Got my Polytune and got some new noise

[lex666]

Finally. After about 2 months of waiting I finally got my Poltune. I've got high expectations for the new tuner and couldn't wait to add it to my board to replace my old Boss TU2.

So I add it to my board, exactly where the TU2 used to be.

Polytune is everything it promised to be. Strum all the strings and it will tell you which ones are flat or sharp. Then you need only tune those strings. It switches between poly mode and needle mode very quickly and recognizes the difference instantly. The manual says tuning is most accurate using the neck pup and strumming all strings with your finger or thumb.

Then, I flick my amp on. I get a waterfall type of noise. This was never there before. Yep, its the Polytune. Whenever the Polytune is "reading" in Polymode, I get a 'boost' of the waterfall noise. Switching it off, the noise goes away.

Here's the catch. I don't use the tuner in my signal chain so it shouldn't be adding noise to my chain. I removed the tuner from my effects chain to avoid excess noise by using the dry output on my Digitech Whammy. Since I don't use the dry output its a perfect place to add a tuner and I've never had an issue with noise with my TU2. I only use the input on the tuner. Nothing is attached to the output. The wet output from the Whammy feeds the rest of my chain.

The noise is only present when the tuner is on. Problem is, I'm used to leaving my tuner on all the time. I unplugged the power supply so that it would run on the internal 9v battery. The noise is gone. This fixed the noise problem - but I still want the tuner on all the time.

So far I've learned that:
a.) When pedal is on, there's noise. When in chromatic or 'sleep' mode (nothing on the display) the noise is present. In Polymode the noise is increased.
b.) Noise is gone when pedal is off.
c.) No noise at all when running on a 9v battery
d.) The pedal is not in my singal chain. Does that mean it is emitting some kind of interference?

I even read the manual. There's a whole paragraph about the Polytune not being responsible for emitting unwanted noise. Is it possible this is an issue TC was already aware of? I found the entire section about unwanted noise less than amusing.

It got late last nite messing around with the Polytune so I still need to experiment more. I'm using a daisy chain to power the pedal so I'm gonna try running it on its own power supply next. If you've got more suggestions, please let me know. I'm open to any suggestions on how to avoid the noise.

 

[XSSIVE]

Re: Got my Polytune and got some new noise

my guess is it's not the polytune and it's either the power supply you're using with it or the fact that it's hooked to the out of the whammy. i've never heard of anyone using the out of the whammy for a tuner but loads of people say to not use the tuner out on volume pedals since it ends up being a tone sucker...not sure if it's a similar issue.

what does it do if it's in the chain (try it first in line just for testing) on battery? then try it with the power supply first in line. that way you can narrow down if it's the power supply, the configuration you use with the whammy or the polytune itself. what about if the whammy is removed from the chain?

my whammy was a nightmare to my board, thus why i sold it. it would only run properly on it's own power supply and either the power supply or the whammy itself caused so much noise i just sold it. thus why i'd sooner point the finger at the whammy then the tuner.

-Mike

 

[lex666]

Re: Got my Polytune and got some new noise

Here's what my chain currently looks like:

...........................(dry output) > tuner
guitar > Whammy <
...........................(wet output) > wah > NS2 > Keeley Comp> EVH Phase 90 > amp

 

[lex666]

Re: Got my Polytune and got some new noise

my guess is it's not the polytune and it's either the power supply you're using with it or the fact that it's hooked to the out of the whammy. i've never heard of anyone using the out of the whammy for a tuner but loads of people say to not use the tuner out on volume pedals since it ends up being a tone sucker...not sure if it's a similar issue.

what does it do if it's in the chain (try it first in line just for testing) on battery? then try it with the power supply first in line. that way you can narrow down if it's the power supply, the configuration you use with the whammy or the polytune itself. what about if the whammy is removed from the chain?

my whammy was a nightmare to my board, thus why i sold it. it would only run properly on it's own power supply and either the power supply or the whammy itself caused so much noise i just sold it. thus why i'd sooner point the finger at the whammy then the tuner.

-Mike

Thanks Mike, I ran out of time last nite, but I should have tried those things first. I'll give it a try again tonite.

My Whammy never had an issue with noise using the dry output from the whammy. As long as I use the power supply that came with it, I've never had a problem.

 

[XSSIVE]

Re: Got my Polytune and got some new noise

i'd test it with the polytune removed from the dry out. go guitar...polytune...whammy etc etc. see if that kills the noise on power supply or battery. that will let you know if it's the dry out method of the whammy causing the problem or not.

only way to know is to try different arrangements to narrow down what part of the configuration is causing the noise problem. it very well could be an issue with the polytune but i'd sooner blame it on the whammy since i know those things can cause noise problems in rigs since i dealt with them to the point of selling the thing. my whammy only caused noise with certain wahs and certain overdrives. other wahs would be fine and other overdrives would be fine. it seems to be picky about what it want's to ruin hahaha. whatever signal it or it's power supply emits i guess is the issue i had with certain other pedals around it.

-Mike

 

[andrizzle]

Re: Got my Polytune and got some new noise

I don't know if this helps you, but I was interested in your post because my Polytune is actually being delivered tomorrow...

I currently use a Korg Pitch Black in my set-up and it is coming on the Tuner OUT of my EB Volume Pedal...

Even though it is in the TUNER OUT and you'd think it would have NO affect on my sound it still affects it when the tuner is turned ON... as soon as it's off, it no longer affects the signal... really weird right?

I even went on the EB FAQ's online and it said that this was a pretty common problem on several tuners... so I now have to turn the tuner off when playing... sucks! I'd get rid of the volume pedal all together if I didn't do a lot of volume swells

Anyway, all that to say that maybe you're having a similar situation with the Wammy... I'd be curious to see if you are able to resolve this... keep us posted!

 

[ParameterMan]

Re: Got my Polytune and got some new noise

Put it on it's own power supply. It's not at all uncommon(in my experience) for pedals to interact when all on the same circuit. Most have little or no power filtering, leaving that up to the battery/adaptor. Sounds to me like the tuner is leaking clock noise onto the DC power rail, which is then being picked up by the rest of your pedals.

 

[lex666]

Re: Got my Polytune and got some new noise

Update 3/5/2010:

Good news! The Polytune likes to have its own power supply. I found 2 extra 9v power supplies, a Boss 9v and a Godlyke power supply (similar to a 1spot) and the noise was immediately gone without having to re-arrange my pedal board. Both power supplies worked to eliminate the noise. I also used the Polytune alone: guitar > Polytune > amp and its is indeed very quiet. The Polytune says it is true bypass and there is no discernable noise when it is on or off. There is an audible 'click' sound when you step on the switch, but thats not really a problem for me since I leave the pedal on all the time.

Anyways, I have to suspect that the Polytune is either sucking too much power on the daisy chain, or, bleeding back some noise to the other pedals thru the daisy chain. At least it was an easy fix and I learned something new, I guess.

The Polytune works great and I love the way it looks on my board. I was finally able to rock out last nite and the Polytune is quick and easy to use.

Thanks for the help guys. I appreciate it.

 

[lex666]

Re: Got my Polytune and got some new noise

Put it on it's own power supply. It's not at all uncommon(in my experience) for pedals to interact when all on the same circuit. Most have little or no power filtering, leaving that up to the battery/adaptor. Sounds to me like the tuner is leaking clock noise onto the DC power rail, which is then being picked up by the rest of your pedals.

Thanks for your post. You were right on... :cool2: