Lenny B Posted December 25, 2011 Share Posted December 25, 2011 (edited) Merry Xmas everyone Bit of advice required - I've been doing some recording over the last few days, and I didn't previously realise the amount of noise in my chain. I'm using pretty quality pedals, so I've been surprised at the levels coming through. The chain is; Boss TU2, MXR Bass Octave Deluxe, MXR Bass Envelope Filter, Demeter Compulator, Danelectro Reel Echo; all powered with a Diago powerstation, and using short, decent cables. I know that having the compressor later in the signal builds up the hiss, but I find it helps the sound following the filter+octave, and even when it's off the BOD and BEF are still surprisingly noisy. Any tips? Anything I should try? The MXRs are quite new and I've not recorded with them before, but they're much noisier then I expected... Thanks Edited December 25, 2011 by Lenny B Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mog Posted December 25, 2011 Share Posted December 25, 2011 What else is plugged into the wall socket? Everything from appliances to amps can add unwanted noise. Fluorescent lighting can also cause noise. Other than that it could be the PSU, an individual pedal or a patch lead(s). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xgsjx Posted December 25, 2011 Share Posted December 25, 2011 (edited) I have to have my Moog LPF on it's own PSU as it's noisy if put in a chain. So I'd try taking a pedal out the chain 1 at a time & see if you can narrow it down. Edited December 25, 2011 by xgsjx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pantherairsoft Posted December 25, 2011 Share Posted December 25, 2011 Do you have any extra power supplies or batteres? Try powering one pedal on a battery and everything else on a supply. See if anything changes. Then power that pedal again and do another off a battery. Is likely not due to a noisy pedal but this process will let you iron out that possibility. Compressor near the end of a chain = bad is noise bothers you. As mentioned. Ground noise can come from anything. Often from the fridge etc! What kind of noise is it? Hum, buzz or hiss? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lenny B Posted December 26, 2011 Author Share Posted December 26, 2011 [quote name='pantherairsoft' timestamp='1324856749' post='1478187'] Do you have any extra power supplies or batteres? Try powering one pedal on a battery and everything else on a supply. See if anything changes. Then power that pedal again and do another off a battery. Is likely not due to a noisy pedal but this process will let you iron out that possibility. Compressor near the end of a chain = bad is noise bothers you. As mentioned. Ground noise can come from anything. Often from the fridge etc! What kind of noise is it? Hum, buzz or hiss? [/quote] Thanks all - I've only the one power supply, but will try batteries and a different socket to see if that makes any difference. It's hiss more than hum, but with each pedal having a different pitch to the hiss. The surprising thing for me was the hiss present even without the compressor on - will think about adding that later, but then the filter can get a bit peaky... Will experiment, cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pantherairsoft Posted December 26, 2011 Share Posted December 26, 2011 Hiss tends to be (in my experience) to be down to cabling & power lines... My set up has 2 paths of effects. Path 1 has much more cable involved than path B, and has more hiss. I've rearranged everything and it's simply down to long lengths of cable giving more chance for interference to be picked up. You say you are using short cables - they could be not so great quality, or, you could have one that's not great. After your battery experiment, it's worth swapping out 1 patch lead at a time to see if there is a guilty one. I doubt very much it has anything to do with the main socket etc as that would more likely be a hum than a hiss. Also worth moving the diago power supply away from the audio cables - just to ensure it isn't that. They are good units and tend to be fine in close proximity to audio leads - but I have seen not so well isolated ones! If you use a tweeter or an amp with some kind of presence or bright filter (like an EBS) then these will always amplify hiss as it is, in essence, a high frequency. My path A off effects can be made totally silent by turning the bright filter on my preamp off... Shep Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TG Flatline Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 Possible daft question - are you getting the hiss with the pedals bypassed, or just with them engaged? Just worth considering whether the hiss is coming from your bass, or alternatively if you've got power and signal cables running side by side rather than perpendicular, as well as the suggestions above... Another thing, get the TU-2 out of your chain and see if you get any improvement. I found in my rig it dulled the tone, not just taking some high-end, just killed the sound and added hiss. I have mine on an A/B switch and my rig sounds better both with effects on and bypassed. Google "Fulltone AB switcher" and grab your tools if it sounds better without the tuner! Other people don't have this issue, but I've heard many complain about it in the same way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanbass1 Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 [quote name='TG Flatline' timestamp='1325457006' post='1483404'] Possible daft question - are you getting the hiss with the pedals bypassed, or just with them engaged? Just worth considering whether the hiss is coming from your bass, or alternatively if you've got power and signal cables running side by side rather than perpendicular, as well as the suggestions above... Another thing, get the TU-2 out of your chain and see if you get any improvement. I found in my rig it dulled the tone, not just taking some high-end, just killed the sound and added hiss. I have mine on an A/B switch and my rig sounds better both with effects on and bypassed. Google "Fulltone AB switcher" and grab your tools if it sounds better without the tuner! Other people don't have this issue, but I've heard many complain about it in the same way. [/quote] It will be easy to test this - remove the TU2 and see what happens Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.