Pedal Board Troubleshooting Question.

Eamonn

Eamonn

New member
My signal chain is: Crybaby=>Boss TU 2=>Maxon OD9=>Boss OD3=>Voodoolab Chorus=>Delay=>Microvibe=>Hardwire Distortion=>amp

My sound goes dead randomly, or becomes very muted, and occasionaly the TU2 lights up when this happens. I've swapped out all the cables, and everything is powered by a VLabs PP2. (it still happens with the new cables). It's almost impossible to troubleshoot this because the problem disappears with a few clicks of the wah or tuner. Anyone have any ideas how to troubleshoot?

Thanks.
 
Re: Pedal Board Troubleshooting Question.

Eamonn said:
My signal chain is: Crybaby=>Boss TU 2=>Maxon OD9=>Boss OD3=>Voodoolab Chorus=>Delay=>Microvibe=>Hardwire Distortion=>amp

My sound goes dead randomly, or becomes very muted, and occasionaly the TU2 lights up when this happens. I've swapped out all the cables, and everything is powered by a VLabs PP2. (it still happens with the new cables). It's almost impossible to troubleshoot this because the problem disappears with a few clicks of the wah or tuner. Anyone have any ideas how to troubleshoot?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

Take the tu2 out of the chain and see if the problem persists.

I am not an electrical expert and Boss switches are usually pretty reliable, but that is where I would start looking....it shouldn't light up unless it is turned on.
 
Re: Pedal Board Troubleshooting Question.

The last thing I need is more bottom end. My amp has a ton of it.
 
Re: Pedal Board Troubleshooting Question.

Does it do this when you have a lot of effects on? Or really any random time, regardless of how many are on?
 
Re: Pedal Board Troubleshooting Question.

Eamonn said:
It seems more inclined to happen when the pedals that draw the most juice are on.
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Thats odd because the PP2 should be able to handle it no problem. You might have a faulty one because it does sound like a power supply issue if its primarily happening when you have the big boys on.

Are you running the correct voltage to all the pedals?
 
Re: Pedal Board Troubleshooting Question.

Eamonn said:
My signal chain is: Crybaby=>Boss TU 2=>Maxon OD9=>Boss OD3=>Voodoolab Chorus=>Delay=>Microvibe=>Hardwire Distortion=>amp

My sound goes dead randomly, or becomes very muted, and occasionaly the TU2 lights up when this happens. I've swapped out all the cables, and everything is powered by a VLabs PP2. (it still happens with the new cables). It's almost impossible to troubleshoot this because the problem disappears with a few clicks of the wah or tuner. Anyone have any ideas how to troubleshoot?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

Since you said the TU2 lights up, this makes me think its a problem with the power supply, the cables from the power supply to the pedals, on the connection between the power 2.1mm barrel and the power input on the pedals. I'll give you my experience, and this is something I can make happen, its not random: I have 4 pedals, I connect them together using a 5-plug daisy chain, so I have 1 plug sitting there doing nothing. If that 1 plug touches the outside of any pedal, or anything else that is metal, the unused plug makes a spark, and all the other pedals (that aren't true bypass) either turn themselves on or off.

So possible trouble shooting options would be (and I'm sorry for this attack on your bank account lol):

1. Try using the whole board with batteries.
2. Try using different power cables.
3. Only use 1 pedal, and keep adding 1 pedal at a time (I'm willing to bet that will be extremely time consuming)
4. Try a different power supply
5. Try different power outlets around the house, maybe you have an older house with old electrics.
6. Are there any other devices in the house that could be shorting out, or disturbing the power to your pedal board power outlet?
7. Hardwire are advertising their pedals as "high voltage" or something like that. I read the spec sheet on my hardwire pedal, its still 9v with a pretty standard current draw, so I'm not sure what they're getting at. Maybe try removing that pedal for a day?

I could be completely wrong on everything, please PM me with with the outcome of this if you can, I'm building a large board and I do like having solutions to problems ready in case I ever need them :)
 
Re: Pedal Board Troubleshooting Question.

ozzynotwood said:
Since you said the TU2 lights up, this makes me think its a problem with the power supply, the cables from the power supply to the pedals, on the connection between the power 2.1mm barrel and the power input on the pedals. I'll give you my experience, and this is something I can make happen, its not random: I have 4 pedals, I connect them together using a 5-plug daisy chain, so I have 1 plug sitting there doing nothing. If that 1 plug touches the outside of any pedal, or anything else that is metal, the unused plug makes a spark, and all the other pedals (that aren't true bypass) either turn themselves on or off.

So possible trouble shooting options would be (and I'm sorry for this attack on your bank account lol):

1. Try using the whole board with batteries.
2. Try using different power cables.
3. Only use 1 pedal, and keep adding 1 pedal at a time (I'm willing to bet that will be extremely time consuming)
4. Try a different power supply
5. Try different power outlets around the house, maybe you have an older house with old electrics.
6. Are there any other devices in the house that could be shorting out, or disturbing the power to your pedal board power outlet?
7. Hardwire are advertising their pedals as "high voltage" or something like that. I read the spec sheet on my hardwire pedal, its still 9v with a pretty standard current draw, so I'm not sure what they're getting at. Maybe try removing that pedal for a day?

I could be completely wrong on everything, please PM me with with the outcome of this if you can, I'm building a large board and I do like having solutions to problems ready in case I ever need them :)
Click to expand...

Thanks so much for the help! I actually went through most of those steps and found the culprit: the AC input on the Crybaby is faulty. I love Crybaby Wahs but can't stand how unreliable they are.
 
Re: Pedal Board Troubleshooting Question.

Eamonn said:
Thanks so much for the help! I actually went through most of those steps and found the culprit: the AC input on the Crybaby is faulty. I love Crybaby Wahs but can't stand how unreliable they are.
Click to expand...

Great news dude, I hear so many bad things about the durability of crybaby's. I'll add that one to the list :)
 
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