SOLVED Derailer Overdrive noisy when not playing

[Ctrl4Smilerz]

So I finished this build last night and have only had a little time to play with it. Overall I'm happy with how it looks and sounds, but it is very noisy while I'm not playing. I'm fairly new to high gain pedals, so excuse me if this is to be expected. Is there anything I can change to reduce the noise, or is that just to be expected with a high gain pedal like this. I did try pointing a noise gate on my HX FX and that did help a lot, but I would prefer not to use it if possible. TIA

 

[Ctrl4Smilerz]

One detail that might be suspect is I used a #26 ribbon cable to connect the 3PDT board, the rest of the wiring is #22. Could that be a source of noise?

 

[Bricksnbeatles]

what kind of noise is it/how would you describe the noise? high gain pedals can generally be expected to be noisy as they're amplifying every noise that comes before them by a TON. there's certainly a possibility that it's just regular noise, but it could be something out of the ordinary.

 

[Ctrl4Smilerz]

what kind of noise is it/how would you describe the noise? high gain pedals can generally be expected to be noisy as they're amplifying every noise that comes before them by a TON. there's certainly a possibility that it's just regular noise, but it could be something out of the ordinary.

It's a hum. Makes me think of the scene in the beginning of Back To The Future when Marty plugs into Doc's amp and cranks the volume

 

[Coda]

Try moving your input/output cables are far away from the PCB as possible…it looks as if there is plenty to work with…

 

[Robert]

It may or may not help, but I'd try to reduce the loops of wire around the jacks, particularly the input side.

 

[Ctrl4Smilerz]

It may or may not help, but I'd try to reduce the loops of wire around the jacks, particularly the input side.

Okay, I'll try making them shorter. Thanks

 

[Robert]

Okay, I'll try making them shorter. Thanks

Try what @Coda said first, just extend them out as far away from the PCB / pots as possible.

 

[Ctrl4Smilerz]

Try what @Coda said first, just extend them out as far away from the PCB / pots as possible.

Will do, thanks!

 

[Ctrl4Smilerz]

Try what @Coda said first, just extend them out as far away from the PCB / pots as possible.

The ribbon cable connecting the 3PDT is also probably longer than it needs to be, could that contribute to the noise, or is that less likely since it's further from any components?

 

[BuddytheReow]

General tips for high gain circuits:

What @Coda mentioned about separating the IN/OUT wires.
Similar to what @PedalPCB said, keep your wires as short as possible.
Sometimes adding a buffer before the circuit somewhere can clear it up.
Shielded wire on the input wire going to the stomp switch. It helped me tame my Tyrian circuit when the gain is maxxed out.

 

[Ctrl4Smilerz]

General tips for high gain circuits:

What @Coda mentioned about separating the IN/OUT wires.
Similar to what @PedalPCB said, keep your wires as short as possible.
Sometimes adding a buffer before the circuit somewhere can clear it up.
Shielded wire on the input wire going to the stomp switch. It helped me tame my Tyrian circuit when the gain is maxxed out.

Thanks. All the shielded wire I see is at least two cables plus the shielding. What do you do with the second cable, and do you connect the shielding to something?

 

[MichaelW]

Thanks. All the shielded wire I see is at least two cables plus the shielding. What do you do with the second cable, and do you connect the shielding to something?

You want RG174 Coaxial cable. It's basically antenna cable. It's got one core wire then the shielding. Connect the core wire for signal, twist the shielding into a single wire then connect that to ground at either end of the wire run. Easiest to just connect it to the sleeve lug on your jack.

 

[Ctrl4Smilerz]

You want RG174 Coaxial cable. It's basically antenna cable. It's got one core wire then the shielding. Connect the core wire for signal, twist the shielding into a single wire then connect that to ground at either end of the wire run. Easiest to just connect it to the sleeve lug on your jack.

Thanks. Shielding to sleeve lug make sense, ground on the 3PDT board might be a bit tight, is there another spot to access the ground on the PCB? Or what about connecting the shielding from each of the wires together?

 

[MichaelW]

Thanks. Shielding to sleeve lug make sense, ground on the 3PDT board might be a bit tight, is there another spot to access the ground on the PCB? Or what about connecting the shielding from each of the wires together?

You only need to ground one side for the shielding to work. So if you ground it at the jack lug then just snip off the shielding at the 3PDT side. I like to put a bit of heat shrink on it just so there's no chance of stray shielding.

This is not a great picture but it shows how I did it on my Angry Andy Plus. I put some heatshrink on the twisted shielding cable after tinning it.

 

[Ctrl4Smilerz]

Awesome, thanks!

 

[Chuck D. Bones]

Did that fix it?

 

[Ctrl4Smilerz]

Rearranging the wires did not not. I'm waiting for the shielded wire to arrive. I'll keep you updated

 

[Ctrl4Smilerz]

Did that fix it?

So the wire just came in and I changed it but that broke something else. Now the LED is on all the time, and I only get sound when the pedal is in bypass. Did I do the signal and ground backwards?

 

[Ctrl4Smilerz]