Hi guys, I’m wondering if someone can help.
last week at a gig, my Guitar volume was fluctuating all over the place, luckily I had a good sound engineer and we managed to get through the gig.
I naturally assumed it was it was a valve issue. I’m playing through a 1990 ltd Ed VOX AC30.
when my tech took a look at the amp, sure enough there was a couple of faulty valves. He was surprised the amp even worked, sorted, or so I thought..
Last night at rehearsal I had a similar problem, yet I was using a different guitar and different amp!! The only common piece in the puzzle was my cables and pedalboard.
I run from my guitar through a TU-3 > Jim D wah mini > CS3 > MXR COMP > Blues Driver > Marshall Reverb. All powered from a pro quality power bank. The in and out cables are good quality and nearly new.
Has anyone any ideas or experiences of this occurring? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Cheers
Comments
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
What brand are they - something beginning with PW by any chance…?
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
All the other cables seem fine but they are a mixture, some are older than others and have been on the board for some time so maybe it's time to replace them all.
I've also had a couple of guitar cables in the past which did the same thing and they were Van Damme cables but since then I've been using Klotz cables and they've been fine.
reply: does the volume drop kind of go up and down?
http://www.harmonycentral.com/forum/forum/guitar/acapella-29/1694401-
These are total crap. The cable itself is fine, it's the plugs that are the problem.
If so it will almost certainly be one of the ones with the mechanical switches.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
Is there anything in particular that you or your band do whilst playing that induces the volume changes or are they entirely random?
The volume fluctuations are entirely random and bloody annoying! It did seem to settle down by the end of the gig but was still apparent.
thanks for the help
If it is a cable then it will probably only be one of the cables. You shouldn't need to replace them all. Buy one or two decent new ones, and swap the others out one by one until you find the culprit.
If you go through all the cables and it's still doing it, then take each of the pedals out one by one until you find the culprit.
If neither of those fix it, then given that it's happening with different amps and guitars then by elimination it's probably the power supply.
Thought i'd do some investigating first and shock horror it was one of my Fender cables (the standard black ones with white tips). This is the 3rd one to break on me now simply from home use and none of them have lasted anywhere near a year.
Buying myself a planet waves american stage cable as a replacement as i've heard good things about them.
Got a fender custom shop cable as an xmas present last year so i'll carry on using that from amp to pedal board as there's no point wasting it, but i'll wait patiently until that inevitably dies!
RESULT - Customer returns with claims of, "it just stopped working, honest, guv," when there are obvious signs of abuse on the cable.
The power distributor device is dependent upon the house mains electricity supply. Other consumers of electricity could cause momentary drops in the supply voltage. For instance, P.A. and light rigs.
I gave up on the Planet Waves cables. Lifetime warranty is all very well, but will you be able to find the receipt in 6 years time? Or more likely 6 months time given my experience with them.
The most cost effective way is to buy some decent cable and jacks and make your own. If you aren't up to making your own, or can't be bothered, then get some from somewhere like Award-Session.
http://www.award-session.com/
Stewart Ward who owns Award-Session can be very grumpy but he makes good quality cables at sensible prices.