EHX Enigma Q-Balls T-Rex Fueltank Junior problem

ribafish · #1 10-26-2011, 02:09 PM

So, I've bought a Fueltank Junior for my quite small pedalboard....Everything works fine except for the Q-balls, which makes a saw wave kind of noise thats waaaaay loud....somethign like 30db more than the bass at its loudest passing through all ather fx with gain and volume to max....way loud. I've tried it with only it hooked up to the fueltank, i've tried it out of the pedalboard, on its own, powered by the fueltank and the only way it doesn't make this sound is when its powered by a zoom adaptor. It didn't make the sound before, when everything was powered with a daisy chain from the same zoom adaptor....i've even tried to hook the daisy chan to fueltank(if somehow the cables supplied with fueltank got grounded or something like that)....but it still makes the damn noise. I've tried it on every output of the fueltank and its always the same....so, does anyone have any ideas? If you think it will help, i can record the sound, take pictures of the pedalboard, anything that will help i will do.

So, help me please

RCCollins · #2 10-26-2011, 02:24 PM

I don;t think the Q-balls is daisy-chainable. Many ehx pedals require an isolated output

ribafish · #3 10-26-2011, 02:25 PM

This is the weird part....i ran it daisy chained before and it worked fine...now i try to run it form an isolated filtered output with no daisy chain(just tried if it would help)...and it doesn't work.

enjoi1018 · #4 10-26-2011, 03:26 PM

I've got a QBalls, and it can be a tricky mofo. MASSIVE sounds can come out of it, enough to make me worry about my speakers. Make sure the internal trim pot isn't jacked up, and watch the Q setting.

I turned the internal down a good bit for my active bass, and it's flawless now.

RickenBoogie · #5 10-26-2011, 03:28 PM

Yes, could be more related to how the pedal is set than the power supply, maybe.

ribafish · #6 10-26-2011, 03:29 PM

yesi know what it does...it makes my speakers want to flee the cabinet...but thats not the problem. I've got it for some time now and it doesn't want to work with the fueltank...with the cheap adapter it works ok. Also, the sound is made with no relation with playing the bass...when i unbypass it...comes the sound.

bongomania · #7 10-26-2011, 03:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ribafish

...it makes my speakers want to flee the cabinet...

Very well said!

It sounds like possibly the way the ground was implemented in the Fueltank is different from the way the ground is implemented in the Q-Balls. Even though the Fueltank outlets are isolated, it still has its own common ground that could be incompatible somehow. I'm reaching here, not certain.

ribafish · #8 10-26-2011, 04:02 PM

As far as I know it doesn't have common ground.
Although, I have found where the problem lies.....the Enigma want more than 120mA....which the fueltank doesn't give(its rated at 600 altogether and max 120 per output).....but this was something I didn't think of, because it worked fine with 6 more pedals daisy chained to it from a 200mA rated cheapo adapter.

Now I'm wondering if I should change the fueltank. It does have a cable(whith which it works) that combines the ampers from two outputs and leaves the voltage at 9v...but still, its kinda dumb.
Also, I didn't think of it because nowhere says what current it wants....those dumbasses at EHX keep this kind of usefull info for themselves...just like some impedances i could find for some other things. So here comes the next question: how the hell is it possible it eats more than 120mA when its all analog....I've got a digital synth effect that eats less. 4 times less to be exact.

EDIT: so, does anyone know if enigma wokrs with 12v too? Thinking about changing to the juicy lucy from t-rex....the other option is the voodo labs pp2+ for which i can have the junior and lucy. Or I just may build a voltage sag box for the enigma and other pedals that wont work with 12v. I have one for the ehx bbm which likes the dying battery=)