Buzzing/Hizzing with my Pedals

[CircusPhantom]

Hi everyone

Finally got myself some pedals together in a chain, plugged them all in in the usual chain order and found even at relatively low volumes I get a loud buzzing noise with the guitar volume off.

Just so you all know I use an LTD M-17 with EMG 707 pickups, and a MA50H Marshall Head running through a M421B cab.

My pedal chain consists of so far:

Boss TU-3---> JF-38 Boost Pedal---> Line 6 "Uber Metal" Dist Pedal---> JF-11 EQ pedal---> Boss CS-3 Compressive Sustainer---> JF-31 Noise Gate pedal. All powered by a CP-05 Multi adaptor if it makes a difference

I use fender leads through them all (although the small ones for inbetween the pedals obviously )

I've moved the pedals around and away from the amp but still seem to get that annoying Buzz, and when at high volumes that I need to play live it's very loud and prominent.

Beginning to really get on my nerves here

Any help or advise about how to reduce the buzz would be much appreciated guys

Thanks Cian (Poric)

 

[ZeroS1gnol]

Usually a power supply that can't supply enough power can increase the amount of hiss you get from your pedals. There are quite some power boxes with 5 or more outputs for pedalboards, but just because they have 5 outputs, that doesn't mean it can provide power to any 5 pedals. What bugs me however, is that you don't seem to have high power demanding pedals in your chain, and you have a noise gate, which in theory should cancel out all hiss when not playing.

You need to locate the issue by deduction; take out pedals/patch cables from chain one by one until hiss is gone. If it's gradually decreasing, I suspect the power suplly is the culprit. You can try if the hiss persists when powering your pedals with batteries.

You may also need to check your guitar's electronics.

 

[Guitarmiester]

My experienced guess at the culprit pedal is the Line6. They're well known for causing buzz/hum when using any non-Line6 adapter. Like mentioned above, hook up each pedal one by one to find the problem.

 

[TheWarAgainstTime]

^yep! I think that's why Voodoo Lab has separate outputs with higher voltages for Line 6 and bigger Boss pedals on their pedal power supplies.

I used to get similar noise from my DD-20 until I got a separate adapter for it that puts out a higher voltage since those pedals pull a LOT of power for a 9V pedal. Since then the noise hasn't been an issue

 

[CircusPhantom]

The CP-05 Adaptor that I use has 8 outputs!!!!

I don't even use them all and am actually a little worried about the quality of the adaptor....
Yea my Noise Gate is a JOYO Pedal which again makes me worry about the quality of it......... I Have tried putting the threshold of max but all it seems to do is stop the feedback from the string, and does nothing for the buzz.

I've removed all of the Pedals and linked them up one by one, they ALL seem to add some small buzz which I expected but the loudest are: The Noise Gate, The CP-15 Distortion, The Line 6 and the Tuner.

And yes I've been a little worried about my guitars electrics but am getting it checked soon.

What's a Voodoo lab?? and is it worth looking into?? Or is it even worth hooking each one up to its own 9V adaptor??

Thanks for the Replies
Cian (Poric)

 

[ZeroS1gnol]

What's a Voodoo lab?? and is it worth looking into?? Or is it even worth hooking each one up to its own 9V adaptor??

Thanks for the Replies
Cian (Poric)

Voodoo lab is a brand that makes decent power supplies. But really, I can can recommend getting a Visual Sound One Spot. It will cost you less than 40 bucks and this thing outclassed my Cioks power supply which cost me more than 100. Hooking up every pedal to its own psu doesnt make sense, you will not gain much from that, only cost you more money.

You must take in account that pedals will always generate some hiss on your signal, especially when your amp is on a high gain channel. There are however options to reduce these problems. For example, get a looper switch/pedal, preferably true bypass. When you put the pedals in a loop you eliminate them from your signal chain when not using them.

I used to get similar noise from my DD-20 until I got a separate adapter for it that puts out a higher voltage since those pedals pull a LOT of power for a 9V pedal. Since then the noise hasn't been an issue

I had that exact same problem with my DD20 when I put it on my board.

 

[Guitarmiester]

The CP-05 Adaptor that I use has 8 outputs!!!!

I don't even use them all and am actually a little worried about the quality of the adaptor....
Yea my Noise Gate is a JOYO Pedal which again makes me worry about the quality of it......... I Have tried putting the threshold of max but all it seems to do is stop the feedback from the string, and does nothing for the buzz.

I've removed all of the Pedals and linked them up one by one, they ALL seem to add some small buzz which I expected but the loudest are: The Noise Gate, The CP-15 Distortion, The Line 6 and the Tuner.

And yes I've been a little worried about my guitars electrics but am getting it checked soon.

What's a Voodoo lab?? and is it worth looking into?? Or is it even worth hooking each one up to its own 9V adaptor??

Thanks for the Replies
Cian (Poric)

A noise gate/suppressor will not kill the 60hz hum you're probably dealing with. I haven't used a Joyo pedal and only know that they're clones, but wouldn't worry about that being the root of your problem.

If the distortion pedals seem to be the loudest, try totally unplugging every other pedal from both the power supply and your signal chain, leave the distortions powered, try each pedal separately in front of your amp and then pull the power to the pedal not in your signal chain. I've seen pedals cause buzz/hum just from still being powered but not actually being ran through the signal, if that makes any kind of sense. Example:

My board has always been silent until I added a Vox DelayLab. Added it to my board and there was a very noticeable 60hz hum that made me think my TC Electronic Flashback was acting up out of the blue and the source of the hum. I'd still have the hum when isolating my delays until I noticed that when I pulled the power to the DelayLab the hum was immediately gone and it wasn't the Flashback.

I have no idea if that makes any sense even though it does in my head. I blame my crazy work day if that was senseless babble.

 

[Albionic]

I have found tuners play havoc with digital pedals such as delay so i ran mine with a battery or a separate power supply back when a had a pedal board

 

[CircusPhantom]

So do you run your Visual Sound Spot One with a Daisy chain then Zero S1gnal? and I have indeed been thinking about a looper... Does the looper eliminate all connection to the pedals
in one loop when not in use, like take away the hum/buzz from them??

Yea thanks Guitarmeister it does kinda make sense
So its worth seeing de-powering pedals when not in use then.. Huh Will try that out for sure.

Thanks for all the help guys, Will try out your suggestions then report back

Cian (Poric)

 

[TheWarAgainstTime]

I have a 1-spot as well, and I'm not sure it'd solve the problem you're having with your current power supply since the outputs on it aren't isolated. This means that you're basically spreading the regular 9V power over several pedals way too thin, so some may be underpowered and have the the same noise problem as before.

A true bypass looper takes whatever pedal/pedals are in the loop completely out of the equation, so no noise or signal loss from pedals you aren't using when the loop is off.

 

[ZeroS1gnol]

So do you run your Visual Sound Spot One with a Daisy chain then Zero S1gnal? and I have indeed been thinking about a looper... Does the looper eliminate all connection to the pedals
in one loop when not in use, like take away the hum/buzz from them??

Yea thanks Guitarmeister it does kinda make sense
So its worth seeing de-powering pedals when not in use then.. Huh Will try that out for sure.

Thanks for all the help guys, Will try out your suggestions then report back

Cian (Poric)

Yeah, I use a daisy chain. I do have to note that it depends on your pedals, local power situation etc if you will have ground loop issues because of this (also hiss, something you might also need to take a look at).

I have a 1-spot as well, and I'm not sure it'd solve the problem you're having with your current power supply since the outputs on it aren't isolated. This means that you're basically spreading the regular 9V power over several pedals way too thin, so some may be underpowered and have the the same noise problem as before.

Isolated outputs will take care of ground loop issues, so thats always better. However, what makes the 1spot such a good choice, is because it has a lot of power to distribute. Volt isnt shared, Ampere is. The 1spot can deliver 1700mA, which is quite a lot for a small rig.

So basically what Im saying is you need to decide wether taking out all the buzz is worth the price. An isolated psu is expensive. A looper+1spot will probably cost less.

 

[CircusPhantom]

So is there any particular looper that you guys would recommend? The Boss one? The MXR one???

The 1 Spot is looking like a good idea, BUT I'm in Britain so I need an adaptor which may defeat the entire purpose wouldn't it :/

 

[ZeroS1gnol]

So is there any particular looper that you guys would recommend? The Boss one? The MXR one???

The 1 Spot is looking like a good idea, BUT I'm in Britain so I need an adaptor which may defeat the entire purpose wouldn't it :/

The Boss line selector is not true bypass, I dont know about the MXR. I used to be on the guitargeek forums and people there kept on raving about loopers from these builders:

True Bypass Looper - Loop-Master Pedals

About the one spot: they sell these everywhere, so also in Britain, Im sure. Most music stores sell these, so also with UK power ends.

 

[jase]

I had a 1-Spot adapter for a while but it was really noisy. Even when plugged into just one pedal it was noisy.

Try to plug your adapter into a different wall outlet as your amp, or to the same one as the amp to see if it makes a difference. In the room I play in, using different power outlet reduces the noise significantly. I have a Joyo overdrive, and also a TS9, but they are both noisy as hell if plugged into the same power outlet as the amp. I have the Joyo multi adapter but that didn't make a difference. Nowadays I just use 9V batteries.

Also check the grounding points of your guitar.

 

[Vrollin]

Another thing which may help, if you have an issue with dirty power at home, is to get a surge board like the belkin ones which provide surge protection and power filtering, they are ones targeted at use with stereos etc.... Could help, might not, but still with the shot as everyone should protect their gear from surges etc

 

[jase]

Another thing which may help, if you have an issue with dirty power at home, is to get a surge board like the belkin ones which provide surge protection and power filtering, they are ones targeted at use with stereos etc.... Could help, might not, but still with the shot as everyone should protect their gear from surges etc

I use a surge protection board but it doesn't help with lowering the hiss and hum... What about a power conditioner? Those Furman ones commonly used in racks are relatively cheap, should be worth looking into.

 

[TheWarAgainstTime]

I use a surge protection board but it doesn't help with lowering the hiss and hum... What about a power conditioner? Those Furman ones commonly used in racks are relatively cheap, should be worth looking into.

An actual surge protection board is probably your best bet for noise, but a Furman unit won't help your situation unless you get one of the super high end/expensive models that do the same job as your board anyway. Up to a point, they're just a glorified power strip, sometimes with lights.

If your guitar is properly grounded and the surge protection board is doing its job right and filtering, etc. then it's your pedals and/or power supply causing the noise.

 

[espmetalhead]

I run a Sanyo Pedaljuice for powering my pedals, the setup time for big gigs was much faster not having to worry about where front of house power is. With that said there is some slight hiss, when I run the 1 spot it gets really bad. Those pedaltrain/voodoo labs power supplies seem to be the way to go. I run a monster rack power conditioner and even with that the hiss was crazy bad with the 1 spot. I think my culprit pedal was the boss TU2 or the TS808

 

[JordanStGodard]

I've had this problem before. It ended up being due to the grounding in my house. Here's some tips that I've found helpful:

1. Check ALL of your cables. Patch and Instrument. The best way to do this if you don't have any equipment to check is to plug in the cable into your amp and place your finger on the end not connected. Wiggle the cable around to ensure you still get a constant "noise". If the signal cuts out, then it's possible that cable is bad. Be sure to repeat this process with both sides of the cable in the amp. This will ensure your cables are in working condition.
2. Check your guitar electronics (plug straight into the amp) for the buzzing. If you get buzzing or radio stations coming through, then it's likely that you may have a grounding issue in your guitar or electricity or a low battery if using active pickups.
3. After checking these things, add one pedal to the chain, without a power supply (using a 9V battery or equivalent) and check for hum by turning the pedal on/off. Do this for every pedal individually without a power supply. This will ensure your pedals are in working condition.
4. After, try connecting the power supply to ONE pedal individually and check for hum by turning the pedal on/off. Repeat for all pedals.
5. Next, try connecting all pedals together with the power supply. If the above steps had no issues, then it has to be your power supply.

 

[CircusPhantom]

I've had this problem before. It ended up being due to the grounding in my house. Here's some tips that I've found helpful:

1. Check ALL of your cables. Patch and Instrument. The best way to do this if you don't have any equipment to check is to plug in the cable into your amp and place your finger on the end not connected. Wiggle the cable around to ensure you still get a constant "noise". If the signal cuts out, then it's possible that cable is bad. Be sure to repeat this process with both sides of the cable in the amp. This will ensure your cables are in working condition.
2. Check your guitar electronics (plug straight into the amp) for the buzzing. If you get buzzing or radio stations coming through, then it's likely that you may have a grounding issue in your guitar or electricity or a low battery if using active pickups.
3. After checking these things, add one pedal to the chain, without a power supply (using a 9V battery or equivalent) and check for hum by turning the pedal on/off. Do this for every pedal individually without a power supply. This will ensure your pedals are in working condition.
4. After, try connecting the power supply to ONE pedal individually and check for hum by turning the pedal on/off. Repeat for all pedals.
5. Next, try connecting all pedals together with the power supply. If the above steps had no issues, then it has to be your power supply.

Well thats one .... of a Helpful answer right there I'll try all the steps man