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Not really sure if this has always happened or if it's recently that I've started to really notice it, but two of my pedals have this noise problem. When using my MXR Carbon Copy, the first note is fine, but all the delayed notes have a little bit of white noise to them, and it's more noticeable when the tone knob is rolled down. Similarly, with my new EQD Sea Machine, when the depth is all the way up, there's a little bit of white noise as well. I use a Visual Sound daisy chain to power them, but I've tried with different AC adapters, different outlets, and even with batteries, all with the same exact problem.

Any ideas? I don't think it's any of the cables, since the unsaturated tone is completely fine, it is only the saturated delays or chorus effects that are noisy. What's strange is that the problem sounds the same in these two pedals, but I don't really notice it with any others. I'm out of ideas

I was going to say it's just the analog delay...but maybe it has something to do with impendance...any buffers?

Delay and modulation can have some white noise, don´t know how bad it is.. But there could be another problem of course..

Bellyheart wrote:I was going to say it's just the analog delay...but maybe it has something to do with impendance...any buffers?

It's a pretty small pedal board so far... I've got a TU-3 (which is, I guess, buffered) -> Hoof fuzz -> Carbon copy -> strymon bluesky -> sea machine -> amp, the last 4 are all true bypass, but I don't really notice anything wrong with the clean tone. Maybe I'm making a big deal out of nothing?

is it at any delay setting? try shorter delay times and i bet the issue will disappear...

try taking the tuner out of the chain. that'll settle the question of whether or not it's the buffer in the tuner. you can always put the tuner at the end of the chain if you have to and just turn the pedals off before you tune.

dubkitty wrote:try taking the tuner out of the chain. that'll settle the question of whether or not it's the buffer in the tuner. you can always put the tuner at the end of the chain if you have to and just turn the pedals off before you tune.

I'd do that anyway -- at least put it after the Hoof

Doesn't seem to be the tuner. Same thing happens when it's isolated, however..

smallsnd/bigsnd wrote:is it at any delay setting? try shorter delay times and i bet the issue will disappear...

This is true! Is this just an issue with analog delays? I was using a rather large delay time. I wonder if this is the problem with the Sea Machine as well, I know there is some delay effect with some of the settings.

Also, I will put the tuner after the fuzz.

by the way, smallsnd/bigsnd... is whoever uses this account the person in Cymbals Eat Guitars? I saw you guys in Ithaca and you were amazing.

Could just be some hash related to long delay times from the BBD's. But you might as well try isolating all elements. Do you get the noise when running hard wired to either pedal with just one cable connected from the guitar and one into the amp, nothing else connected, and on battery power in each case? If this cleans things up, welcome to insanity in trying to eliminate the noise in the full system.

pibbs wrote:

smallsnd/bigsnd wrote:is it at any delay setting? try shorter delay times and i bet the issue will disappear...

This is true! Is this just an issue with analog delays? I was using a rather large delay time. I wonder if this is the problem with the Sea Machine as well, I know there is some delay effect with some of the settings.

Yea, analog delays break up at higher settings that they can't produce as well. I didn't think the Sea Machine was analog though. Maybe additional added noise to make it sound more analog?

Jero wrote:

pibbs wrote:

smallsnd/bigsnd wrote:is it at any delay setting? try shorter delay times and i bet the issue will disappear...

This is true! Is this just an issue with analog delays? I was using a rather large delay time. I wonder if this is the problem with the Sea Machine as well, I know there is some delay effect with some of the settings.

Yea, analog delays break up at higher settings that they can't produce as well. I didn't think the Sea Machine was analog though. Maybe additional added noise to make it sound more analog?

PT2399 I'd guess, digital chip but it still has the same Analog Characteristics, one of which is if you drag too much delay time out of it, it gets noisy.

The EHX Memory Boy Deluxe adds some kind of filter or noise on the repeats to make it more "analog"... El Capistan doesn't do it though... Better DSP I guess...

sonidero wrote:The EHX Memory Boy Deluxe adds some kind of filter or noise on the repeats to make it more "analog"... El Capistan doesn't do it though... Better DSP I guess...

The EHX Deluxe Memory Boy IS Analog, the only Digital Part is the Tap control which just works with the BBDs, it doesn't process it as far as i'm aware.

Scruffie wrote:

Jero wrote:

pibbs wrote:

smallsnd/bigsnd wrote:is it at any delay setting? try shorter delay times and i bet the issue will disappear...

This is true! Is this just an issue with analog delays? I was using a rather large delay time. I wonder if this is the problem with the Sea Machine as well, I know there is some delay effect with some of the settings.

Yea, analog delays break up at higher settings that they can't produce as well. I didn't think the Sea Machine was analog though. Maybe additional added noise to make it sound more analog?

PT2399 I'd guess, digital chip but it still has the same Analog Characteristics, one of which is if you drag too much delay time out of it, it gets noisy.

what scruffs said. the pt2399 was designed for karaoke machines, yet they can handle the majority of abuse/misuse that pedal makers throw at it. the "analog" sound is mostly in the filtering, though i personally do like the sound of an analog delay's time being changed more so than a digital delay; especially when oscillating... anyways, stretching the delay times longer = more clock noise/aliasing. the fix is to add more delay time via another pt2399, but then more filtering is necessary, etc.

the fix for your situation is pretty simple: use shorter delays or just deal with it!

pibbs wrote:by the way, smallsnd/bigsnd... is whoever uses this account the person in Cymbals Eat Guitars? I saw you guys in Ithaca and you were amazing.

yep, same one. i play keyboards. thanks!