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The Effect Builders Club!

#321
Gotcha. The reason running the pedal thru an effects loop is quiter is pretty simple.

The effects loop runs at higher signal to noise ratio than out of the bass. The nice part about this, no new or almost no new noise is introduced into the signal.

With audio, there is always a little give and take with noise, headroom, signal levels and such. Example, you can shield the hell out of your bass, but once you do, yes it may be a lot quieter, but youll notice a slight loss of highs. Such is the way of life with low level signals and long cable lines. But, its not so bad that we stop playing. Thank goodness. =)
 
#322
Yup, Chicago Mike it dead on.

Generally, most noise issues can be solved by capacitors. Even though their job is to store energy, they have an interesting caracteristic with AC circuits to block or pass certain frequencies. I say this cuz I saw you wanted to learn how to do this. www.tonepad.com is a great place to learn.

Let me know what Analogman says. :)

Edit: By the way, I run a Kaoss Pad through an FX loop. That thing sucks my tone and isolating it from my signal chain makes a huge difference.
 
#323
yeah caps are silly monsters. you use them to block ac in audio chains as well as storing charges, and cleaning up signals and a few other things too.

check out schematics of tube amps and youll see caps used in pretty much all the popular ways a cap can be used. blocking, freq,filter,storage-discharge...

and when you see a big electrolytic blow....I only have one thing to say " Its slinky, its slinky, its such a wonderful toy!" or , remember those snakes you would lite up on the 4th?
 
#324
chicago_mike said:
yeah caps are silly monsters. you use them to block ac in audio chains as well as storing charges, and cleaning up signals and a few other things too.

check out schematics of tube amps and youll see caps used in pretty much all the popular ways a cap can be used. blocking, freq,filter,storage-discharge...

and when you see a big electrolytic blow....I only have one thing to say " Its slinky, its slinky, its such a wonderful toy!" or , remember those snakes you would lite up on the 4th?
Click to expand...

Hm, I'm still a EE student so that would explain why I haven't seen an electrolyic go up in flame. Only resistors, diodes, and LED's, :hiding:
 
#329
Think of caps as tending towards being DC open circuits and AC short circuits. Without wanting to drag us all into a discussion of formulas, the reactance (think 'resistance') of a cap decreases as frequency increases. Since DC is effectively 0 hertz, the cap's 'resistance' is infinite. The higher the frequency, the less 'resistance'.

...and you know you're alive when you discover unexpectedly that you put that 150V cap in backwards!
 
#330
niftydog said:
Think of caps as tending towards being DC open circuits and AC short circuits. Without wanting to drag us all into a discussion of formulas, the reactance (think 'resistance') of a cap decreases as frequency increases. Since DC is effectively 0 hertz, the cap's 'resistance' is infinite. The higher the frequency, the less 'resistance'.

...and you know you're alive when you discover unexpectedly that you put that 150V cap in backwards!
Click to expand...

Right, yeah, just a brain fart for me, the whole summer thing ya know. Just had my first class on this, so I gotta review.

Holy crap, I can't imagine how you learned about that one Nifty! One of the coolest things was my Physics prof. throwing a piece of metal into a 1 farat capacitor. Whoa...:eek:
 
#333
B.C. said:
Cool, sorry bout the run-around, hope you find a solution.
Click to expand...

B.C. In case you are interested, this is the response I got from Howard Davis.

Hi Clifton - thanks for the inquiry.

This pedal is being produced with a Chinese-made delay chip that is
inherently noisy. It is constructed with surface-mount components, which
makes modding impractical.

Looks like I'm out of luck. You know it's weird about Electro-Harmonix. The casings all say that they are "Made in U.S.A." However, when I opened up my Clone Theory, it prominently says "Made in China."
 
#334
CliftonBonney said:
B.C. In case you are interested, this is the response I got from Howard Davis.

Hi Clifton - thanks for the inquiry.

This pedal is being produced with a Chinese-made delay chip that is
inherently noisy. It is constructed with surface-mount components, which
makes modding impractical.

Looks like I'm out of luck. You know it's weird about Electro-Harmonix. The casings all say that they are "Made in U.S.A." However, when I opened up my Clone Theory, it prominently says "Made in China."
Click to expand...

Dang. Thats rough. Hm, so whats the deal with these? Cases assembled in USA but board in China?
 
#337
B.C. said:
Dang. Thats rough. Hm, so whats the deal with these? Cases assembled in USA but board in China?
Click to expand...

I opened up my MicroPog and my Clone Theory. On the face of the pedals, they both say "Made in the U.S.A." However, on the inside, they both say "Made in China."

The "Made in China" part is actually written on the inside of the case. I can't tell if this means the case is made in China or if the board is made in China. Given what Howard Davis told me (i.e., the Clone Theory uses parts from China), my guess is that all of the parts are made in China but they assemble it in the U.S.A. Kind of sketchy if you ask me.:mad:
 
#338
CliftonBonney said:
I opened up my MicroPog and my Clone Theory. On the face of the pedals, they both say "Made in the U.S.A." However, on the inside, they both say "Made in China."

The "Made in China" part is actually written on the inside of the case. I can't tell if this means the case is made in China or if the board is made in China. Given what Howard Davis told me (i.e., the Clone Theory uses parts from China), my guess is that all of the parts are made in China but they assemble it in the U.S.A. Kind of sketchy if you ask me.:mad:
Click to expand...

I agree.

Surface mount has its advantages, makes things smaller, but I agree, thats a little sketchy.

I'm actually pretty impressed with Boss in that aspect. I believe they are made in Japan and I have an SD-1 open on my desk(nerd I know) and it is well done + easy to mod if needed.
 
#339
CliftonBonney said:
I opened up my MicroPog and my Clone Theory. On the face of the pedals, they both say "Made in the U.S.A." However, on the inside, they both say "Made in China."

The "Made in China" part is actually written on the inside of the case. I can't tell if this means the case is made in China or if the board is made in China. Given what Howard Davis told me (i.e., the Clone Theory uses parts from China), my guess is that all of the parts are made in China but they assemble it in the U.S.A. Kind of sketchy if you ask me.:mad:
Click to expand...

well, pretty much all of those little parts are made in china or somewhere similar. Something that with Surface mount components, I don't think it matters where it is made, because it is most likely build/soldered by a machine. The circuit board anyways.

I am pretty sure the enclosures they use are made in china. I don't know where the board is made, but I wouldn't be surprised if someone in the US put the rest of it together.
 

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