Weirdness with Messner OD?

[Winston Psmith]

I've noticed a couple of odd things with my Messner OD, which I really haven't seen with other OD's or Drive pedals.

 

First up, it seems to add gain to other pedals down the line, somehow? I'd first noticed this with a V1 Rainbow Machine. If I already had the Messner On, and kicked on the Rainbow Machine, there was a discernible signal boost. A V1 Sea Machine did the same thing, and more recently, I've noticed it with a V1 Keeley Seafoam Chorus (the pale blue-green one).

 

The other issue is using it in the Guitar S/R loop of my Guitar Synths. Normally, with only the Guitar running into my pedalboard, I get a very mild boost by setting all the Messner's knobs (Output, Color & Gain) to Noon, or just a notch past Noon. Using the Messner in the Guitar Synth's S/R loop, the signal drops considerably. To get anywhere near Unity Gain, I have to crank the Messner's Output & Gain knobs to around 3 o'clock.

 

Everything on my pedalboard is powered though 2 Voodoo Lab PP2+ power bricks, with all isolated power outs, no daisy chains. All the outputs on the PP2's are set to Normal, so I'm not inadvertently using the Power Sag feature. FWIW, this happens even if I remove the Messner from the 'board, and use it on its own. I suspect something is going on among the various gain stages of the different components; one Forum buddy suggested Impedance mis-matching between the S/R loop's Output and the Messner's Input?

 

I've used other OD and Dirt boxes in this configuration, and never run into this issue? I realize that the Messner is a very low-gain pedal, but that doesn't quite explain what I'm hearing. I've thought of trying another one just for an A/B comparison. Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[KuruPrionz]

I am not familiar with the Messner but it sounds like impedence mismatching to me.

[Larryz]

When I think about impedance, I start thinking about patch chords and cables...I would check the Messner and one of your pedals with different patch chords and cables that you know are new or are working well. I had one problem with a cable that was stepped on enough times to throw me off until I jiggled it just right once and found the problem. Shield and center wire solder joints can cause impedance problems. Just a thought...

[Winston Psmith]

@Larryz - I've done an A/B test with different cables, connections, even taking the Messner out of the pedalboard to see how it behaves on its own, in the S/R loop. I've thought about getting a 2nd Messner for a different rig, so if I do, I'll A/B the two Messners and see what happens.

 

@KuruPrionz -The funny thing is, I don't have any appreciable signal drop-off with any other pedal, or pedal configuration, using them in the Guitar Synth's S/R loop?

 

Ah, well, big catering job later today, so I won't get back to experimenting until tomorrow sometime. Thanks to both of you for responding.

[Larryz]