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Hissing/Buzzing - Compressor Problem?

P

paullarkins

Nov 30, 2009
8
1
Nottingham, UK
#1
Hi

I've just got myself some effects and they are outputing some serious hiss.

I've looked into how i have my effect chain set up and it goes as follows:

Guitar
Compressor (ashdown dualband)
Distortion/Fuzz (Trex bass juice)
Wah (Dunlop 105Q)
Amp (not plugged in effects loop)

Basically i'm struggling as soon as an effect is plugged in. It go straight from guitar to amp, i have no problems, so my long guitar cable and guitar must be ok. (assumption)

With just the compressor, i get loads of hiss. I tend to have the input up 1/3 and output up 1/3 and no matter what setting i use i get tons of hiss.

When i plug in the distortion it just amplifies it further. Its doing what its supposed to do though it guess, adding gain to my signal chain. With the distrotion alone, again i masses of hiss, but i can allow for that, its doing its job.

With the wah on its own i have no problems.

Does anyone have any advise on how to reduce the buzz from the compressor? Am i missing something? Do i just have a bad cheap compressor? Bad cables?
 
#2
Noise is a complicated issue--check my FAQ for an article on the subject. Some hiss is normal from most compressors, to some small degree, as they amplify the otherwise-unheard line noise of your instrument and cable. But if the hiss is bad, then there are four "usual" possibilities:
--bad pedal
--bad settings on pedal
--bad patch cord
--something wrong with power supply (this can be complicated).

I'm not a fan of the Ashdown, but I don't remember it being particularly noisy. I wrote down a note that the "good" setting I found was with both bands of compression set to about 2:00 and the EQ at 12:00 exactly, so try that. But you might have gotten a "dud" pedal.

The way to test whether a cable is causing problems is to swap it with other cables, especially if you have ones that you know are good.

With the power supply, it can be "just not working right" (maybe old, been dropped too many times), but the most common problem is when the supply is not isolated from other pedals. An individual wall-wart is isolated, but a daisy chain supply (and some brick-shaped multi-outlet supplies) is/are not isolated, and this can lead to noise being introduced into the signal path. Some more expensive brick-shaped supplies do have isolated outlets. When in doubt, use an individual wall wart for testing.
 
#4
I know money is tight, but I recommend buying two more new cables. They don't have to be fancy, just decent. That way you can know for sure what's up with your existing cables, by swapping each of them one at a time in each position.
 
#5
K,

I've bought new cables. I'm assuming they are good ones...(made by cordial, with rean connectors) and still i have hiss.

I then thought that the problem maybe the guitar itself. A grounding issue. In fairness, the grounding wire into the input jack, didnt look that clever, so i resoldered it, and still i have the same issues.

If i get a chance tonight i'm going to have a proper play at high volumes tonight.
 

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