Effects loop woes. Attenuator? What would work?

[newbold]

UPDATE:

My pedals are not making the noise, the loop itself distorts.
I checked this by plugging a 6" pedal cable into the insert points and it sounded gross.

Seems that any signal amplification makes it worse.

the amp I'm using is a Yamaha BBT500.

The front end sounds great. I have to use the output limiter and speaker simulator to keep the loop from sounding less than great.

I want to find a way to:

put my delay/sampler and envelope phaser in my effects loop

so that I can

play the preamp in my amp and sample THAT in my delay

and modulate it with my phaser

or use the EP-1 as a filter phase (turn the sensitivity down on the envelope side - it sound amazing with my OFO).

I find that the EP-1's phase bubble bursts in the low end of my tone.

My amp on its own and with my front end grit and synth.

What I've heard with my amp's modelling in the line before my phaser after my OFO and bassballs kicked me in the chest.


My DL4 and EP-1 (when sweeping) get in the way of the pre's sensitivity.

I really like my amp. I wish I could fix this tweaker freaker.

[niftydog]

Translation:"If I put my delay/sampler and envelope phaser in my effects loop and turn up the blend control I get distortion. How can I fix it?"

How is the FX Loop level switch set? -20dB or +4dB?

You can attenuate the 'send' signal, feed the attenuated signal through your pedals, and then re-amplify the signal before feeding it into your 'return' jack.

[newbold]

it does just about the same thing no matter how the switch is set but it's on -20 right now.

It's not a case of turning UP the blend control.
Adding the fx loop into the signal - even the smallest amount is causing this.

I suppose the correct translation is:



I'm running an EP-1 and a dl4 in my loop and the EP-1 is overloading the signal to the power amp.

Should I use a compressor or signal attenuator (or do something else) to fix my problem?

[bongomania]

Is the EP-1 only clipping at the peaks of its envelope, or all the time?

[niftydog]

Originally Posted by newbold

Adding the fx loop into the signal - even the smallest amount is causing this.

...EP-1 is overloading the signal to the power amp.

Well, that's turning it up from 0, yeah?

Important distinction - I don't think the EP-1 is overloading your power amp - much more likely the preamp is overloading the EP-1.

Compressors aren't for fixing these types of problems and attenuation will only get you part of the way to a solution.

The signal coming out of the preamp ('send') is too hot, it needs to be attenuated. But, this attenuated signal will be too low to drive the power amp properly, so it need to be brought back up to the level the power amp is expecting.

[newbold]

I don't think the preamp is overloading the EP-1 - It sounds far too harsh to be a phaser.

While the FX loop doesn't sound totally flawless, it doesn't seem to suck tone and I'll probably be glad to have a wet/dry control at some point.

I think the most useful tool in this application might be the ART Studio V3



It has a VU on the output signal, output limited settings, Direct out (great for any PA gigs), and can be powered with my Godlyke Powerall.

Funny thing is that I finally got around to putting 3 cables in some Ikea cord wrap plastic sheath.

I also put my pedalboard power cables in the stuff, (EP-1, OFO, BMS, and Powerall) and after thinking how great it was to have everything all together/neatly wrapped, I have this new issue to deal with.

I'm so glad that this is the biggest problem I'm facing in my life.

[newbold]

(bongo)"Is the EP-1 only clipping at the peaks of its envelope, or all the time?"

It's clipping in LFO mode at the peaks.

When I turn down the 'intensity' the noise lessens.

[newbold]

i think this one might be a better choice...there's an 'OPL out' switch that lets me see how much the limiter is working on my signal.

$30USD plus shipping seems like a great deal...not that I'm not going to shop around locally with that...

[newbold]

I wonder if any sort of attenuation/limiting will help since the dirt is present in the loop anyway.

[bongomania]

No, not until you have the dirt sorted out first. It's very likely that the jacks have some dirt or corrosion. Clean them thoroughly with some good contact cleaner and a wire brush. If you don't have a wire brush that will fit, you can achieve similar results by just plugging and unplugging a plug into the jack a couple dozen times, right after applying the contact cleaner.

Do that, then get back to us to let us know whether it sorted your problem.

[newbold]

damn. now i have to buy contact cleaner.

[newbold]

My effects loop distorts. I can't use it.

Am I going to have to get it fixed?
I think so (if I want to use it).

On the bright side, it cleaned a bunch of grit off my amp that I thought was stuck there.