VT Bass Noise?

[stephenrheard]

So when I start to prime the drive knob on my VT Bass pedal, I get a pretty noticeable buzz when my hands aren't on the strings. I've never had this problem before and adding the VT is the only thing I've changed in my setup recently. Is this a problem? Or maybe could this be a grounding issue in my bass that the VT is just bringing out? Or is that just life and I'm just being a n00b and should just suck it up!? Could somebody set me straight, please.

 

[MultiScaleMale]

If the sound goes away by touching the strings, that sounds like a grounding issue that is made more obvious by the gain stage in the VT.

 

[neilshane]

Are you plugging the pedal in or using a battery?

 

[PDavyduck]

If the sound goes away by touching the strings, that sounds like a grounding issue that is made more obvious by the gain stage in the VT.

ditto to this.

 

[stephenrheard]

Are you plugging the pedal in or using a battery?

Plug in, I'm using a 1-spot. No conditioned power or anything fancy.

ditto to this.

I was afraid of that

 

[bdeaux]

Subscribed. Mine is making noise too, but not from ground. I am plugging in for power.

ps - the Bass Muff in front of the VT Bass in amazing. Now if i can cancel the noise...

 

[neilshane]

I have a VT pedal. I think plugging it in is noisier than using the battery. But I normally keep mine plugged in to avoid draining batteries. I also don't move the drive control above halfway up.

 

[llatikcuf]

Mine is noisy using a 1-Spot too (dunno about batteries though). I had to tweak the settings on my MXR Smart Gate and that fixed it for me.

 

[Groover]

Any solution to this? Mine is noisy as well, using the Sansamp Power adapter that is designed for it (can't remember the number for the adapter).

 

[McHack]

Mine makes noise sometimes, but simply unplugging it & replugging it seems to solve the problem for me. No batteries here...

 

[Groover]

I did notice that too.. It was plugged in and was noisy, then unplugged put battery in, still same amount of noise. Took battery out, plugged it back in, and noise was minimal, but didn't think it was resolved in my mind, scratched it off as "am I losing my mind?" - it was late, and called it a night.

So is this normal?

 

[PauBass]

Same problem with mine too, it's goddam noisy, I've tried it with different basses and same problem everytime...It's really annoying!

I power mine with a Dunlop DC Brick.

 

[G00D+~VIBES]

The power supply designed for it doesn't have a ground plug. FWIW

 

[Wud]

Same here when powered via a dc brick.
will have to have a quick test by using a battery.

 

[kenstee]

I wrote Tech 21 about this. Here's what they said...

"Post #2 is correct... the bass may not be grounded well, and it's exaggerated by the gain of the VT. But reading further exposes another issue... those digital switching power supplies (like the 1-Spot and DC Brick) are much noisier than our DC2 or a BOSS 9V (or 9.6V) analog units. And batteries are always the quietest of all, so I often suggest using a power supply for practice but using batteries for recording or gigs. They don't drain that fast... I got at least 3 months out of a Duracell, and that was rehearsing (for three hours) once a week and gigging (two 40 minute sets, on the average) every two weeks."

Sounds pretty logical to me. All pedals seem to have some idiosyncrasies. This is the one for the VT.

 

[steve_rolfeca]

Some pedals are more susceptible to p.s. noise than others. With other pedals in the past, I've had some success with piggybacking a resistor and an extra cap on the back of the DC input jack. Shunts the noise to ground before it can effect the pedal.

Having a clean supply is a good starting point, though. I have some old Guyatone wall warts that evidently have extra filtering, as they are noticeably quieter than Boss adapters- good for pedals that are noise-prone. And a friend of mine reports that a Voodoo Labs iso 5 just quieted his noisy guitar rig.

 

[bongomania]

The Voodoo Labs PPII is the quietest non-battery PS I've tried so far. But even it can introduce some noise compared to a battery. That said, I hate batteries with a passion, so I choose to live with some noise (minimized as much as possible). Eventually I'll probably buy one of those crazy 3000 mA isolated-output supplies from that one co. in the UK, but I'm putting my money toward more fun or necessary things for now.

Re: the VT pedal, for anyone that hasn't tried other power supplies yet I recommend either the PPII or even a Boss PSA.

 

[kenstee]

FWIW, I don't notice much difference between batteries and hooked up to my T-Rex FuelTank Jr. run either separately from an isolated output or in a daisy chain. Bit of noise but nothing I can't live with.

 

[PauBass]

FWIW, I don't notice much difference between batteries and hooked up to my T-Rex FuelTank Jr. run either separately from an isolated output or in a daisy chain. Bit of noise but nothing I can't live with.

Not much difference on mine too.

I have to say I've used so many different pedals with the DC Brick and I've never had any problems, it's just the VT bass.
As much as I like the VT bass, in my opinion there's something that is not quite right with these units, I don't think it's acceptable the noise level they put out and I think Tech21 should do something about it.

 

[YL_Bass]

The Voodoo Labs PPII is the quietest non-battery PS I've tried so far. But even it can introduce some noise compared to a battery. That said, I hate batteries with a passion, so I choose to live with some noise (minimized as much as possible). Eventually I'll probably buy one of those crazy 3000 mA isolated-output supplies from that one co. in the UK, but I'm putting my money toward more fun or necessary things for now.

Re: the VT pedal, for anyone that hasn't tried other power supplies yet I recommend either the PPII or even a Boss PSA.

I second the voodoo labs. I use one and my geet player uses 2 for all his pedals and they are super quiet.