Eden WTDI distortion solved. Or was it?

[Quackhead]

So I had some distortion issues when I got my WTDI. I tried everything and nothing made it better. I took my bass to get a basic set up done (action, intonation, etc.). So I get the bass back and apparently the master tone pot was bad. I plug in the bass with the new tone pot installed and ala peanut butter sandwiches , it's solved! No more distortion. Nothing but great tone.

Part deux. I sell the WTDI to a fellow TBer a short time later and he is claiming to have distortion problems. What gives? I will refund his money if he can't resolve the problem, but this is annoying. I tested it before I sent it and did and A/B with a second WTDI I have and they sounded exactly alike. No distortion in either unit.

He didn't mention any damage to the box, but could the unit have been damaged somehow in transit? I packed it really well.

 

[cyclomatic]

Ask him if he's tried another bass with the unit. Oddly enough he could be having the same problem as you. What type of bass did you have the volume pot issue with anyhow? Does he have the same one?

 

[vince a]

It's not the bass . . . it doesn't distort w/o it right?

He probably is over-doing the gain on his amp and the gain on the WTDI . . . lower them both way down, then bring them up . . . I use the WTDI as the master control unit!

 

[MuthaFunk]

From what I've read, the WTDI doesn't really like hot active basses. If he has a very loud preamp on his bass and likes to keep the volume knob at max he may encounter a problem. There's a bunch of people complaining about that issue in a few of the WTDI threads here on TB. If that's the case I don't think there is anything wrong with the WTDI as far as a damaged component but rather the design. Eden would have been better off with a -15 db input pad switch for "Hot" basses.

See if he can try it out with different basses and at different volume settings to verify there is something wrong with that actual WTDI.

 

[chuck norriss]

I concur w Muthafunk + set gain on wtdi at approx 30% only, & bass vol at 80%; it shouldn't distort. At 12:00 wtdi gain + 100% bass vol it's an OD pedal.

 

[Lonnybass]

Unfortunately the design of the WTDI does not seem to permit much input gain flexibility with highly active basses.

Most guys, like me, can't go up past about the 9 o'clock setting (three clicks) without clipping the preamp. My solution to get more volume out of the damned thing has been to patch in a clean boost pedal after the WTDI to get more signal into the power amp.

In my opinion the WTDI is a great sounding and versatile preamp pedal with one stupid little design flaw.

Unfortunately, based on my conversation with Eden's customer service department a few weeks ago, they are pleading ignorance to any and all problems with the design of the unit and also claim to not have seen or heard about issues in the past - despite multiple, multiple examples of other players on TB and the Eden boards who have written or called to complain about the problem.

Kind of disappointing. I expect more from Eden.

Lonnybass

 

[nickbass5]

Look in the Eden WTDI Club forum. I posted an input pad modification that has worked well for the two WTDI's that I own.