Oh Holy Grail, why did it have to be you?

[Blight]

For a long time I've been having strange tone troubles. My humble performing set up is this:

Hohner B2A (modified)<--->Z. Vex Fuzz Probe<--->Sansamp Bass Driver<-->Boss ODB-3<--->EHX Holy Grail<--->Pignose B100V (combo)

I noticed that after I'd power up and play with sweet, clear tone for about a minute and a half, all the sudden I'd lose gain and clarity and things would go mushy. I finally traced the trouble to my Holy Grail.

The Holy Grail had given me troubles before; every now and then it would go wonky, and the blend knob wouldn't...well, blend. It would either be nothing but reverb or nothing but dry. I found that if I unplugged and replugged the power supply, it would 'reset' and be fine again for a while.

I thought this problem was unrelated to my tone troubles, but I finally took the grail out of my pedalboard, and problem solved!

I was wondering though: has anyone else had this sort of trouble with the Grail or any other pedal? And if so, what is it?

[vtwo]

Sorry to hear - is it still under warranty? Try contacting EHX anyway.

[Lowpro]

I work at GC bro and we've been through 3 Holy Grails since I started working a month ago. I think they just don't stand up to time especially when used all day. Or maybe we've got a nunch of crappy Grails, but I've learned to stay away from em. There are better echo pedals.

[Blight]

Originally Posted by vtwo

Sorry to hear - is it still under warranty? Try contacting EHX anyway.

No warranty I don't think. Had it for a long time.

Lowpro: three eh? Geez. Well, I might retire the Grail from bass service. I actually originally bought it to add some room to my first vocal tracks and it sort of ended up on my pedalboard.

I still wonder what the deal with it is? Overheating?

[Lowpro]

Well I'll tell ya what the latest one is doing. The Hall setting (I believe) will start sounding a slapback sound even with no signal, just you hear it through the amp. The other setting just cause groans and when ya play through it, a squeal. It's a far cry from a nice reverb >.>

But again, there are tons of kids who come through, mess with pedals, crank everything to 11, and perhaps that pedal can't take it all. But there's no wiring problems. We've moved the latest holy grail (before it broke) into the middle of the chains (used to be the staring pedal) and it still eventually fuzzed out. I don't know if it's overheating because it's not left on all the time. We turn off all the power strips when we close, and no other EHX or any pedal we have has this problem. I think it's just a Grail thing bro =\

I've offered to open it up and see if I can fix it (i'm a bit wiring savvy) but my managers won't let me -.-

[Blight]

Dang. Maybe this era of Grails was just super hit-and-miss. Well, it's out of the pedalboard for now (Reverb wasn't a big part of my live sound anyway), and maybe I'll find something to replace it.

Thanks for your replies and if anyone has had similar experience with this or any other pedal, feel free to post.

[bakeronbass]

I recently bought a mini Q tron. (first pedal) And at first I noticed the light would flash on and off. Its brand New So instead of taking it back I take it apart to find that the power wire from the battery to the board is just barely barely lightly solderded on causeing the power to be interupted and the light to flash.
Really crappy workmanship. I repaired it and it has been OK., but
I will buy custom made pedals cause I have spent alot of time and money to get my rig to sound good to have it ruined by a hundred dollar stomp box.

[JanusZarate]

For those of you struggling with the build qualities of the old pedals... try getting your hands on the reissue versions!

The Holy Grail Plus and Micro Q-Tron make up for the flaws of their predecessors - the Holy Grail and Mini Q-Tron. The new Grail isn't out yet, but it will be soon; the Micro Q-Tron has been around for months, though, and works great on bass IME.