Help! Effect loop issues

[BunchyMutt]

TL;DR: Used three different effect loops to add clean to my dirty tone, all have resulted in feedback and ‘clicking’ on the attack. How do I solve this?

Here's the rundown. I've had three effect loops (Boss LS-2, Broughton Filter FX Loop, and as of today, Damnation Audio Bloop), ALL with the same issues that for the life of me I can't solve.

Signal chain: (without any effect loop)

Bass --> tuner --> (input) Boss ES-5 --> distortion and modulation in loops 1-5 --> output to input of Jule Monique --> output of Monique to input of dbx drive rack 260 --> output

Without the Bloop in the chain I can run a very distorted signal without getting squealing or feedback. It’s also easy to balance the various volume/gain controls to hit pedals and the Monique at just the right level.

With the Bloop (or the LS-2 or Broughton Loop) on (the ES-5 and all the pedals therein within the Bloop’s loop) there are two symptoms that arise:

1. On the attack of the note is a ‘click’. This is NOT a fart and it’s only on the attack of the note. It’s not a tube distortion. It’s a click sounding like two things hitting.

2. My ‘normal’ setup (sans Bloop) is a tight, extreme distortion. I run a noisegate after everything and this rig is capable of staccatto chuggs. With the Bloop in the chain, the noisegate function seems to stop working, no matter how low I turn volumes preceding the noisegate. At the levels i normally play at, it starts feedbacking. Changing settings on the noisegate has little to no effect on clamping down on the signal - it’s either ringing after each note, nonstop feedback if I turn up, or the entire signal is blocked completely.


This squealing and clicking has happened with the Boss LS-2, Broughton Filter FX Loop, and now the Damnation Bloop. I just want clean mixed with distorted tone.

My next step is to remove everything out of the Boss ES-5 and just run them in the Bloop. Until then, any ideas?

 

[cataract]

Are you using an isolated power supply (ie: Pedal Power 2+) or a OneSpot daisy?
Not even sure if this would be the cause but it’s always my go-to first thing that comes to mind when troubleshooting.
It could be a matter of simply adjusting your gain staging, but again I’m not sure. Seems like things should work just fine the way you have them. Good luck!

 

[Robertron]

I was going to suggest you take everything out of the ES5 and just run them on the Bloop.

You could start with one pedal in the Bloop, see if the problem persists, then add another pedal, test the signal, add a pedal, and repeat until you hit the problematic unit.

 

[BurningSkies]

Have you tried using the ES5 with a parallel clean to see if it happens without any of the subloops?

 

[BunchyMutt]

Have you tried using the ES5 with a parallel clean to see if it happens without any of the subloops?

I have not. I’ll give that a try and report back

 

[BurningSkies]

I have not. I’ll give that a try and report back

I have a feeling it’s a gain structure issue, maybe compounded by impedance funkiness between pedals but that stuff tends to be hard to track down...

... but since the ES5 has the ability to do clean parallel internally, it’s worth seeing what that does too and if the same issue happens. As a note, I was sort of sad that you have no control over the individual volumes of the parallel signals, which to me would make this way more useful.

 

[BunchyMutt]

The construction site got rained out today so I had a chance to troubleshoot.

Great news - everything's squared away. As I (and probably everyone else) suspected, user error on my part.

First, ruled out power supply issues (tried three different ones, two regulated, one high quality single spot)

Second, got rid of the clicking. Had nothing to do with the Bloop. Turns out some settings had changed a bit and one pedal was causing ugly distortion down the line.

As for the feedback, turns out it was the mixture of (a) my distortion tone which has lots of treble and high mids, and (b) the level into the Bloop. Turned down the patch output level on my Boss ES-5 and it's all good now.

Thanks everyone!