BOSS MIJ questions, CE2, GE7.

[cancon]

Hi all. New member here, long time lurker.

I play Rhodes in a 'yacht rock' type band and it was time to make some improvements to ye old 'rig.
Existing setup is a passive rhodes > tremolo TR2 (Taiwan) > K2 yorkville/traynor keys amp.

First, that sweet sweet Michael McDonald chorus sound, I picked up an early-80's CE2. I have no intention of modding this pedal however I was at first contemplating doing the power supply mod, that is, until I read about the daisy-chain trick. Since the TR2 is PSA, this fits the bill. However, as soon as the CE2 receives power (effect on or bypass) I hear a squirrely high-pitch oscillation that is not there when using batteries. I just received a new wall-wart, and while I was banking on an old-school transformer type, alas Amazon delivered a switching PS style. Could this be the cause of my grief? Will the mod help? Do they make PSA type regulated adapters that are old school non-switching? I'd like to avoid those massive multi-pedal power supplies if at all possible. I guess I can continue using batteries, just wanted to simplify.

Second, I'm a middle-C-range type chord player. I like the sound there better. Most times this area of the Rhodes gets lost in the mix, so MIJ GE7 to the (attempted) rescue. This pedal is for sure being hit by the low-noise mod train. However, I suspect the pedal is a little bit broken, or at least hyper sensitive to the rhodes input level or the keyboard amp's higher mids/treb as I get an ugly distortion/clipping as soon as the EQ's are pushed out of center (either boost or cut). The pedal plays fine with a level EQ, bypassed or not, independent of level control - I can cut or boost that with no issue. I have the Jon Halverson schematic and from what I can tell, whatever is acting up (if anything) should be limited to the EQ section TL022's or the RC4558. Since every band is causing an issue, I'm more-so leaning to the PS or 4558. Any advice on that regard? These pedals are pretty simple, can't see this being a lost cause. I'm a real op-amp noob and it's my first time under the hood of these pedals.

Cheers & thanks!
adam

[thermionix]

First time I've heard "yacht rock."  Is that another name for soft rock?  Less oxymoronic?

Yes, I think your switching PS is causing your noise.  I'm not familiar with the mod you speak of, but there probably is a way to filter the noise out.

I'm also not familiar with the GE7, but a Rhodes does put out a considerably stronger signal than a regular electric guitar.  I can see how it would clip some things.  What does turning the Rhodes volume down do?

[PRR]

> First time I've heard "yacht rock."

Seems to be a "TV show", only shown at a regular film festival. In the show they say "smooth music". Name *may* come from  "Sailing", Christopher Cross, and  "Sailing the Wind", Loggins and Messina, etc. Chris, L&M, and similar stars of the period are lampooned as bullies and buffoons.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yacht_Rock
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Channel_101

I would not mess with a seriously modded GE7 except for relaxation. There are less-molested examples around, and also millions of fine EQs smaller than a Rhodes.

[highwater]

I always thought "yacht rock" referred to the likes of Steely Dan and Hall & Oates... that sort of vaguely jazz-influenced semi-rock that wouldn't get the cops called if you play it a little to loudly while you drink on your docked boat.

---

As for the GE7, from the schematic it looks like the level slider adjusts the gain of the opamp that *feeds* the gyrator stages.

I'm not sure where to look from there, but it's unlikely to be an issue with the hotter-than-guitar input from the Rhodes.

[cancon]

Everyone is right on the money re: genre. I haven't actually watched the show but it seemed to resonate within the local music community.

Back to business:

- The distortion also happens with a guitar input, so definitely not the input signal.
- When I run a scope through the pedal I can't see anything wrong with the wave-forms. This is puzzling. Perhaps it requires a mulit-harmonic signal to cause the issue and not just a pure sine wave.
- The pedal is all original. No mods yet, but I was planning on replacing IC's 1-4, tantalums, signal electrolytics and PS caps.
- Thank you for posting the original schematic! 

[cancon]

Yes, I think your switching PS is causing your noise.  I'm not familiar with the mod you speak of, but there probably is a way to filter the noise out.

Success! I found an original PSA120 transformer type adapter and the noise issue is solved.

[thermionix]

Sweet.  My only wall wart is a switching type, and it's too noisy for my pedals that don't have appropriate filtering built in, like my wah and Big Muff.  Works great with my Rat and Phase 90, until the heat or AC kicks on and sends a bigass pop through the system.  I mostly use batteries.  I've been putting off building a decent power supply, but intend to.

[cancon]

Double success!
I did the capacitor & IC swap, no more clipping! As a bonus, the pedal no longer hisses when cutting frequencies. 
Only problem is that I changed everything at once so I'm not sure what was responsible for the fix. Not a good move for posterity, I suppose. I installed sockets for the ICs so I may play around with it at some point down the road. Will report back if I find anything of interest.

Cheers!
adam