How to get round loss of signal?

shaunm

I was testing out my amps today plugged in as normal through my pedalbord which has 10 pedals and an ABY pedal after the drives. 

Today i was playing through the board and then i plugged in just using the ABY and the difference in clarity of signal was noticeable. 

Have you guys noticed this on your boards before? If so what did you use to get around it? Is this where the Gigrig side of thing comes into play? 

This is my board https://imgur.com/gallery/bx8YLLM

skunkwerx

Have you tried removing one pedal at a time to see if you can isolate a tone sucker? 

You got atleast 2 buffers in there, and I think Mxr's are buffered too? 
So the signal should be strong enough really so I wouldnt have thought it could be due to cable length/amount of pedals there. 

shaunm

@skunkwerx that’s the conclusion I came to too. 

Would a Gigrig QM-8 suit (so long as I can work with only 8 pedals).

Also on a side note, if I had a QM8 how do I add in the ABY as I currently split the signal after the drives.

meltedbuzzbox

The boss pedals ahould provide a buffered boost to the single if the are in the chain at all times.

Are you using really cheap leads/do you have a duff lead?

Sporky

It could just be a cumulative loss of signal strength through that many stages (Boss included).

People tend to perceive that as a loss of clarity and oomph when it's actually just slightly lower level. So you may not need to do anything other than turn up slightly and stop worrying. 

ICBM

The Phase 90 isn’t true bypass and will be the biggest problem there, but if it’s after either of the Boss pedals it won’t matter.

As Sporky said it’s probably just a small level loss. It may sound flippant but the right solution is just to turn up slightly, and most importantly stop comparing the board to the straight-in sound. If you had it sounding how you wanted with the board, it doesn’t matter if there’s a difference.

shaunm

Perhaps it is a case of investing in better leads? 

So you guys don’t see the value in getting a Gigrig type set up? Edit - I don’t mean that how it reads. I mean in my case is there a value to it? I know that I will get a clearer signal and there is an advantage of getting an easier option of switching between pedals.

Downside is that I’d need to spend £270 on the QM-8.

meltedbuzzbox

I'd only get the gigrig if the switching solution adds value.
If you are getting by without it I wouldn't bother.
I have one because it makes switching a lot easier when playing and singing. The tone difference thing is very debatable unless you are looking at a g2 which offers all kinds of witch craft

Sporky

shaunm said:

Perhaps it is a case of investing in better leads? 

So you guys don’t see the value in getting a Gigrig type set up?

With that many pedals it might make a difference, but with some of them being buffered... who knows.

And as Mr Buzzbox says, the Gigrig is only "worth it" if the switching side is useful to you. 

shaunm

As good as the G2 is I just wouldn’t get any use from the patch functionality. The QM though I’m sure I would