Turbo Tuner live - how do you work around the 'pop' when engaging the switch?

[Tim Bowen]

I don't think there's any question that a Turbo Tuner is more accurate than a BOSS TU-2 or TU-3. This thread isn't about accuracy or tracking, it regards the audible 'pop' that occurs when the pedal is engaged.

For those that gig the Turbo, do you just live with the pop or have you found some way to work around it?

Where in your chain do you place it? Is it quieter as engaged, in one area of your chain vs. another? Do you find that other true bypass or buffered items within your chain, and their position with relation to the Turbo, affect the actual volume of the pop?

Do you use something else within your chain as a mute instead of the Turbo?

I understand that true bypass switches can have an audible pop, but - at least within my rig - I found the Turbo's pop to be excessive. At the show I took it to, I defaulted to a Snark clip-on tuner as the pop was just too distracting.

Does anyone feel like I do, in that a kill switch in the live performance setting absolutely has to be dead silent? Like with a BOSS switch? Has anyone abandoned the Turbo for live use for this very reason?

For the record, I ran my Turbo first in line, and powered it via its own isolated output on a Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2.

Lest anyone thinks that I have any interest in dragging the Turbo Tuner through the mud, please be assured that my questions here are quite sincere. I still own the Turbo Tuner, and I will place it on the board when I go to sessions. I'd just like to find out if there's any possibility of ever using it live again.

Thanks.

 

[TheoDog]

I don't seem to have pop trouble.
It runs after gain, before delay/verb.
I routinely leave a delay trialing with my Wet all the way up for a pad sound, then mute with the TT to switch guitars.
An audible pop would end up on the delays and reverb trails... Haven't had to fight that battle.
Do you have a compressor running?

 

[Don A]

Mine doesn't pop. I run it last in the chain on a 1Spot with several other pedals. I'd contact Sonic Research.

 

[Mark Wein]

I have had two of them on different boards for the last couple of years and have never had a problem with audible pops on either one. I usually have my tuner either first or early in the signal path. In my live rig it is actually after my compressor and wah just to making routing easier:

 

[lefort_1]

my gut level is that the next downstream pedal that is either

True-bypass AND engaged (effect is active), OR
Buffered

AND is leaking DC back on it's input line... do you have a Digital Multimeter (DMM) around?


DC on the line could cause the pop....it's also possible that your Turbo Tuner is the source of the DC as well.

 

[Drak]

Although it is recommended to run it first, it's not written in stone.

I've had to swap a pedal or two before that loudly popped in a certain position and didn't when I moved it somewhere else in chain.

I'd recommend to just move it around in the chain until you find where it doesn't pop.

 

[straticus]

I have mine last in line. Never made any pop noises.

 

[RC2]

I have one TT on a live board and a second on a studio board. The only thing I ever put in front of them is occasionally a wah and never had a pop or any noise out of either of them.

 

[guitarslinger21]

I don't doubt yours may pop, since it is a mechanical TB switch, but mine doesn't pop yet.

However, I would just figure out some type of workaround like a buffered A/B switch or something if it's too big of a problem. Boss PSM-5 would be perfect for this. It's the best buffer I've ever heard, and it goes for about $40.

 

[JPF]

I've got my TT first in line, and it never pops.

 

[Steve73]

Mine is 2nd or 3rd in line and no pops. Maybe a power issue?

 

[lefort_1]

This place:

Try here as a starting point : https://www.thegearpage.net/board/index.php?posts/16320613&postcount=2

suspect dc-levels from other pedals first...just on general principles.
Without knowing the rest of your pedalchain, it's hard to help you troubleshoot it..

 

[etc]

never heard mine pop...

 

[Tim Bowen]

Okay, thanks for the replies. And lefort_1, I appreciate that primer.

Actually don't have a Digital Multimeter around, but might need to round one up. And if my own trial & error doesn't reach any conclusions, might try to hook up with my guitar tech for some trouble shooting.

Current signal chain:

*tuner* > Xotic SP comp > Mooer Black Secret > Barber Gain Changer > Timmy > Xotic RC Booster > ISP Decimator II > Strymon Flint > Mooer Ana Echo > AnalogMan ARDX20 > T Rex Reptile

The Strymon Flint is powered via the VL PP2's courtesy outlet. Depending on my instrumentation, Xotic SP comp - or - Xotic SP comp + Xotic RC Booster - is "on all the time". The ISP Decimator is always on, and I usually have one of the delays on.

Anyone spy a potential culprit?

 

[cheameup]

+1 to never having a pop. I have it first in chain and running off a PP2+

 

[Tim Bowen]

Also - and this is for my own reference - when you guys say yours doesn't pop - are we talking as dead silent (as amplified) as engaging a BOSS pedal?

 

[Charles#5]

Mine never pops or popped. Dead silent, except for the mechanical click of the switch. Don't have any other problems with it either. Great unit, but I prefer my TU-3 for live work. Fast, intuitive and plenty accurate. I keep the TT in my music room.

 

[Tim Bowen]

Yeah, I gigged my new TU-3 for the first time last night. It's good. Like the new display (also have a couple of TU-2s), and it's pretty quick. Seems to jump on, and hang onto, the note quicker than TU-2. Good live tuner. Where I miss the strobe accuracy most though is on mandolins, with the four unison string courses.

 

[roquero]

I have mine out of the second (tuner) out of my Barber Launch Pad, so it's not in the signal path. Added benefit of using the Launch Pad: with the volume control, I can give my Turbo Tuner a signal that helps it track even better than my guitar's direct pickups!

 

[Tim Bowen]

Okay, just checked the Turbo Tuner by itself, as powered by fresh 9V battery through a little Fender SS practice amp I have here at the shack - and it pops. Loudly. I have a bunch of reverb on at the little Fender amp and the 'verb goes along for the ride with the loud pop.

Time to contact Sonic Research then? Would what I've done here with running the unit by itself eliminate necessary variables?