ilovefuzz.com

I recently bought a Seppuku FX Octave Synth in a part exchange. Got a great deal and couldn't be happier.
Unfortunately, it's NOISY. Not just a little bit noisy because of a gain boost, we're talking white-noise simulating waves crashing on the shore noisy.
Signal gets through and it sounds fine when it does, however the pedal is practically unusable if I do anything other than constant playing, notes ringing out give way to HISSSSSS fairly quickly. It gets more intense when the volume is up (obviously), the filter is low and the octave blend is low.
I've Emailed Rhys for help on how to fix it, but not got anything back since I told him it's the Mark 2 one (bigger enclosure with the switch on top).

Anyone here got an idea on where to start with this problem? I'm pretty handy with a soldering iron, but don't really know my way around circuits too well.

You could open it up and check for trimpots, maybe one of them needs adjustment?
Check the grounds too.
Also, take some pics while you are in there and maybe someone can spot the problem.

With it on battery power, not mains, I'd plug it in to hear the hiss, and open it up and very gently prod round with a matchstick to see if when you touch something it gets better for a second... Could be dry joint/loose something or other...

D-Rainger wrote:With it on battery power, not mains, I'd plug it in to hear the hiss, and open it up and very gently prod round with a matchstick to see if when you touch something it gets better for a second... Could be dry joint/loose something or other...

If using a battery, I'd actually use my finger to poke around. I solved a noisy rat that way. My finger is ever so slightly conductive (like 10meg ohm) and 10m to ground at a certain place was enough to stop the noise. A matchstick isn't very conductive and I wouldn't of found the problem that way.

cloudscapes wrote:

D-Rainger wrote:With it on battery power, not mains, I'd plug it in to hear the hiss, and open it up and very gently prod round with a matchstick to see if when you touch something it gets better for a second... Could be dry joint/loose something or other...

If using a battery, I'd actually use my finger to poke around. I solved a noisy rat that way. My finger is ever so slightly conductive (like 10meg ohm) and 10m to ground at a certain place was enough to stop the noise. A matchstick isn't very conductive and I wouldn't of found the problem that way.

I always use my finger for debugging, works alot of the time, it's pretty handy to have them around (That wasn't originally a pun but... Fuck it).

Scruffie wrote:I always use my finger... butfuck it

I usually have a go with the meter, then finger to isolate the area, then the meter again.

Fingers rule!

I got things sorted now. I Emailed Rhys from Seppuku and he said I could send the pedal over to him so he could fix it free of charge - can't say fairer than that really.
Apparently it was a combination of a newer circuit in the Octave Synth (adds more gain + volume to everything) and the fact it reacts to people's setups differently (and I use a pretty old and haggared amp). He's swapped it out for the older circuit now, so here's hoping that sorts everything out.
Thanks for your help though!