Troubleshooting my new pedal... picking up radio stations

ishouldbeking · #1 07-29-2010, 11:53 AM

Tried out my new-to-me Sparkle Drive last night and it sounds killer, exactly what I was looking for. However, it seems to be giving me more than I bargained for with its transmission of mexican radio broadcasts that like to blast out of my amp whenever the pedal is engaged. My guitarist had an amp that would do this on occasion, but this is my first piece of gear plagued with radio-itis. I moved it around a bit, but didn't spend too much time messing with it, but i wasn't able to make it go away, at least at rehearsal. It was kinda cool the one time I clicked it on and a dude shouted BOOOOOM at the top of his lungs, but I doubt I'll ever use it that effectively again.

Is there a trick to preventing this? I was thinking it might have been made worse because I wasn't using a regular (short) patch cable, rather all I had on me was a good 10 ft guitar cable running out of the Sparkle Drive and into my normal pedalboard setup. My only thought was that perhaps that cable was acting as an antenna somehow. Obviously I have no idea what I'm talking about here, guys. Any help is always appreciated!

Fishyfan · #2 07-29-2010, 11:56 AM

OH. MY. (insert figure of existential authority here). WANT WANT WANT.

ishouldbeking · #3 07-29-2010, 04:18 PM

tell you what, i'll trade you for a sparkle drive that DOESN'T do this. anybody got some advice?

**TheMutt** · #4 07-29-2010, 04:36 PM

I've had this happen in a house with faulty power grounding. My Big Muff would start to pick up radio stations when I stopped playing. Never happened anywhere else other than when I used a power adapter (1Spot) at that house.

I'd suggest trying your pedalboard at least at two other locations before you scrap the pedal. See if you are still getting sound invaders from other sources of power, or even from batteries. If you still are, it's a defective pedal. If not, then you need to get the wiring of wherever you are playing fixed or buy an isolator.

ishouldbeking · #5 07-29-2010, 04:55 PM

yeah, i won't scrap it. i'll just have to mess around with it a little.

KarateKid25 · #6 07-29-2010, 05:14 PM

RF interference can be fixed, but it is sometimes a bit of a pain to do so and requires some troubleshooting. The main issue is, you probably won't pick up radio everywhere you go with the pedal, so that makes it hard for a tech to know if it's fixed or not when you hand the pedal over to him / her.

Does the pedal do it when you run it on its own, not in a chain? Have you tried different guitar leads (They do act as an antenna).

ishouldbeking · #7 07-30-2010, 11:58 AM

well... gigged with it last night and it was fine. i'm guessing its the shoddy power where we rehearse, or just a fluke. its a damn fine pedal, for sure. I need to get a real patch cable too, instead of the 10 footer i'm using in the interim.