my wah problem, part 2

[eleanor296]

hey guys!
I'm back with my wah problem  .
As a recap, I got a very used 80's wah with some of the wires cut.  Hooked everything back up, got a huge amount of noise when in the toe down position...
so, high frequency noise.
I changed basically every component in there, couldn't figure it out.

Now yesterday a friend brings over his "Guitar Research" wah, we hook it up, same thing!
Doesn't matter if it's battery powered or with my DC Brick.
Anybody got any ideas?
Voodoo? 


Andy

[eleanor296]

hmmmmm... guess you guys have no idea, just like me.

[Zben3129]

Same guitar, different wah pedal?

Different guitar, different guitar pedal?

Same amp? Same settings?

Amp turned up loud?

Look for the common factor. That will most likely be your problem. Is it feedback? (the kind from having the amp too high)

Zach

[eleanor296]

Same amp, same guitar, same setting.
Well... always same amp.  Turned up loud and quiet.
The noise increases proportionally with the position of the pot.
Both wah pedals do the same thing.
I haven't tried different cables yet,
but other than the wahs I had no problems with high freq noises.
And no, it's not feedback.
The power source/any other transformers are far enough away to not cause problems.
No other fx in-line.
It's driving me crazy.

~Andy

[eleanor296]

so... is it just so stupidly easy that everybody thinks I'm a nutcase?
Or can nobody help me?
I'm not trying to be a whim, it's just kinda nice if you know someone other than you is shrugging too 

Andy

[Zben3129]

Do you have access to another guitar that you could try? Another cord? (Don't try the other guitar and other cord together, do them seperately) I'm not sure whats causing it, best thing to do is eliminate possibilities I guess.


Zach

[eleanor296]

like I said, I didn't try different cables yet... I'll have to buy another one.
I've tried it with 3 different guitars.
I have yet to try it through my Valve Junior... just to see whether or not that's changing anything...
and another common factor is the power strip/surge protector I'm using...
but shouldn't I be experiencing problems with other things too?  Like, increased noise when I turn up the treble on my amp?
Because that doesn't happen for some reason....

[ACS]

Yep, standard scientific process - elimination.

Change one thing, and only one thing, at a time until you discover the cause.  So what are your variables?

As above:
Wah pedal itself
Guitar
Amp
Cables
Any other pedals
Location (ie could it be bad power to amp)
Power to pedals

With reference to the first one (the Wah itself - I'd be wary of your single data point there - some wahs are inherently noisy, so you may just happen to have one, and so does your mate. 

[eleanor296]

@ ACS:
The noise is EXACTLY the same for both though... the amount is proportional with the position of the pedal.  I'll see if I can't try it at somebody else's place... both with my gear and somebody else's gear.
We can delete guitar from the list, since I used 4 different ones.
I'll try out everything else eventually.
It's just funny... at first I thought it was an internal problem... looks like that's pretty much wrong.
I'll get back to you guys once I find out more.

~Andy

[Zben3129]

Question, do you get this noise without a guitar plugged in?

...As I typed that i realized this wouldn't be possible to test without opening the pedal. Gator clip the ring to the sleeve on the input jack. Then, connect the output jack to the amp as you normally would.

If you still get the noise, then the problem is not the guitar or the cable connecting guitar to wah.

Zach

[Zben3129]

PS that suggestion was for if you are using a battery to power the wah. If you are using an adaptor, just unplug the cord going into the input on the wah.

Zach

[eleanor296]

As stated in my first post, I tried it both with battery and external power.
=]

Andy