Clean tone

[Jeff C]

Jeff C here. You may be thankful or disappointed that I am not in the midst of another marathon pedal problem solving odyssey. I actually built the Transcendence Boost pedal with only one minor error that I quickly rectified. Yah. So why did I build that particular pedal? Well, as is not unusual I get a fair amount of noise on my tube amp from my blues driver and distortion pedals when I am not hitting a string. I wanted to see if I could reduce that. I first bought an inexpensive noise reduction pedal and it works to reduce the noise but I’m not that happy with how the pedals sound with it on. Maybe I just haven’t figured out the optimum settings for it. Then I read about reducing signal to noise ratio and fell for the idea that a clean boost pedal would do the trick. Hey, I’m a history major. Well, the Transcendence pedal is just as noisy. No improvement in reducing the noise floor. It boosts both the noise and the signal. Of course. I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised. So, then I read about adding a buffer at the front end of the chain to reduce noise coming from the guitar. I see PedalPCB has a C-Buffer that in theory I could just add to the boost pedal switch. Do you think this will help reduce the noise, or should I just live with the noise, like so many seem to? Any suggestions, helpful or humorous or any type of entertaining, would be most welcome.

 

[Jeff C]

Well, I discovered a big noise generator. My Lekato wireless system. Plugged a cable in and noise reduced notably. Not entirely but much better. Would a buffer help even more?

 

[spi]

I get a fair amount of noise on my tube amp from my blues driver and distortion pedals when I am not hitting a string

don't not hit a string.

 

[Brett]

Jeff C here. You may be thankful or disappointed that I am not in the midst of another marathon pedal problem solving odyssey. I actually built the Transcendence Boost pedal with only one minor error that I quickly rectified. Yah. So why did I build that particular pedal? Well, as is not unusual I get a fair amount of noise on my tube amp from my blues driver and distortion pedals when I am not hitting a string. I wanted to see if I could reduce that. I first bought an inexpensive noise reduction pedal and it works to reduce the noise but I’m not that happy with how the pedals sound with it on. Maybe I just haven’t figured out the optimum settings for it. Then I read about reducing signal to noise ratio and fell for the idea that a clean boost pedal would do the trick. Hey, I’m a history major. Well, the Transcendence pedal is just as noisy. No improvement in reducing the noise floor. It boosts both the noise and the signal. Of course. I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised. So, then I read about adding a buffer at the front end of the chain to reduce noise coming from the guitar. I see PedalPCB has a C-Buffer that in theory I could just add to the boost pedal switch. Do you think this will help reduce the noise, or should I just live with the noise, like so many seem to? Any suggestions, helpful or humorous or any type of entertaining, would be most welcome.

Can you describe the noise?

Are you using a guitar with passive single coil pickups?

Are you hearing the same noise level when you plug straight into the amp?

*Edit: I'm asking these things because noise can be something as simple as getting a better power supply on your pedals or it could be as challenging as hiring an electrician to determine if your house/room may have some grounding issues. Using a Strat (or similar) can also be inherently noisy.

 

[Alan W]

The only way I know to track down noise is to isolate everything. Gain pedals (clean, or distorted) will amplify whatever noise is there along with your guitar signal. So, the best place to start is just plug your guitar into the amp. How much background noise is there? What type? (If you’re using single coils, you’ll most likely get hum, centered at ~60 hertz. You can point the guitar in different directions and usually find some positions (typically the directions you don’t want to face when playing) that are quieter.)

Try this with each pedal, and also with small combinations. Note the differences that pedal order make also. If you can, try running some pedals off batteries, just for the noise tests. A good power supply can really help. If any of your pedals are AC (especially wall powered) they may need more distance from some of the other pedals.

My amp (an Allen Encore that I built from a kit) is hard to hear if it’s on, if nothing is plugged into it—this got me really interested in trying to keep things as quiet as possible. It’s also helps that I really don’t play high gain. It pays to be very thorough going through everything; if a pedal does add noise, check it with both different patch cabies and different power cables. As you’ve found, wired is generally quieter than wireless.

 

[Jeff C]

Can you describe the noise?

Are you using a guitar with passive single coil pickups?

Are you hearing the same noise level when you plug straight into the amp?

*Edit: I'm asking these things because noise can be something as simple as getting a better power supply on your pedals or it could be as challenging as hiring an electrician to determine if your house/room may have some grounding issues. Using a Strat (or similar) can also be inherently noisy.

Noise is like hiss, Using a Les Paul with humbuckers. Noise was definitely mostly coming from the wireless system. Pedals are much quieter with a cable instead. Still wonder if a buffer would help but as long as I use a cable, it's very tolerable.

 

[Jeff C]

The only way I know to track down noise is to isolate everything. Gain pedals (clean, or distorted) will amplify whatever noise is there along with your guitar signal. So, the best place to start is just plug your guitar into the amp. How much background noise is there? What type? (If you’re using single coils, you’ll most likely get hum, centered at ~60 hertz. You can point the guitar in different directions and usually find some positions (typically the directions you don’t want to face when playing) that are quieter.)

Try this with each pedal, and also with small combinations. Note the differences that pedal order make also. If you can, try running some pedals off batteries, just for the noise tests. A good power supply can really help. If any of your pedals are AC (especially wall powered) they may need more distance from some of the other pedals.

My amp (an Allen Encore that I built from a kit) is hard to hear if it’s on, if nothing is plugged into it—this got me really interested in trying to keep things as quiet as possible. It’s also helps that I really don’t play high gain. It pays to be very thorough going through everything; if a pedal does add noise, check it with both different patch cabies and different power cables. As you’ve found, wired is generally quieter than wireless.

Tks! See my reply to Brett above. I do have a separate power supply for my pedals (except the tuner - interestlngly, when I skip the tuner and plug into the first pedal (wah), I get a buzz. WIth the tuner in the chain but not on, no buzz).

 

[iamjackslackof]

Is the tuner buffered? Many are. I bought a Boss TU-3 just for that reason, as well as another output to my Zuul noise gate.

 

[Jeff C]

It’s a Donner DT-1. For an inexpensive tuner, it got very nice reviews. My searching doesn’t reveal any indication that it is buffered. But it sure cuts the noise.