can't clean it up when I roll the volume knob

[underdog]

Hi!

I'm slapping myself lately because I'm about to go nuts. My two drive pedals, OCD and Keeley Ds-1 doesn't clean up nicely. When I roll down the volume knob, there is a major decrease in volume level and the tone gets thinner. My amp and guitar is, Tech 21 Trademark 30 and Ibanez RG2570(with stock p-ups).

Any ideas about why this is happening?
Sorry about my language if it is a bit confusing.

 

[H_V_C]

I don't know how the Keeley DS-1, but the OCD is one of the most responsive pedals you can find.

 

[underdog]

Yeah I know that's why I am about to go crazy.

 

[jfromel]

Does the guitar have active pups? Try with the OCD before the DS-1, the DS-1 has a buffer that will affect how the signal is seen by the OCD

 

[underdog]

Yes I did that still no change. And, no Dimarzio/ibz's are passive.

 

[fuzz_factor]

Just a couple of ideas:

1. Your Ibanez has high output pickups, right? That might be part of the problem. Many people who talk about amps or pedals 'cleaning up' with the volume knob play guitars with vintage-style, lower output pickups. Have you tried other guitars with your amp/pedal rig?

2. Are you playing at bedroom or gig volumes? I find that pedals don't 'clean up' well at low, bedroom volumes. You really need some volume to take advantage of that.

Good luck!

 

[plexistack]

Get an RS kit (new pots & electronics) and it will clean up.

 

[PremiumPlus]

New pots are nice but they won't clean up your guitar any more than it is now, unless your volume pot doesn't work!
If the OCD's drive (or any pedal in the chain for that matter) is set too high, you won't be able to clean up your sound because the pedal is taking a very tiny signal and gaining the heck out of it. You need to cut back on the drive a little if you expect to be able to clean it up very much.

 

[clothwiring]

New pots are nice but they won't clean up your guitar any more than it is now, unless your volume pot doesn't work!

Different pots CAN affect how your guitar cleans up. I've found that the same pot make/model can have different tapers. Wish they were all the same, but electronics can affect this. I would first suspect the pickups though as being high output and not cleaning up well.

 

[PremiumPlus]

Pot taper only affects how fast or slow per unit of rotation the resistance of the pot changes. If you can turn your guitar from full on to zero volts out, then the problem lies downstream from your guitar's output, not in the guitar...and an OCD has tremendous gain avaliable. Turn the gain up too high and it's going to stay dirty, because it will take 2mV and clip it! All I'm saying is that if he's cut his guitar volume to nearly zero and is still getting overdrive, he's got to turn the gain down, that's all. He doesn't have to run out and buy new parts for his guitar...sheesh...

 

[underdog]

Just a couple of ideas:

1. Your Ibanez has high output pickups, right? That might be part of the problem. Many people who talk about amps or pedals 'cleaning up' with the volume knob play guitars with vintage-style, lower output pickups. Have you tried other guitars with your amp/pedal rig?

2. Are you playing at bedroom or gig volumes? I find that pedals don't 'clean up' well at low, bedroom volumes. You really need some volume to take advantage of that.

Good luck!

I tried both, nothing has changed.

 

[underdog]

When I say "clean up", of course I'm not asking for a totally clean sound. but there shouldn't be this much of volume drop.

Also, I tried to back off the gain on the pedal. Still doesn't work.

 

[PremiumPlus]

If you plug your guitar straight into your amp is it clean?

 

[underdog]

If you plug your guitar straight into your amp is it clean?

yes

 

[frankb]

Depending on which Capacitor you have in the guitar, some caps when you roll back the Volume knob can bring on the brightness which some people like, other caps will just roll back the volume and not enhance any highend. Which is basically a drop in volume.
When you are plugged into a pedal that is on and depending on how high you place the gain, some pedals compensate for lack of a signal and still sound really distorted and just maybe ugly.

I'd try just one pedal at a time and see how it goes.

 

[underdog]

Depending on which Capacitor you have in the guitar, some caps when you roll back the Volume knob can bring on the brightness which some people like, other caps will just roll back the volume and not enhance any highend. Which is basically a drop in volume.
When you are plugged into a pedal that is on and depending on how high you place the gain, some pedals compensate for lack of a signal and still sound really distorted and just maybe ugly.

I'd try just one pedal at a time and see how it goes.

Tried that too. Sorry.

 

[smogfalls]

Depending on which Capacitor you have in the guitar, some caps when you roll back the Volume knob can bring on the brightness which some people like, other caps will just roll back the volume and not enhance any highend. Which is basically a drop in volume.

I'd say that is by far the most important factor when it comes to how things react to volume changes. When I changed the wiring in my Tele I tried a few different caps and got so many different sounds! It made an absolutely huge difference.

Oooo, 666 posts!

 

[fr8_trane]

Do you have a treble compensation circuit attched to your guitars volume pot? This can change the way the volume pot operates.

What's your entire signal chain? Maybe there's a buffer or boost infront/behind the pedals that causing some weird interaction.

Try guitar - OCD - amp (nothing else) and see if things sound better. If not its either the guitar, the cables, or the OCD, or the amp input. Now swap the guitar. If the result is the same you've excluded the guitar. Now swap cables, etc., etc.

 

[underdog]

Do you have a treble compensation circuit attched to your guitars volume pot? This can change the way the volume pot operates.

What's your entire signal chain? Maybe there's a buffer or boost infront/behind the pedals that causing some weird interaction.

Try guitar - OCD - amp (nothing else) and see if things sound better. If not its either the guitar, the cables, or the OCD, or the amp input. Now swap the guitar. If the result is the same you've excluded the guitar. Now swap cables, etc., etc.

Actually I did all of them. The only possibility is either my volume pot is not linear or both pedals are kinda broken. But it is a really weak chance to have two broken brand new pedals.

 

[mobis8]

If you put your guitar straight into your amp, and have your amp dialed in for dirty, can you clean it up?