In an attempt to stabilise the revolving door of pedals I would like to arrange the favourite pedals on a board so as to get a set up I like and get used to it. But the fuzz I like doesn't get on with a few other elements of the signals chain. The fuzz is a Little Bear Woolly Mammoth clone, but I've also tried it with a Dr J fuzz face. I imagine the same problems with a Fuzz Factory. The stuff it doesn't get on with are as follows:
The Wireless system I use to avoid ground hum - I think it's low impedance so effectively a buffer, so the fuzz goes nuts with that before it. It sounds better if I use a TC Teleporter receiver, Jack plug to XLR into that, then Jack to the pedal. But that's a big amount of faff, albeit a faff that works (without any other of the problematic stuff in the chain)
The Digitech Whammy - tried it before and after the Fuzz and it seems to add a lot of noise to it. Might be a power supply issue though as it was plugged into a standard 9v supply which may not be the best quality whereas the normal non-thirsty pedals are on a Trex isolated supply.
The Boss Multi Overtone - as it's a buffer it cacks the fuzz out whether it's straight before or straight after it, do have to make sure if I use it after the Fuzz there's another non buffer pedal between them. This pedal sounds absolutely awful without fuzzy drive so unfortunately needs to be on with the fuzz.
So what to do?
- I have a Loop Switcher I could try to employ, in fact I'd like to use that to make switching easier but I'm fairly sure I can't find a way to set it to help
- do I replace the fuzz? A Dod Carcosa? On my GSP1101 I actually use a Mesa Triple Rec amp model instead of fuzz, so maybe a Rectifier type drive pedal might work instead? Digitech Grunge is also an unlikely candidate as I also use that on the Gsp too.
- is there a hack that I could employ to use a Woolly Mammoth/Fuzz Factory type fuzz alongside other things?
Slightly problematic also is that I don't have an amp at the moment so this could be exacerbated by having to run the trial and error diagnostics through the digital GSP1101, but I'm fairly sure this was the case with the amp as well.
Any tips and hints and suggestions on how others do this would be greatly received.
I was looking at the chap from Muse's set up as I thought he used the fuzz factory as loop switchers but I think he just has the pedal built into the guitar presumably for the same reasons!
Thanks
Comments
Or if you're determined to avoid the ground hum what about running
Guitar - > cable - > fuzz (on a battery) - > wireless - > rest of board?
The Whammy and Boss problems still occur regardless of the wireless system's involvement, the resting noise is just write without the wireless
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The Whammy, and any digital pitch shifting pedals, will most likely add noise if not run on an isolated power supply.
Guitar - > cable - > fuzz (on a battery) - > wireless - > rest of board = made the most horrendous high pitched whistling noise that could only be stopped by turning off the GSP and switching it back on again. As soon as I played a note... High pitched whistle. Bizarre.
I also tried the wireless at the end of the chain sending to the GSP which sounded no different to cabling it, or didn't remove the hum.
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Brace yourself, there's a stupid question coming here. If the whammy is on a different power supply to every other pedal, but on the same extension lead, does the supply to the Whammy still need to be an isolated one? It's not something I've ever considered before, I thought it was only if it was using the same power supply
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You could get a Harley Benton power plant junior as the doubler cable on that will give you enough power to run the whammy, and doesn't make any noise.
What Christian is saying here but is too polite to say it outright, is you need to buy a Magnetic Effects fuzz such as the solar bender or white atom, which work fine with buffers
trust me, you will not be disappointed. I get so much great feedback about them at shows and via email. Plus you can take my endorsement too, for what it’s worth!
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If you're not using an amp, is any part of the signal chain earthed? I can't remember if the GSP1101 is - if not, that may explain the amount of noise. You shouldn't need to use a wireless to cure noise issues in the UK, since equipment should be earthed.
Personally I've lost patience with pedals which don't work with other pedals, buffers, power supplies etc and tend to think of it as just bad design, but maybe that's just me...
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
It's not just the GSP there have been the humming/buzzing problems with, I've done various threads on it in the past and it has happened with (but not limited to) a Hot Rod Deluxe, Pro Junior, HT5, Lil Night Train, Supro 1605r, Vox Brian May Special, as well as preamps such as Marshall JMP1, Mesa V Twin, Zoom G3, and latterly the GSP. I don't actually know whether it's ground hum or not really, that's just what I call it, but I always seem to have problems with the same thing, single coils or humbuckers, pedals or no, amps or no.
Agreed, If I didn't dislike acoustic music so much I'd happily just give up on life and do that instead
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All in the same house? If so, get your mains earthing checked.
You don't need to - just avoid any pedals which aren't properly designed. I've stopped using anything other than Boss and a very few others, all of which have buffered switching and are largely immune to noise and power supply issues. The DOD Grunge is, but the more modern recent Digitechs with the click switch probably aren't.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
The whammy is on its own supply, I think though it is DC on the Whammy 5 whereas on previous versions it was AC.
Re avoiding badly designed pedals yes there is that, it's a shame as I've only relatively recently realised the Fuzz Factory/Woolly Mammoth are the fuzz noises I was after but I don't know of any "play nice" pedals which do that sound. The Boss fuzzes seem more vintage based, maybe Carcosa could do it enough but I'm not sure.
I do have an HX FX (which also seems a bit noisy like wind blowing through a digital ether) which I've not properly got to grips with which has the Fuzz Factory and Bit Crusher so I may have to give that another go with the wireless, but it does seem silly to have such a large unit and then use more "outboard" pedals with it than I'm using on the unit! (overdrives, Octavia, Whammy, overtone). But I suppose if it works...
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"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
Brace yourselves again for a ridiculously stupid question. Two in fact.
Are some people just more susceptible to noise than others? As it seems to follow me specifically around, with new and used kit that others have used without issue. I suppose the likelihood that I’m doing something wrong in general is more likely than me being a walking Tesla coil but thought worth an ask. I don’t wear nylon kickers, if that helps.
Secondly, I’ve tried using Ground Isolators (an Orchid one and a cheap Behringer one) which I thought in theory should do the same job as the Wireless, but require less space and less power and cables etc. But bizarrely they don’t, without the Ground isolator it’s ground noise until I touch the strings or something metal, with the Ground isolator it’s the other way around ie the same noise starts when I touch the strings. Any clues on that while we’re at it?!
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