Excessive noise issue!

[kstrat62]

Looking to fix this as inexpensive as possible. I have a homemade board, running 5 drives, 2 delays, tremolo, and tuner. I'm powering everything from a cheap power strip mounted under the board and using the tuner for power out with daisy chains and daisy chains off of another adapter. I'm guessing this is probably the cause of the problem. Could i get a better power strip and clean things up or am I going to have to break down and buy some kind of power supplier? I also kind of suspect the CM Plexitone could be doing something because it has an ungrounded plug. Experts give me your answers! Thanks

[p_wats]

Looking to fix this as inexpensive as possible. I have a homemade board, running 5 drives, 2 delays, tremolo, and tuner. I'm powering everything from a cheap power strip mounted under the board and using the tuner for power out with daisy chains and daisy chains off of another adapter. I'm guessing this is probably the cause of the problem. Could i get a better power strip and clean things up or am I going to have to break down and buy some kind of power supplier? I also kind of suspect the CM Plexitone could be doing something because it has an ungrounded plug. Experts give me your answers! Thanks

So you've got a power strip with a wall wart plugged into it that daisy chains to other pedals?

If that's the case I'd put most of the blame on unfiltered/unregulated power coming from the wall warts (had this problem myself the other night).

Are you able to measure the voltage coming from the wall warts (they say 9V, but often actually give out 13-14V if they are unregulated. In my experience unregulated usually means they are also unfiltered, which lets in a lot of noise--especially with high-gain pedals)?

[Heady Jam Fan]

I would try plugging the guitar into the amp directly and if you have noise then, the source is probably the guitar. You can sometimes put a metal film on the inside of the guitar around the pups, check the wiring/grounding, consider if the pups are just noisy.

Power is definitely a good thought though, but I use a one-spot with a daisy and no problems. Are you using all those dirt boxes at once? With a single one, let alone a stack, noise might be normal.

You could try a boss noise suppressor, but I think they are a band-aid. You still have noise when you play usually, but the gate cuts it off when you stop and can sometimes cut off your sustain too.

[2061X]

You're probably right that the daisy chaining is the cause. Some effects don't like being daisy chained. I've experienced this in the past with the Echo Park. This was instantly solved by using a Voodoolabs Pedal Power 2+. There are also cheaper options, such as the T-Rex Fueltank jr. You might check out which pedal(s) is/are causing this, by adding them one-by-one to your daisy chain (and effects chain). You might get away by daisy chaining some effects, which may save you some bucks.

Happy plumbing!

[kstrat62]

p wats, yes that's how I'm powering everything. Heady Jam Fan, my guitars are shielded and the one I was using last night has the Area 58/61 noiseless pups! Would a regulated power strip work? Thanks

[Heady Jam Fan]

p wats, yes that's how I'm powering everything. Heady Jam Fan, my guitars are shielded and the one I was using last night has the Area 58/61 noiseless pups! Would a regulated power strip work? Thanks

Yea, it is probably the power, figured I would mention the other possibilities because a low-noise guitar is important IMO when using stuff like dirt or compression. Sounds like you thought about that already though!

[78deluxe]

p wats, yes that's how I'm powering everything. Heady Jam Fan, my guitars are shielded and the one I was using last night has the Area 58/61 noiseless pups! Would a regulated power strip work? Thanks
Chances are you will find you need isolated power for you pedals. (its possible you might not).

With just "upgrading" your power strip you can still have problems because they are all still interacting with each other via the daisy chain.

[Whiskey N Beans]

Try upgrading to a one spot type device. You already have a daisy chain. Buy the $20 1-Spot (less on Amazon probably) and see if that fixes your problem. Some effects may prefer going straight into the power strip under your board with their own private adapter. I would try this out and see if it works, as it's a lot cheaper than a ISO power supply. That said, if you got the dough, cut to the chase. Get a Fuel Tank or PP2+ and go worry free right out of the gate. I use a 1-Spot with no issues except when there are lots of neon lights or beer signs.

[p_wats]

Yeah, upgrading the power strip won't do much if your wall wart power supply plugged into it is unfiltered.

Some pedals definitely don't like to be daisy chained, but I regularly have 8 or so chained on my board without issue because of a decent wall wart.

Of course, in the end something with isolated power for each pedal would be ideal, but could be larger than what you want.

[kstrat62]

Ok, I went out and got a Pedal Power 2. I spent almost an hour taking everything off my board and re-wiring it with the PP2. I plug it in and I have MORE noise than I had before! In fact, it was a wall of noise! I isolated it to a bad output on the PP2 and it wouldn't stop when I unplugged that output and used a wallwart for my tuner. I did clean up a lot of the noise by taking my wah off of the daisy chain and going back to a battery.

[Theroyalconsort]

It must be said that I'd put my money on your powering solution.

Easy way to check that is to use batteries and see if that cleands it up.


BUT
Check your cables first.

and also check each pedal individually see if one is dodgy.

[Hugo Da Rosa]

Sounds like it could also be bad ground somewhere. The best way to do this so you don't continue to waste time is to plug pedals in one by one. Hook up your guitar to the first pedal in your chain and go to the amp from there. If no noise, add the next pedal in the chain and go to the amp. So on and so forth. If you notice one particular pedal is causing noise, set it off to the side and continue with your chain of effects to make sure no other one is giving you problems. If you find that its a bad patch (wiggle your patches as they are plugged. Could be a loose ground) then place that off to the side. Figure out which exactly is the problem, report back, then we can work from there.