New pedalboard - lost my OD tone?

Queg · #1 05-19-2011, 09:48 AM

Newbie question here.
I've been using a few pedals that, due to lack of patch cables and pedal board, I would just unplug/replug depending on the song. I recently built and cabled a pedalboard.. but something went wrong - the previously raw, punchy, edgy tone of my Rusty Box OD is now somewhat anemic and muddy.

3 things have changed:
- Recent tone cap swap in my (passive) bass, clean tone with treble up wasn't affected much, so I don't think that's the culprit.

- More patch cables in the signal path (primarily Lava solderless)

- Pedals that were previously not in the signal path are now always plugged in - Octamizer is in before the Rusty Box, BF-2 Flanger, Bad Monkey, Source Audio BEF after..

I suppose I just need to do my homework and isolate each component one at at time.. but was wondering if this is a common issue with pedal effects?

Floyd Eye · #2 05-19-2011, 09:56 AM

I think you answered your own question. Isolate them and see if it helps. Also search here for the many "Effects order" threads. One thing I can say is that solderless plugs are generally unreliable.

Testing_123 · #3 05-19-2011, 10:32 AM

Impedance in action, I suspect. To answer your question: yes -- weird, unexpected interactions can definitely occur when combining multiple effects in a chain. The number of effects may impact this, as can the order of effects.

Every link in the chain will likely have some effect on what follows. The art of pedal ordering is to maximize the positive impact of each link while minimizing undesirable signal degradation.

You're on the right track: start by pulling one effect out at a time and sampling the tone. You might start with pulling the Octamizer out of the equation, so the Rusty Box "sees" the bass signal directly.

If you can, try to record short sections of you playing through each iteration of the pedal chain, then play those sections back to yourself -- it might be easier to compare/contrast the sonic effects as individual components are subtracted.

GHI · #4 05-19-2011, 10:40 AM

Yeah try isolating everything.

It could be you are experiencing tonesuck. And it could be your bad monkey causing it. I would give it a shot without it in the chain, and maybe with the flanger at the end.

The Mouse · #5 05-19-2011, 10:44 AM

I found this to be helpful. You should experiment tho'

Effects Chain Order

ga_edwards · #6 05-20-2011, 04:38 AM

Perhaps a dumb question, but it's easily done (I know I've done worse*) but you have plugged the patch cable into the 'amp' output of the Bad Monkey and not the speaker simulated 'mixer' output?

* my speakon cable is uni-directional so I've labelled on end 'amp'a and one end 'cab'. I've still plugged it in the wrong way numerous times and sat there trying to work out why there's no sound!

Queg · #7 05-20-2011, 09:24 AM

Thanks for all the helpful replies!
I haven't had a chance to troubleshoot it yet, but I've got a gig this evening, hopefully I can resolve it before soundcheck.

Eric Scholz · #8 05-20-2011, 09:31 AM

I think your new board is affecting the tone... It's all in the wood man

sidez81 · #9 05-20-2011, 09:50 AM

Funny this happins in reverse too... I set up my pedalboard and things sounded better lol

Queg · #10 05-20-2011, 10:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eric Scholz

I think your new board is affecting the tone... It's all in the wood man

Lol. Come to think of it, I did build it with leftover 1/2" Arauco ply from my fEarful cab, perhaps same wood tone is too much synergy?

Eric Scholz · #11 05-20-2011, 02:17 PM

uh oh.. synergy. now we're getting into corporate mumbo jumbo

Queg · #12 05-20-2011, 02:49 PM

Or, audiophile mumbo jumbo:Galileo Speaker Wire | Synergistic Research

**TheMutt** · #13 05-20-2011, 04:38 PM

My guess is that your Rusty Box isn't liking the impedance-changing buffered bypass of pedals before/after it in the chain. Also, I may be completely off in my recollection, but I could swear I read somewhere that the Rusty Box likes to be at the front of the chain. However, having never owned one or played with one, I could definitely be wrong.

Queg · #14 05-20-2011, 06:15 PM

I think you've got it right.
Seems the tuner and Tonehammer (essentially an OBP preamp in a pedal) is okay in front of the Rusty Box,, but any other pedal and it responds badly.

behndy · #15 05-20-2011, 06:22 PM

hur. i run a veritable butt-load of efx, always with my Rusty at the end of the chain. it's my post-efx DI for FOH stuff, so it kinda needs to be there.

i also have an Octamizer in my chain, no problems. i hear no difference with the Rusty running solo vs running with other efx in front of it.

how are you powering everything? almost every time i've had something funky come up (tone suck, pedal acting weird, odd interference being picked up) it's because i've had things in a daisy chain that don't like being chained together.

i'd give a look at your powering situation too.

good luck!