Extra hum from a TWah in an isolated bypass loop?

DrJazzTap

So I'm in the midsts of sorting my pedal board out (finally, famous last words!)

Anyway I tested it out today through the Blues deluxe. And the T'Wah seems to be generating some extra hum and noise. It's being powered by a PP2. I've tested the connecting cables and they seem to be fine. I've also ran the pedal from a battery. I've never noticed the hum before, I've only really ran the pedal on its own into my vox lil nightrain practice amp.

The only thing I can think of, could the position of the Vox wah be the root of the problem? I remember reading about some problems with wah's and fuzz boxes?



I'm going to test the pedal away from the board to see if that cures it, if not I think I'll have to look for a replacement auto wah.

telehack

Not clear to me where your mains cable is routed, but could you be getting interference from that? The reason I ask is that I rerouted my pedal board and the wah was close to the mains cable. Last night at rehearsal I was getting some "interesting" sounds from my wah. As soon as I moved it, it was fine. 

-Tom

DrJazzTap

Hello it is interference from the pedal power unit underneath the board. The noise goes when the pedal is about a foot off of the board. So time to sell the Twah

Sassafras

Always nice to see a Pork Loin on the board.

DrJazzTap

Sassafras said:

Always nice to see a Pork Loin on the board.

I farted around with tube screamers for a few years and never really got what i was after. This ticks all of the boxes for me, great pedal it's so versatile. I was tempted to buy a big muff to place after it, just to complete the double entendre.

Sassafras

If I could only have one dirt pedal it'd have to be the Pork Loin, it's stayed on my board far longer than any of the others.

DrJazzTap

Sassafras said:

If I could only have one dirt pedal it'd have to be the Pork Loin, it's stayed on my board far longer than any of the others.

I have spent thousands on pedals over the years. Sometimes the only way of trying them out is to buy them. A lot of the time second hand from ebay. But then you just come across pedals which are keepers. The Carl Martin, The Wampler, the wah and the Pork Loin fall into that category!

ThePrettyDamned

Would moving the T-wah away help, rather than losing it altogether?

DrJazzTap

ThePrettyDamned said:

Would moving the T-wah away help, rather than losing it altogether?

Sadly the hum only reduces when its off the board, literally below the one control bypass looper I want to keep everything on the board ideally. I can tolerate having the volume pedal off of the board. But I want to keep the effects pedals on.

ThePrettyDamned

DrJazzTap said:

ThePrettyDamned said:

Would moving the T-wah away help, rather than losing it altogether?

Sadly the hum only reduces when its off the board, literally below the one control bypass looper I want to keep everything on the board ideally. I can tolerate having the volume pedal off of the board. But I want to keep the effects pedals on.

Oh man, that's a shame.   

Sassafras

Bigger board? 

Have you tried moving the power supply to the furthest bit of the board from the wah?

DrJazzTap

Sassafras said:

Bigger board? 

Have you tried moving the power supply to the furthest bit of the board from the wah?

I'm not going to a bigger board, no no no. Downsized specifically haha. The power supply location is best suited for the other pedals unfortunately. I could try moving the supply a little to the left but I don't think that will cure it

ICBM

Don't get a Boss AW-2 either, that's also prone to hum pickup. Any wah with a choke in the circuit will be. It can be very sensitive to the exact position and angle of the pedal relative to the supply too. Some other auto-wahs and envelope filters don't use a choke though, although I don't have a list, sorry! The Boss FT-2 and DOD FX-25 are definitely OK, I've had both those with no problems. I would also assume the Boss AW-3 is fine, since it's digital.

DrJazzTap

Right I have managed to stop the twah hum.....placing the pedal in the top right hand side of the board and the power supply underneath the carl martin......but now.I'm.picking up hum from pork loi. Nowhere near as much. I'll have to jiggle the board around. And I need to order an extra long power cable for the twah. Fingers crossed I'll nail this