Boss chorus + compressor making a swooshing sound

[roysloco]

Sorry sorry sorry - I'm SURE this has been addressed, but I searched and couldn't find it (and it's late and I'm very tired!).

I've got a Boss CEB-3 chorus and a Boss CS-3 compressor / sustainer. Both are awesome, but with the compressor on I get a swoosh-swoosh sound which correlates to the Rate setting on the chorus pedal.
It's better when the compressor is after the chorus, but it's still very evident (and before I got the chorus my compressor was lovely and quiet!).

Wassup with that ??? Surely I can't be the only person using these 2 pedals together, so I'm guessing someone's got a nifty solution / suggestion?

Again - apologies if it's already been discussed, feel free to point me to the thread (i did look, honest guv'nor!).

[jonathanhughes]

Is the compressor after the chorus in the chain? It sounds like it is, and your settings are boosting the inherent noise floor of the chorus pedal.

[roysloco]

I've tried both - even cut it down to just these 2 pedals, with compressor before the chorus it's basically unusable, with it after the chorus it's much better but still there.

[JanusZarate]

The CS-3 is a bit noisy, IIRC (but it's been a long time since I've owned one, so my memory's a little fuzzy). Generally, compression pedals increase the noise floor (although some are much quieter than others) as a side effect of what they do. The CS-3 naturally colors your tone and offers quite a bit of "squish", so it's no surprise that it would be amplifying the noise of your chorus pedal or feeding it more noise than it receives normally.

Adjustments to your CS-3 settings (primarily, turning down the Sustain) should help. What are you using your CS-3 for, exactly? Just mild compression, or as a full-fledged effect?

[roysloco]

Thanks guys - I'll try the sustain thing when I get home later. I really just use it to level out my volume a bit (and I like the way it makes my EMG pup slightly warmer), nothing too 'effecty'.

[roysloco]

Well after a bit more messing (and realising the swooshing sound happened even if the pedals were all off!), I tried using my old 'brick' power supply and HEY PRESTO!!!

It was the power supply - guess it's not up to the job !

That's a pain because I've spent a long time creating a 'lightweight' setup (any gig I play usually involves at least 30 minutes of walking + carrying everything between house / train station / office / gig etc...)!

Ah well, at least it sounds nice now - I'll just need to cowboy the hell up and get used to the extra weight.

[JanusZarate]

Interesting. What kind of power supply were you using (the one that caused the problem, that is)?

[roysloco]

I was using a chaepie version of a 1-spot (which made lost of swoosh), and it's basically completely gone when I switch to my old Meridian AC -> DC block.

I wonder if an actual 1-spot would be better?

The line up is now:

Guitar -> TU-2 -> CEB-3 chorus -> CS-3 compressor

However, even with the 'beefy' power supply, if I put the tuner after the CEB-3 I get a ton of noise when I mute the signal with it ! makes me wonder what'll happen when I get my eq ...