Pedalboard Noise

[bat]

Hi!
For a couple of decades my setup was Guitar>Cable>Amp.
Now I'm involved with effects and (of course) I've some noise problem.
I've a preamp>
true bypass with tuner>
Compressor>
Overdrive>
Delay>
Xotic Blender with reverb in parallel
High quality cables
High quality and new gear almost all with true bypass
All powered with a Pedal Power

I'm really very happy and excited with the sound but there is a strong "ZZZZZ"
With all the effect "on", Ampli "on" and no guitar input the rig is completely quiet.
When I plug the guitar the noise begin.
I've done some tests:
stay away from the amp and effects
I've turned off the effects one-by-one
I've the same headroom as a direct plug-in (no extreme gain)
The guitar plugged directly on the amp is quiet.
The kind of noise (ZZZZ and not HUUUMM) seem a ground problem and in fact if I don't touch the strings, the same noise become even stronger.
With this level of noise is impossible to make a recording but also play live.
I hope in a help!
Thanks to everybody and sorry for my english.

[Jamingguitarist]

try seeing if a jack on one of the pedals is giving you the problem, or if you have a bad cord or anything like that

[PoorGlory]

Had a similar problem. Get yourself a Boss NS-2 Noise Suppressor pedal. Best guitar pedal noise gate out there. Its great because it has a send and return jack in addition to an input and an output. Run all your fx (except delay and verb) through the send and return path. This way it seperates the guitar from the fx pedals and treats each path separately to always give you the best possible gating action. Worked great for me. Most of my noise was due to high gain and metal distortion, but went away when the guitar was unplugged. So I figured gate right after the guitar, and problem solved. I was right.

[feyshay]

You have to be the sleuth here.
Try you guitar into the amp. Then add one pedal. Compare bypass and effect noise. Then add another, and so on. Try running the pedals on battery power instead of off a power supply. You should be able to find a culprit.
I've scrapped a number of pedals because of noise. EH Holier Grail, Analogman Chorus (great pedals, mind you)--scrapped because of hiss/noise.
Get true bypass pedals. Could you have a ground loop? Could one pedal be noisy?
For complicated rigs, I've used a Keeley Looper to bypass some pedals in the rig when not needed. I've also gone through a Radial JDI to cut out some noise. It works somehow.

[bat]

I've found the problem.
I've unmounted the pedalboard and I've tryed one-by-one all the pedals (nice way to spend an afternoon...).
The noisy pedal is the TC Nova reverb, but in a strange way: the reverb is routed in a Xotic blender in parallel like a send/return. The pedal is noisy also with Guitar>Nova>Amp but the kind of noise is not from the processor (Hiss or distortion), more likely a internal ground problem, is possible??
If I connect the nova in the chain, the noise affect all the "rings": if I plug the guitar, for example, directly in the compressor (that is before the reverb) there is noise. If I disconnect the Nova the rig is absolutely quiet. This is the second Nova reverb that give me problem: this reverb sound fantastic, especially with send/return but I suspect that is unreliable..I need another reverb (pedal) as soon as possible: any suggestions? Thanks!

[davet]

I've discovered that daisy chaining pedals together creates lots of noise issues, but acts as a "tone suck" as well. I've been looking into pedal loopers like this ******//www.loop-master.com/. Voodoo labs will be shipping something like it in January. Carl Martin is shipping one too. I've got a bunch of old stomp boxes that don't have true bypass so to alleviate the "tone suck" issue I'm going this way.

I'm trying to build my own version of a looper because I'm still not satisfied with the solutions out there.

[FONT='Calibri','sans-serif']DaveT[/FONT]

[ahjteam]

Originally Posted by bat

I need another reverb (pedal) as soon as possible: any suggestions? Thanks!

BOSS RV-5 (digital) or TECH 21 BOOST R.V.B (analog)

[feyshay]

Reverb pedals are disappointing IMO. They either don't sound well or have noise.
I'm intrigued by the TRex reverb pedal that came out several months ago but have not tried it.
I usually go with an effect processor for the task, but when needing to keep things simple I've liked the Verbzilla by Line 6.
You also get the noise from your Nova when relying on battery power, right?

[bat]

Originally Posted by feyshay

R
You also get the noise from your Nova when relying on battery power, right?

The Nova run only with his external power supply cause his high power consumption (300mA).
The noise of my Nova is too high to be a default, is for sure damaged. I've contacted the TC support, I hope in a help. I will let you know the effectiveness of the support.
Tomorrow I will go to a store to try a Boss RV5 and a Line6 Verbzilla for a temporary use waiting for the 3rd Nova (that is, noise apart, a great sounding gear).

[bat]

Hi,
I've solved the problem.
I've bought the 3rd TC Nova reverb and I had the same noise:ZZRRZZZRR.
I've replaced the external power supply and the rig is completely silent.
So I've done some interesting experiments:
I've plugged the TC power supply to a wall socket (disconnected to the reverb&pedalboard&amp) and I've touched the output plug with a finger and from the amp I had the noise!
I've done the same with a Boss 9V. power supply: no noise, the same with a Mxr 18V. power supply: no noise.
So the TC power supply give a disturb to the all home wiring!
I live in Europe (220V.) and this phenomenon occurs with both american and european power supply versions ( both switching 100-240V.).
I'm wandering if somebody else have had the same issue or can give an explanation for this. Thanks

[Rab]

Yep... same problem here with a Nova Delay pedal. Had a high-pitched buzz, but once I substituted the PSU for a Godlyke everything was fine. Lovely pedal, but they want to sort out those cheap PSU's - I was on the verge of returning my unit until I figured this out...

[bat]

Originally Posted by Rab

Yep... same problem here with a Nova Delay pedal. Had a high-pitched buzz, but once I substituted the PSU for a Godlyke everything was fine. Lovely pedal, but they want to sort out those cheap PSU's - I was on the verge of returning my unit until I figured this out...

Happy to know that I'm not alone with this problem. It seem incredible that TC built maybe the best pedal reverb on the market today and disregard the quality of a cheap power supply. Thanks

[Faderjockey]

I would stay away from Noise gates. They are fine for drums live but gtr rigs.. I'd rather work to find the trouble.

I have my main dirt and comp, Wah pedals setup with no noise at all.. But I run 2 Line 6 F/X units (green, Blue) into a loop pedal/tuner I built.

The line 6 "says" it's true bypass Whatever.. I have that in the loop so I don't have to be playing through those when I'm using no F/X.

I tell ever one who ask this question.. Try new cables.. if you think it's the board. Add one pedal at a time and one cable at a time. So you can find the pedal or cable that maybe causing the noise.

I'd try other gtr's with your setup. Then try your gtr on some one else's setup.

Also.. Not sure what your power is. But those One Spot's and GodLyke are switching power supplies.. Great for cell phones but suck for pedalboards.. They are cool because they are small and can feed lots of different pedals..

Yeah on paper sounds great.. But other then cell phones.. That switching supply always makes noise. I had one did a bunch of shows and it was a problem..In my studio as well. Those Voo doo labs thing's power much cleaner.

[TAVD]

One of the latest slut worthy verb pedals.
Dr Scientist