1976fenderhead

[quote name='BB3000S' timestamp='1336517168' post='1647032'] Sounds like a bad specimen to me, I have the same pedal and never had a problem with it. On the contrary it's the best tracking octave pedal I've ever had and it sounds awesome! The Octamizer is also very cool though, but tracks sliiiightly less well. IME, YMMV and so on. Very strange response from Dunlop - even if I do agree more pedals is generally a fun idea. [/quote] It is odd, a guy on Talkbass also wrote to them and they said that's just how their circuit works. But another guy went back to the shop and bought another one and that one was fine, no noise! so he was in touch with Dunlop to get the 1st one fixed. Don't know how that went...

I expected them to say it was a bad unit or that it reacts bad to some basses or whatever, so that some people might get it and others not, and the product would have no noise to at least a good proportion of users so that a decision to release it would be understandable. I didn't expect them to put out a poorly developed, unresolved pedal, not tell anyone there are issues and then act like it's the most normal thing in the world to have to buy another pedal to get rid of the noise, or that it's a consequence of their pedal being so awesome at tracking like I'm an idiot and don't know many other pedals track just as well without noise. Wouldn't be a big deal if it was Behringer or Ibanez or EHX, but I expect a little more from MXR, or expected... I won't be too surprised if I buy a super cheap tv and it doesn't tune perfectly well a channel or 2, but if I buy a great Samsung tv and it doesn't tune properly a load of channels, and they say that's a consequence of their tv being so awesome and I just have to buy this other box that helps it tune better... should I be ok with that or should that damage their brand?

Cables were plugged in, I tried both cables I made and cables I bought, made absolutely no difference. They admit it's the pedal, like it's the price you pay to get such good tracking, funny other brands don't make you pay that price for it...

I returned the pedal straight away. The noise is there whenever the effect is on and no notes being played. It's a low frequency crackling which is doubled 1 octave down and is bassier if you had Girth and throatier if you add Growl It's only mildly annoying on its own, but if you hit a fuzz after it it's too much. Was equally present with all my 3 basses, different cables, power supplies, straight to amp or to computer, daisy-chained or on its own. It's just the pedal and external factors make no difference...

Many of you will know about complaints that the MXR Bass Octave Deluxe is noisy. I asked Dunlop about it as I had to return one recently due to that problem. Here's their response: "The crackling you are hearing is caused by the pedal trying to track the noise floor of your guitar. The reason the M288 can track so well is because of this sensitivity. To solve this issue you can use a noise gate. Let us know if you have any more questions." Isn't that just brilliant. Other brands have perfectly good tracking without noise, we sucked at achieving it so just buy another of our pedals to solve the problem this one creates...

[quote name='1970' timestamp='1336395212' post='1644883'] still havent seen one on denmark st... [/quote] Perhaps the Bass Gallery in Camden?

[quote name='dudewheresmybass' timestamp='1336234705' post='1642943'] I've just tried one of these and left the shop with it! For someone that isn't hugely enamoured of fuzz, this is a departure for me! I just need to try it in my rigs now [/quote] Interesting. Why did you like it so much?

We have a winner: Red Ripper it is. Awesome. Love the R.I.P. control. Now just need an octaver.

When I bought the bass I actualy used a set of feeler gauges to measure and record the factory setup so i could go back to it if I wanted. I then set it up as recommended on the Fender site the 1st time I put new strings. Yesterday I went to check that and saw that orginally, the bass side was about 1mm higher (closer to strings) than they recommend. I put it back up like that yesterday and it's actually sounding more focused, punchy and compressed. I may experiment more after the weekend gigs... It's quite time consuming though...

[quote name='pantherairsoft' timestamp='1336082307' post='1640792'] 1976fenderhead - if this makes a difference for you then let me know! [/quote] Thanks

[quote name='umph' timestamp='1336081578' post='1640778'] just listened to the samples, you're overloading the input stage of the pedal it's nothing to do with the bass. It's the transistor losing bias from overloading and creaping back in when it regains it. Does it do it if you turn the gain down? As to why its strongest on those frets my guess is thats a particular frequency thats coming through very strong on the bass and accented by the pedal. [/quote] Very good answer, thank you. I can't test it with less gain anymore because I sent the pedal back, but I did those with gain at 3 o'clock, and that's how I usually played because I liked that setting, so quite high. I do remember though that with Torch off it was less noticeable but still there (in the recording Torch is on). Could it be too much volume coming from the bass, so even with low gain on the pedal it was still being overloaded? And do you reckon that would explain the continuing phase effect after the initial pinch?

[quote name='paul_5' timestamp='1336069544' post='1640534'] Most Jazz basses have a point on the neck (roughly 4th or 5th fret) where the fundamental dies away really quickly, leaving you with only the harmonics - this might explain some of what's happening. I was chatting to a luthier about this a while ago - it's something to do with the mass of the headstock. He suggested clamping a heavy piece of wood to the back of the headstock to increase its mass, and thereby allowing ALL of the note to sound properly. [/quote] Yes, on my bass it's the G string on the 8th fret, I think that's usually where it is for this model. But this phasing thing I get mostly on the A string... But yeah, any fuzz or tracking just disappears on that dead spot.

Ha now that is interesting... Haven't tried those problem effects outside the house as I returned them already... I have a Red Ripper arriving tomorrow and have 2 gigs on the weekend so if that pedal is also a problem (hope not, geez) I'll soundcheck it and see. Will try to see if I notice anything also from the BMS... No other electric instruments in the house so haven't tried anything besides my 3 basses.

I tried the most problematic pedals (BOD and Blowtorch) both in a chain and each of them alone, with 2 different power supplies and different cables, same every time.

[quote name='xgsjx' timestamp='1336048614' post='1639994'] Could it have anything to do with the cable from the bass to the pedal (or the socket on the bass)? Might be the + & - are getting swapped somewhere, though I'm not sure if this would be an issue. Other thing I can suggest is backing the vol off a little on the bass & see if that changes things. [/quote] It's on all my basses and different cables (some I made, some I bought)...

[quote name='pantherairsoft' timestamp='1336046460' post='1639950'] Did you ever solve this? Ironically I had never experienced anything like it before, but I am currently borrowing a passive OLP Singray copy and have EXACTLY the same issue (though only really noticeable above the 9th fret). I can't find a cause for it and tried about everything. [/quote] I still haven't. I tried raising and lowering pickup height and I tried a few tests to isolate the problem being in the nut. I also checked that intonation was perfect, played with different cables, power supplies, plugged to amp or to computer, flat/non-flat EQ, different pickup combinations... it's always there. I've noticed though, that the problem is on all my 3 basses but it's not noticeable clean, only with some effects, and at different notes on each bass: On both my Fender and fretless Warwick the phasing is stronger on the A string, especially open string and up to 5th fret. On my Squier the A string is totally fine and the D string is the problematic one. I also notice the problem is extreme to the point of nearly silencing the notes on my fingerboards' dead spots (around the 8th fret on the G string) so it seems like a frequency canceling issue to do with each bass's body. What's interesting is that some pedals react badly to it, others are totally fine: Terrible for the MXR Blowtorch, barely noticeable with the fuzz on the EHX BMS and SFX Micro Fuzz, T-Rex Bass Juice is fine... Terrible for the MXR BOD and the octave in the EHX BMS (phasing makes tracking go nuts), but the octaver in the M5 has no problems at all! I'm starting to think that's just present on every bass but you can only tell with some effects and that's just how it is? I guess some pedals will act more on certain frequencies that coincide with the frequencies at which the bass's body vibrates, and that's why the problem is extreme on the 2 or 3 frets around the dead spot? Truth is, I had never noticed this being a problem until I got the Blowtorch, the BOD and the El Grande (though I didn't notice the phasing issue with the El Grande, it just sounded like it was randomly cancelling frequencies all over the fretboard top to bottom... Something to do with MXR?