ODB-3 Noise

Mahumadi · #1 05-18-2010, 04:21 PM

I bought an ODB-3 and the tone I have with it is so kick ass I dont want to lose it! The problem is that my settings cause it to screech in between songs. Im fairly new into effects/pedals and have gotten mixed reviews on whether a hum debugger will help. The more I research it seems as though it helps with hum from single coils and not pedals. Any advice on what I should look into?

Mahumadi · #2 05-18-2010, 04:23 PM

Or could this be a result of my jazz single coils and my gain on the odb-3?

tigerbass · #3 05-18-2010, 05:12 PM

The more you have the gain cranked, surely the more noise you will have. The high eq on the pedal will definately add hiss the more it is turned up as well. Perhaps lower the highs on the pedal and try adding highs with your amp and see if there is a difference.

Single coil pickups definately will not help your cause either. Are both the pickups all the way up? If not, that will cause more noise, unless you have noiseless pickups. Is your tone knob all the way up? Maybe bring it down a bit. That'll help with noise a little too. Is your bass sufficiently shielded?

How is your grounding situation where you are running this?
What are you using to actually power it? Are you using quality cables?

These are all factors to take into account. But the bottom line is, if you have the gain cranked and the highs up, you will get noise regardless.

There are mods you can have done to your pedal that will help some. Mark Humphrey does a mod, as does Indymods, and they do help, but certainly won't make it quiet.

I have never used a hum debugger or any other noise pedal, so I can't help you there.

I just adjust the eq and gain on my pedal, along with my amp and bass till I get the amount of noise I feel I can live with. Perhaps you could put it in a looper pedal of some sort to help with noise between songs.
Hope some or any of this is helpful. FWIW, mine has been modded and it did help with not only the noise, but the sound as well. Cheers!

Mahumadi · #4 05-18-2010, 05:49 PM

Im really loving where Ive got it dialed in now, but I plan to mess around with the settings next practice. There must be something that will kill that noise?

To power it im using a daisy chain and low end cables. I play with the neck pup at 10, bridge at 4, treble 4-8.

My chain is as follows: pitchblack, bassballs nano, odb-3, bass big muff. In that order, maybe theres a small fix I can do in my chain?

tigerbass · #5 05-18-2010, 09:22 PM

I think your chain seems fine. I might put the dirt before the Bassballs, but that won't effect anything.
When you turn both pickup controls all the way up, is the noise any quieter?

Mike19 · #6 05-18-2010, 10:07 PM

My ODB-3 is quite noisy. But, I love the variety of distortioin that I can get from it and I refuse to replace it.

My volume of play easily drowns out the ODB-3's noise. If I'm using it in a song that goes quiet or silent, I just turn it off and turn it back on when the song goes loud again (this was a suggestion posted by another TB member on a similar thread).

cheapbasslovin · #7 05-18-2010, 10:30 PM

You might try a noise gate before the ODB-3, hopefully eliminating the noise heading into the pedal, preventing it from being amplified and ultimately feeding back.

Not a big fan of noise gates, but this may be what your looking for if your ODB is on most of the time.

Hum Debugger (as I understand it) is not a traditional noise gate. It may help with hum, but I don't believe it helps with noise picked up from unshielded cavities or cables, bad power supplies, etc.

crapusername · #8 05-19-2010, 03:42 AM

the most obvious answer is to switch it off between songs, but if you don't want that a boss ns2 might be worth a try. They can be found relatively cheaply s/h.

Mahumadi · #9 05-19-2010, 08:49 AM

Im seeing my 2 options as switching it off or getting a noise gate. A hum debugger will not help with the feedback, but a noise gate will? Ive been reading about noise gates altering tone, can anyone verify this?

cheapbasslovin · #10 05-19-2010, 09:20 AM

A humdebugger gets rid of single coil hum. If that is all the noise you are getting, then it may halt the feedback, but it is difficult to say.

Mahumadi · #11 05-19-2010, 09:48 AM

The Boss NS2 seems to have good feedback (from users) when it comes to aiding the odb feedback. Would there be a downside to having a hum debugger in front with the NS2 in the middle of the chain before the odb-3? Would the NS2 be better in the effects loop? Ive never researched using the fx loop, but maybe I can run the NS2 and odb-3 there for better results? Of course ill test all of this when I get the pedals, but just trying to get some ideas now.

cheapbasslovin · #12 05-19-2010, 12:08 PM

I don't have any direct experience with the HumDebugger. I did some research on it a while back and everything I know is based on that.

The downside to having noise suppression pedals is usually tone suck or a troublesome trigger on a gate. The trigger issue will cause your signal to cut out while your bass is sustaining out, or your bass signal wont come on as quickly as you like. If your gate is setup well, you can avoid those triggering issues, but it can be tricky to get just right.

Din Of Win · #13 05-19-2010, 12:37 PM

+1 to turn off the pedal between songs.

I like to use a volume pedal, personally. The extreme feedback is actually something i can use, and the volume pedal helps to actually controll it.

My ODB-3 is my fave 'shoegaze-wall-of-noise' pedal

Mahumadi · #14 05-19-2010, 12:42 PM

I see.. well, at any rate, I am pursing an NS-2. Once again, I will be messing around with it when I find one, but just to clarify a few things. Ive been reading that bass into the ns2 then all effects in the send/receive loop. Im confused as to how this will work with my muff, bassballs, and tuner. Would I run the NS-2 send>ODB>Muff>NS2 receive and the rest of my effects, to include tuner on their own daisy chain or would I throw all of the pedals into the NS2 send/receive loop?

crapusername · #15 05-19-2010, 03:21 PM

put all of the pedals you have issues with in the loop before the rest. That should do it

Mike19 · #16 05-19-2010, 10:44 PM

Assuming that the NS2 eliminates or reduces the ODB-3 noise and is acceptable as far as "tone suck" goes, why should I spend $110 on a new NS2 when all I have to do is turn the OBD-3 off when I'm not using it?

Mahumadi · #17 05-19-2010, 11:10 PM

To me its less I have to worry about which can help me to concentrate, especially because im new to the bass.

I tried out the NS-2 and didnt buy it. Went home and played for a bit before I changed my mind and went back to buy it. It doesnt seem to damage my tone much and I must say im happy with it. Noise free, ah.. bliss