have you tried seeing what happens when you take out the flanger and phaser?

I had a Small Stone and you could usually hear it making a fair old racket in the background even when it was off. I got myself an MXR phase 90 which is far more quiet in operation. Flangers are pretty bad for background noise too. I have an EHX Electric Mistress which can be a bit of a bugger at the best of times. Are the pedals "true bypass"?

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i've tried load of power supplies and i've got a nice quiet one, also a 2.99 job haha.

so with the NS-2 i can run it in line with my distortion pedals and stick my chorus and delays and such in the loop? that sounds pretty handy!

im considering getting more overdrive/distortion pedals so i can do that

cheers for the help

It can work that way, yes. I don't have any FX pedals other than OD/Distortion, so I have never experimented with putting flange/chorus type stuff in there but it seems to be the done thing. I hear mixed things about it dealing with time-based effects like Delay, and other effects where you will set the speed., but some people say it's fine. It really seems to be a lottery, depending on the type of pedals you put in the loop, and even the intensity of the guitar signal, depending on the output of the pickups.

Basically, a noise gate will probably fix all your problems, except the noisey Valvetstate.

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For a while, I used an MXR Smart Gate up front with my pedals (always put the gate nearest the amp so that it takes all of the nosie from all of the other pedals in the chain) and also a Boss NS-2 Noise Suppressor in the loop when I ran a parametric EQ (noisy) in the loop.

I try my best to keep noise to a complete minimum hence the gates in both, but depending on what noises you may like to emphasise will depend on where the gate goes (some may like the excess sound from using a wah pedal so you'd go <guitar - pedal A - gate - wah - amp> if that's what you wanted.

In short - use a single/multiple noise gates and also a good quality (and correct rating) power supply(s).

:)

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Do you use a gate to prevent feedback, or just to get rid of pedal hiss? I found putting the NS-2 at the end of my chain got rid of single coil buzz and pedal hiss, but did absolutely nothing for getting rid of feedback. I should really get another NS-2 and secure my pedals in a Noise Gate prison.

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What power supply or supplies are you using? I heard (although have never personally tried) some of them (such as Dunlop D.C Brick) are known to cause hum.

Get a Voodoo Labs Pedal Power 2, no hum or buzz at all when powering pedals with these things.

I have a PP2+ with 6-7 pedals plugged in and no buzz.

I also have 2 high gain pedals and never felt tempted to use a noise gate but perhaps I don't fully understand how other people are using them. I've never really got along with noise gates very well in general.

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  • 2 weeks later...

after a weekend in glasgow with too much money i am now running:

guitar - Crybaby - Boss NS-2 - FAB Flange - DD-2 - CE-5 - DL- 8 - Small stone - amp

and in the NS-2's loop - Big muff, a 7 band eq pedal - MXR octave fuzz - jackhammer - DS-1

i bought a sound lab power brick, which is powering all my time based effects, and im powering the pedals in the loop by the NS-2, and each EHX has its own power supply and the wah is just a cheap plug and the noise has almost entierly vanished, but i can tell that its the wah and Small stone needing a cleaning out :D

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