Tremelo Noise while not engaged HELP

More Cowbell · Post by **More Cowbell** » Sat Jan 27, 2007 6:28 pm

WELL...before I go google huntin I want to ask the pedal guru's first. I was at practice Thurs. night and had me Boss Tr2 tremelo pedal that I did the resistor mods to, and the fx chain goes Guitar into Dungflop Crybaby Wah/TU2 tuner/Tremelo/Amp.

When I'm in Overdrive channels you can hear the pulsing of the tremelo when the trem is switched off, but if I switch my amp to the clean channel it goes away, does this mean my tremelo pedal is not true-bypass or whatever? Or do you think the mods that boosted it have caused this new problem. The problem is only noticible when I'm not playing, other than that everything works great.

Any solutions?

Thanks.

paul_ · Post by **paul_** » Sat Jan 27, 2007 6:33 pm

it's not true bypass. do you use your amp's fx loop?

More Cowbell · Post by **More Cowbell** » Sat Jan 27, 2007 6:38 pm

paul_ wrote:it's not true bypass. do you use your amp's fx loop?

So because its not true bypass this is causing the noise?

My amp's fx loop sucks(mike explained why). I use a Marshall Avt150h head and 4x12 cab. basically when I use the fx loop with the tremelo the volume is barely audible.

Mr Mustache · Post by **Mr Mustache** » Sat Jan 27, 2007 6:43 pm

get a Dano Tuna Melt trem, cheap and awesome

More Cowbell · Post by **More Cowbell** » Sat Jan 27, 2007 6:47 pm

Mr Mustache wrote:get a Dano Tuna Melt trem, cheap and awesome

My pedal eats tuna melts for breakfast.

Mr Mustache · Post by **Mr Mustache** » Sat Jan 27, 2007 7:02 pm

but is a tuna melt noisy?

Pens · Post by **Pens** » Sat Jan 27, 2007 8:50 pm

Trems can be a bitch to quiet. I'm fighting with the trem I'm making to get the noise down too. BUT, Boss' bypass isn't true bypass but it is pretty good. I'm thinking it may be due to these mods, it could be putting just a slight ripple in the power from the LFO which might be causing the buffer to fluctuate, which you will hear when you send in a higher gain signal. What mods exactly did you do?

euan · Post by **euan** » Sat Jan 27, 2007 8:54 pm

PenPen wrote:Trems can be a bitch to quiet. I'm fighting with the trem I'm making to get the noise down too. BUT, Boss' bypass isn't true bypass but it is pretty good. I'm thinking it may be due to these mods, it could be putting just a slight ripple in the power from the LFO which might be causing the buffer to fluctuate, which you will hear when you send in a higher gain signal. What mods exactly did you do?

What I was thinking too. I'm kinda getting something similar that with my Uglyface and it's being a bit to debug.

Pens · Post by **Pens** » Sat Jan 27, 2007 9:06 pm

euan wrote:
PenPen wrote:Trems can be a bitch to quiet. I'm fighting with the trem I'm making to get the noise down too. BUT, Boss' bypass isn't true bypass but it is pretty good. I'm thinking it may be due to these mods, it could be putting just a slight ripple in the power from the LFO which might be causing the buffer to fluctuate, which you will hear when you send in a higher gain signal. What mods exactly did you do?
What I was thinking too. I'm kinda getting something similar that with my Uglyface and it's being a bit to debug.

Since you are into DIY also, have you ever built the GarageFuzz? That one was awesome but added a ton of noise to ground which bled into the bypass also. I did some mods to that circuit and republished as the PungentBuzz if you're interested.

I started collecting the parts for an Uglyface (if that's what I'm thinking it is, the thing from FolkUrban, right?) but I want to hold off until I have an junked wah to build it into.

euan · Post by **euan** » Sat Jan 27, 2007 9:31 pm

No I haven't built the GarageFuzz, I think I've seen it somehwhere though. What mods did you do to remove the noise to ground? I'm thinking about rerouting some cables first to see if makes a difference before I start trying some stuff.

Yeah the Uglyface is from FolkUrban. Te current one is the second I've built, the other had a tone of noise due to it being one of the first pedals I built. I'm wanting to build one in a Wah chassis myself. I've got an old EH volume pedal coming from eBay which is looking like a good candidate. I might experiment and try and mod it a bit and see what other LED/LDR combination works.

Pens · Post by **Pens** » Sat Jan 27, 2007 9:43 pm

The GarageFuzz was an odd circuit with a grounded collector second stage using a 2N2222. The source of the noise was the grounded collector. SO, I isolated the collector from ground with a 100 ohm resistor. That was enough to separate ground from it and cleared up the noise. Although, it DID make some crazy sounds when the pedal was engaged before that mod, and you could change the pitch of the occilation with the tone/volume knobs on your guitar. I'll make another thread about it after digging up all the schems and stuff, so we can not jack Cowbell's thread any further.

euan · Post by **euan** » Sat Jan 27, 2007 9:46 pm

The same thing was happening with the Uglyface until I had it fully box mounted.

James · Post by **James** » Sat Jan 27, 2007 9:54 pm

Mr Mustache wrote:get a Dano Tuna Melt trem, cheap and awesome

people on this boards are fucking idiots sometimes

he didnt ask what he should get to replace it, he wanted to know why it might not be working and how he could fix it.

Mr Mustache · Post by **Mr Mustache** » Sat Jan 27, 2007 9:56 pm

i was being a dick saying basically get rid of the boss POS and he will be better off spending $30 of the Dano trem

James · Post by **James** » Sat Jan 27, 2007 9:58 pm

Mr Mustache wrote:i was being a dick

evidently. [/mike]

Mr Mustache · Post by **Mr Mustache** » Sat Jan 27, 2007 9:58 pm

More Cowbell · Post by **More Cowbell** » Sat Jan 27, 2007 10:46 pm

Mr Mustache wrote:i was being a dick saying basically get rid of the boss POS and he will be better off spending $30 of the Dano trem

I know your messing with me.

Bob just gets upset when someone starts messing with his bitch.

More Cowbell · Post by **More Cowbell** » Sat Jan 27, 2007 10:48 pm

PenPen wrote:Trems can be a bitch to quiet. I'm fighting with the trem I'm making to get the noise down too. BUT, Boss' bypass isn't true bypass but it is pretty good. I'm thinking it may be due to these mods, it could be putting just a slight ripple in the power from the LFO which might be causing the buffer to fluctuate, which you will hear when you send in a higher gain signal. What mods exactly did you do?

I did all of these mods.

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/c.walker420/bosstr2mod.pdf

Anyway to make a boss a better true bypass? a mod or summit?

Pens · Post by **Pens** » Sun Jan 28, 2007 12:10 am

Alright. Gimme some time, I was bout to jump in the shower, when I come back I'll check the schem. Those mods will make the LFO strain the pwr supply harder than stock, so it looks like it could be what I said. I'll see if there's any suggestions I can make, and I'll show you how to trew bypass that sucker if you want.

More Cowbell · Post by **More Cowbell** » Sun Jan 28, 2007 12:12 am

PenPen wrote:Alright. Gimme some time, I was bout to jump in the shower, when I come back I'll check the schem. Those mods will make the LFO strain the pwr supply harder than stock, so it looks like it could be what I said. I'll see if there's any suggestions I can make, and I'll show you how to trew bypass that sucker if you want.

Absolutely, I'll send that switch and knobs for free if you do.