Electric Druid Flangelicious : works fine, but...

[lezerec]

Hi guys, I'm french so please forgive my bad english.
My 4 knobs Flangelicious works fine, but there's a problem I can't fix. A noise of water flowing is permanent, just like a leaking faucet.. When the guitar volume pot is at 0 or 10, it's always the same.The trimpots can't do anything for that, or it seems so... Any idea ??

[vigilante397]

Welcome to the forum Could be a noisy power supply issue. What are you using for power?

[lezerec]

Thank you, I didn't know it before I went to the Flangelicious project page !
It' s power plant. Yes, I thought about it too.. Must find another one to try..
Do some other Flangelicious builders had this problem ?

[vigilante397]

I've never built one, so hopefully someone that has will come along and share some input.

I would recommend trying with another power supply, or with a battery if possible. Could you provide a link to the layout/schematic you used? Also pictures of your build would be helpful. A couple common noise culprits are noisy power supplies and improper grounding.

[ElectricDruid]

A *bit* of noise is normal, and it does tend to sound like running water, but it shouldn't be much. The clock balance trim is the one that helps minimise it. Also the noise is worse with the resonance turned right up, because the extra gain makes it louder.

HTH,
Tom

[lezerec]

Ok, electric druid, I was scratching my head and your answer makes it fine ! I fixed the problem (but it's not really a problem now) with a noise gate. Now, the flanger is perfect !

[eh la bas ma]

I have the same"running water" problem, with every power supply It's the same, and it's very much noticeable.

Moreover, I tried to fix it with the Clock Balance Trimmer and I noticed that I have 4.70V at TPI : "adjust the trim for minimum clock bleedthrough (...) with a multimeter on a AC voltage range - you should be aiming for 100mV or less ". https://electricdruid.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/FlangeliciousConstructionGuide.pdf  I can hear the trimmer is working, the sweeping sound almost disappears in the center of the rotation, but it doesn't change the voltage readings (or maybe from 4.70V to 4.69V). The "faucet noises" are in the signal at every point of the rotation.

ICs Voltages are all ok, I am not sure about the caps : there is 3 pads for each one, so I looked on exemples on-line, and did the same.

Here is a picture in case there is something obviously wrong :




Thank you very much for your help.

[antonis]

I tend to conclude that Tom is a mean naughty guy who deliberately incorporate "noise flaws" into his designs..
(which, by the way, isn't so simple as someone can imagine..) 

[eh la bas ma]

I tend to conclude that Tom is a mean naughty guy who deliberately incorporate "noise flaws" into his designs..
(which, by the way, isn't so simple as someone can imagine..) 

I understand there should be "a bit" of noise, but this is something else. Does everyone have 4.70V at TP1 ? Instructions mentions 100 mV or less.

[ElectricDruid]

I tend to conclude that Tom is a mean naughty guy who deliberately incorporate "noise flaws" into his designs..
(which, by the way, isn't so simple as someone can imagine..) 

I understand there should be "a bit" of noise, but this is something else. Does everyone have 4.70V at TP1 ? Instructions mentions 100 mV or less.

100mV or less on an *AC* voltage range. There is a *DC* bias as well, which is what you are seeing. The actual clock feedthrough is an AC signal which is laid on top of that DC bias. Switching to an AC range measures (in some way - it's not a sine wave!) the clock noise and not the bias.

If you're finding the background noise too noticeable in relation to your signal, the other solution is to make the signal louder. What are you feeding the pedal with? What's the signal level going in? Some guitars are much louder than others. It's possible to tweak the resistor values in the pedal to compensate for quiet inputs if that's what you habitually use, but putting a booster in front of the pedal is simpler!

[eh la bas ma]

You  are right, on AC range I have 0.000V . I left the trimmer on center, where there is almost no sweeping noise.

I use an Ltd Viper 400 with EMG 81 - 85. I tried to turn the volume up on the guitar, and connected a GE-7 after the flanger, to lower the volume.

It's working !

Almost no background noises now, i can play with every settings. This effect is very beautiful and surprising.

  Thank you very much !