Clipping with open wah, even at low volumes?? Please help!!

[SBLP]

I was jamming tonight, solo. Soon I started to hear this awful clipping whenever my wah went toe down. I switched amps. Same thing. Not the amp. I went from guitar>wah>amp (subtracted all other pedals). Problem solved. I went back to just the wah>MXR 10-band EQ>amp. The clipping came back.

I moved some levers around, mostly lowering higher frequencies, then eventually lowered the gain slider on the EQ. Problem seems to have stopped again, but it's getting late and I can't go too loud. I thought I could still little traces now and again of this clipping when I'd hammer a chord really hard... just a bit of rasp, and I was BELOW bedroom level.

For the most part, it seems to be gone. But... my thing is... why would this SUDDENLY start? I've been playing through this board for some time now, every day. The EQ is only a few months old, and the Wah is maybe a year old, give or take a few months (Dunlop Buddy Guy Wah). Like I said, with no other pedals, the clipping was gone and the sweep was smooth and claer like it should be. Once I re-introduced the EQ, it returned.

This has never been a problem before. I'm thinking it may be electrical. The EQ takes an 18v adapter (also brand new), and the wah has its own adapter. But they're all plugged into a power strip, that's full with other wall-warts and my pedal board main power--all plugs in it are part of my home rig. No extra stuff like lights or anything.

Does anyone know what could cause this raspy clipping to suddenly appear?

I appreciate any input.

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: Clipping with open wah, even at low volumes?? Please help!!

Seems to me like a level matching issue. The narrow band frequency boost of the wah filter is overloading the input of something further down the signal chain. Is any of your gear digital? (This definition of digital extends to processors that employ IC op-amps for ANY of their functions.)

 

[SBLP]

Re: Clipping with open wah, even at low volumes?? Please help!!

I'm pretty certain it's all analog:

BG Wah>OCD>Carbon Copy>MXR Dist.3>Devi Aenima(95$, not spect.)>Behringer Vintage Phase(small stone clone)>Ibanez CS9 chorus (80's)>MXR 10 band eq>Ibanez CP9 (80's) Compressor>amp.

My question is if this is a pedal disagreement issue, why suddenly emerge? I've been using this chain for months.

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: Clipping with open wah, even at low volumes?? Please help!!

My question is if this is a pedal disagreement issue, why suddenly emerge? I've been using this chain for months.

Roughly twenty one years ago, I bought a pre-owned 1978/9 Fender Precision Bass. Two weeks after that, I installed an EMG-P pickup. Roughly two weeks after that my beloved Boss DC-2 Dimension C digital stereo chorus pedal began to emit unpleasant audio artefacts similar to the ones you describe. Eventually, the pedal gave up altogether. I believe that the high output of the EMG pickup fried (at least) one of the pedal's IC chips.

If re-introducing the MXR EQ pedal to your signal chain also re-introduces the clipping, you have found your culprit. I suspect that, if you take a look inside at the MXR PCBs, the Output level slider will be connected to an op-amp chip.

 

[Sanford]

Re: Clipping with open wah, even at low volumes?? Please help!!

Just for giggles and curiosity try switching the placement of the wah pedal with the compressor pedal.

 

[SBLP]

Re: Clipping with open wah, even at low volumes?? Please help!!

Thanks, fingers, for the input. It was useful, but has me asking more ?'s, too.

The issue is the wah itself--or "any wah" and how it's pushing my signal.

I did some thorough troubleshooting. The problem is, when I have my Volume pot dimed, it pushes the mid frequencies toward distortion/clipping/brittle mud. I modded the gear setting on the wah so the toe-down isn't as bright, which helped a little, but ultimately, the wah is just pushing out a little too much. This happened with 250k Singles, 500k HB, P-90's, etc. It was even doing it without the pedal chain: ie. guitar>wah>amp.

I tried various EQ's, different compression settings, etc. Ultimately the fix was rolling off the guitar's volume and tone from 10--which I rarely play at anyway. The thing is, I don't ever remember hearing this before. I don't know if I'm just developing a more snobbish ear for tone, or if the wah is crapping out. It's about a year old, maybe 15 months. It's been great. Maybe since I never use my volumes at 10 I never noticed, or is it possible the wah is taking a subtle **** on me already?

Buddy Guy Sig Wah from Dunlop. It's a damn fine pedal, but maybe I killed something in it?

It's got a red Fasel and that's about all I know for specs.

The changes recently have been my modded Les Paul... New Pups, 500k pots vs. 250k, but I didn't think better gear or guts on an axe was supposed to kill pedals. I thought the whole concept behind buying quality stuff was so that these problems didn't exist.

Is this wah clipping a common issue on higher-output pups (it's also doing it on my MIM stock strat now, when the volume is dimed). Is it possible this is a normal sound I just never noticed before because I'm never dimed out? Did my new PUPS fry something in the wah? (Also tried other wahs--same thing--worse, actually), or is some degree of clipping common with any wah when the guitar's output is high?

 

[GoldenVulture]

Re: Clipping with open wah, even at low volumes?? Please help!!

Like I said, with no other pedals, the clipping was gone and the sweep was smooth and clear like it should be. Once I re-introduced the EQ, it returned.

Does the EQ have an input level/vol control?It seems like your input into the EQ is to high, hence the clipping.:cool2:

 

[SBLP]

Re: Clipping with open wah, even at low volumes?? Please help!!

Yeah, The MXR 10-band, It had a volume and gain slider. I leave the volume at untiy, and backed off the gain to almost nothing. I'm reducing the clipping. I just think the wah has a boost I hadn't noticed before at bedroom levels, and since I don't usually play with the guitar volume wide open, when it was, I noticed it. Backed off to even 9 seems to erase the clipping. I guess it was just something I never noticed before. After some tweaking, it seems OK, for now. But thanks everyone for the input.

 

[Empty Pockets]

Re: Clipping with open wah, even at low volumes?? Please help!!

Yeah man, the problem was a combination of your MXR 10-band and you keeping your guitar's volume knobs low.

You EQ'd that pedal's gain levels for pickups that aren't turned up all the way. You turned your pickups up, boosted the signal, and got some clipping...

I leave my volume and tone knobs up all the way all the time...i dunno if that's normal or not but...

 

[SBLP]

Re: Clipping with open wah, even at low volumes?? Please help!!

I know a lot of people who do the "dimed and play" approach. Personally, I think it limits you, as there's only one way to go, down. But I'm a bit of a tweaker. Some people just set stuff at wide open and that works for them. I like to adjust depending on what floats into my head or which style I feel like doing ATM.

 

[Gish_85]

Re: Clipping with open wah, even at low volumes?? Please help!!

My wah is a beast and I get similar problems from my mxr 10 band eq (I'm not dissing it, I'm pretty sure its the most useful pedal you could ever want). The 10 band EQ can't handle the output of the wah that is why this was happenening for me.

Have you got an effects loop? is that where all of these are? Is it a valve amp or SS?

To temporarily correct the problem try putting the compressor directly after the wah, and have it set high compression low boost. Step on it just before using the wah, the wah probably boosts the signal enough that you could get away with not losing volume.