Bad Horsie 2 Wah Noise Problem?

[davlaw]

My Bad Horsie 2 generates a bit too much noise when used with a distortion pedal. I've tried several different one's and even with a noise gate it is still has noise. Anybody know of a fix?

[jayp5150]

Is your power supply anywhere within a couple feet of your wah?  When I finally got around to putting an actual board together, it took me 2 weeks to figure out what that dang noise was when I hit the wah.  Moved the supply far. far away, and it was gone.

Yes, I should have already known that, but at least I know now.

[Paul Marossy]

Noise, as in hiss? It's probably generated in the wah circuit and then your distortion pedal amplifies the heck out of it. Almost any wah pedal pretty much has this issue. You might be able to change the transistors/opamp in it for something quieter - maybe.

[ubersam]

Is your power supply anywhere within a couple feet of your wah?  When I finally got around to putting an actual board together, it took me 2 weeks to figure out what that dang noise was when I hit the wah.  Moved the supply far. far away, and it was gone.

I had that too. I was using a Boss wallwart in very close vicinity (inches) to a Morley BH1. Moving the wallwart away took care of that noise.


On a related note, traditional EI transformers, as used in the Boss ps, generate a considerably large EM field which can cause noise in certain sensitive devices within a close proximity. Comparatively, a toroidal transformer, as used in the Voodoo Labs Pedal Power 2, has a significantly smaller EM field. As an experiment, I placed a VL PP2 right next to my BH, then placed the BH right on top of the PP2--the BH operated EM noise-free in either case.

[Paul Marossy]

If it is a wall wart causing the noise, then it would be more appropriate to call that a hum or a buzz. Noise, to me, infers that it has a lot of hiss or something.

Anyhow, yeah, a wall wart anywhere within about 24" of an inductor based wah pedal will cause it to pick up a hum due to magnetic coupling. Not much that can be done in that case other than physically increasing the distance between the wah and the power supply. 

[bancika]

shouldn't metal enclosure prevent this?

[jonathan perez]

you want LESS buzz?

use a battery.

truth be told, and with experience i power supplies, if you want to just RID of the most hum, just use batteries. im doing it for an upcoming show. im only using 3 pedals VS. 7 like i usually do. during rehearsals, wah parts are less noisy, as are the pedals going through my effects loop.

otherwise, you'll have to make do with a bit of hum and buzz, just like the rest of us.

i would recommend using Ferrite beads across the input/output, but i dont remember if the bad horsie had board mounted jacks or not...

does anyone know if the Dunlop DC Brick is less/more noisy than the Voodoo Labs Pedal Power 2? ive got a VLPP2 and am wondering if its worth the money?

[Paul Marossy]

I think the original poster was referring to hiss, but I don't know for sure. I get hiss when using really high gain distortion pedals and wah pedals. Sometimes hum will come out of the woodwork, too, though. Maybe we need an exact definition of the various types of noise as a sticky post? Kind of like that "What to do when it doesn't work" thread.  The term "noise" is just too nebulous for me...

[ubersam]

...Maybe we need an exact definition of the various types of noise as a sticky post?...The term "noise" is just too nebulous for me...

Good idea... Hiss could be just plain ol' high-gain hiss... hum could be a ground-loop issue or an EMI issue... RFI would be ()...

To answer bancika - a metal enclosure would be effective in blocking RF, to a certain degree, but EMF acts differently than RF and is treated differently in terms of "blocking". For EMF, you'll need mu-metal. This article would explain it better - http://www.lessemf.com/faq-shie.html#Lead-Copper

[davlaw]

I guess hum is a better description than noise.......I'll try moving the wallwart further away and see what happens. I'm trying to avoid the batteries, but I guess if I have to use them I could get some rechargeables so I don't go broke. Thanks for the tips!

[Paul Marossy]

Ah, OK, now we know what exactly the noise is. 

Using a battery may help, but if your wall wart is radiating stuff off of it, you may stil have a hum due to magnetic coupling. The only surefire way to get rid of the hum is to have your wall wart as far away as possible from your wah pedal.

[bancika]

To answer bancika - a metal enclosure would be effective in blocking RF, to a certain degree, but EMF acts differently than RF and is treated differently in terms of "blocking". For EMF, you'll need mu-metal. This article would explain it better - http://www.lessemf.com/faq-shie.html#Lead-Copper

thanks, didn't know that