Noisy pedalboard all of a sudden

fnpt

I've had a new pedalboard set up for a week with no noise issues whatsoever. Yesterday however all of a sudden I've got this annoying noise when I turned the amp on which is made a lot worse when the distortion/ fuzz/ TS are on.

I usually use the fuzz into the TS for more clarity and never had any noise issue but now it's undoable. The same with the mudhoney, the TS or the fuzz in isolation ate a higher gain settings. What's odd is that I have not made any change to pedalboard.

The pedal board is powered by a HB Power Plant Junior with 5 isolated outputs of 120 mA each. I had to daisy chain the Delay, Chorus (in the loop) and tremolo which goes in front of the amp. All other pedals are isolated except the tuner and the mudhoney which share the same Y cable.

I don't have the mA requirements for the TC pedals but I know that the echosex takes 53 mA which leads to me believe that I'm not exceeding the total power output of the Power Junior.  Here's a pic:

https://imgur.com/gallery/ytYuge3

fnpt

I suspect it may be the daisy chain but what I find odd is that it worked with no noise for a week. Maybe a more powerful power supply with additional outputs?

Gassage

Most modulations or time pedals will need more than 120 MA. If you are daisy-chaining pedals, the amp ratings of each pedal are added together for one total amp requirement.

Noise

I've had that happen for a variety of reasons. Guitar/patch cable, or footswitch on the way out. Interference from devices (laptop, heater, etc...) in the home. Hard to say, but as you say it's weird it appeared afterr a week.

ICBM

fnpt said:

I've had a new pedalboard set up for a week with no noise issues whatsoever. Yesterday however all of a sudden I've got this annoying noise when I turned the amp on which is made a lot worse when the distortion/ fuzz/ TS are on.

Does the noise stop when unplug the input cable from the guitar? (At the pedalboard end.) If it's made worse by the overdrives it sounds like it could be noise from the guitar.

Gassage said:

Most modulations or time pedals will need more than 120 MA.

No, most aren't even close to that. An average analogue modulation is in the 30-40mA range and a simple digital pedal 50-80mA.

fnpt

The noise was always there with all my guitars: a LP, a tele and a strat. 

I’ve swapped the order of the pedals - the fuzz is now first - and it seems to have cured 90% of the noise. There’s still a hiss though which funnily enough goes away when I hit any of the gain pedals. Go figure. 

I’m still getting a new power source source to see if it goes away. 

Thanks all for your help.

NelsonP

https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/204860/isolated-power-joyo-zgp

Puddlesurfer

To track down an issue like this, try plugging your guitar straight into your amp, then work back from there, connecting through the pedlboard circuit one at a time, last pedal to first, checking each connection as you go. A common cause is pedal footswitches which can short and cause grounding problems as they are not completely off when disconnected. Stomping on them vigourously a few times helps - or crack out the contact cleaner and go to work!

fnpt

Well, it seems it’s not the pedals or the power source. I’ve plugged the guitar straight into the amp and plugged the amp into another socket in another room away from the pc and the noise is still there. It hisses and hums. Can this be a valve problem? I’ve swapped the pre-amp valves but left the stock power valves and they are 10 years old now. Is there anyway of knowing? 

ICBM

Does the noise stop when unplug the input cable from the guitar? (At the pedalboard/amp end.) If it's made worse by the overdrives it sounds like it could be noise from the guitar.

Using either the Tele or the Strat, does the noise stop when you turn the guitar down to zero? (Les Pauls are sometimes wired differently.)

fnpt

It does get a lot worse with any of the three guitars plugged in but gets almost silent with the volume turned all the way down on the guitars

fnpt

Also with gain low on the amp the noise goes away

ICBM

fnpt said:

It does get a lot worse with any of the three guitars plugged in but gets almost silent with the volume turned all the way down on the guitars

In that case it's external noise being picked up by the guitars.

Have you recently acquired any new gadgets with mains power supplies? Or worse, if you're in a flat, have the neighbours...

fnpt

I’ve had this set up for a while with no noise issues. It may be the neighbors. But I’ve plugged the amp in another room and the noise was still there. 

ICBM

fnpt said:

I’ve had this set up for a while with no noise issues. It may be the neighbors. But I’ve plugged the amp in another room and the noise was still there. 

Could be, if you have them. If turning the guitars down to zero stops it the noise is something they're picking up, not the pedalboard or the amp. Does the Les Paul do it less badly - assuming it has humbuckers?

fnpt

Not really, it’s te same for all guitars. 

fnpt

https://soundcloud.app.goo.gl/K7Frie1YE671TEBK9