Can guitar pedals with huge gain damage the next pedal?

Pete Stevens

New member
I have a DOD Carcoza Fuzz and it can go really really loud. Funny thing because according to the manual the current draw is only 4 mA. I'm a bit worried if I accidentally turn it to max, if I could damage the next pedal.
 
You should be fine, what the pedal uses to operate and the signal leaving the pedal are different, if Im not mistaken. I run my Dracarys into a MXR Phase 95 without any issues.
 
Thanks for the reassurance, everybody. I have no equipment to measure the actual output. To my ears, straight into a cheap practice amp, that fuzz pedal can easily do something like 10 times the volume of guitar-only. Much more than other pedals I own. According to the manual, the output impedance of the 9V pedal is 10k Ohm, the power consumption is 4mA. Would that high volume be conveyed in large voltages with very small currents? And if so, could that cause an issue with dulling the sound with long cables? My knowledge about electrics is too low to make much sense of what is going on.
 
How long of a cable are we talking here. A really long or thin, cheap cable will lose a lil bit of tone over the lengtj of the cable. If you have a good quality cable you should be fine
 
You should be fine, what the pedal uses to operate and the signal leaving the pedal are different, if Im not mistaken. I run my Dracarys into a MXR Phase 95 without any issues.

Hate to derail but how do you like the Dracarys? I have been eyeing them.
 
A really long or thin, cheap cable will lose a lil bit of tone over the length of the cable

How much tone do you loose for a 10-12 foot cable? Is it significant or barely noticeable?

Also, what is the longest cable one can have without loosing tone? Or is there a particular cable brand that doesn't loose tone?

This is something I have heard of but am not too familiar with so would be great to know.
 
How much tone do you loose for a 10-12 foot cable? Is it significant or barely noticeable?

Also, what is the longest cable one can have without loosing tone? Or is there a particular cable brand that doesn't loose tone?

This is something I have heard of but am not too familiar with so would be great to know.

I wouldn't notice any kind of tone loss with 10-12 feet. Maybe 30 feet I'd start hearing it. But it also depends on the quality of cable. Cheap, molded end ones will degrade the signal in a shorter distance.
 
I wouldn't notice any kind of tone loss with 10-12 feet. Maybe 30 feet I'd start hearing it. But it also depends on the quality of cable. Cheap, molded end ones will degrade the signal in a shorter distance.

Yep what Mincer said.
 
I wouldn't notice any kind of tone loss with 10-12 feet. Maybe 30 feet I'd start hearing it. But it also depends on the quality of cable. Cheap, molded end ones will degrade the signal in a shorter distance.

Ok, thanks.

Is there a brand that you'd recommend as a "Top Quality" Cable? I just use whatever my local Sam Ash has on the shelf, but if there are cables that improve sound quality, or just work better overall, I would buy them.

On a side note, I picked up one of these Cabli (guitar cable winders) at the end of last year and I really like it. They are not expensive and work really well if anyone is looking for a system to keep you cables more organized - https://www.amazon.com/Cabli-Fast-Or.../dp/B07WYCR42L
 
Pig Hog, Dimarzio, Diaddario, any decent name brand cable will work. Currently I have a couple PIg Hog and a Dimarzio cable.

For my cables, I use a velcro cable tie, works really well. Glad the Cabli works for ya.
 
Pig Hog, Dimarzio, Diaddario, any decent name brand cable will work. Currently I have a couple PIg Hog and a Dimarzio cable.

For my cables, I use a velcro cable tie, works really well. Glad the Cabli works for ya.

Ok cool, thanks. I appreciate the recommendations. I'll check those out next time I am at the store.
 
Welcome, PIg Hog are good cables, Ive been very happy with those as are the Dimarzio. Really any of them from a major manf should suffice. Find what fits your needs and budget but like Mincer said, stay away from the cheap, molded cables.
 
At the moment I only have 10 foot cables, middle of the road quality. It's just for practicing. So I can't test whether tone will be sucked or not. I was just wondering whether a pedal with a 10k ohm output impedance would suffer similar tone loss as a guitar given that they have similar output impedances.
 
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