Rikismyname Posted August 9, 2016 Share Posted August 9, 2016 Just received a Catalinbread Super Chili Picoso boost pedal. Plugged it in and it is very noisy, I have tried Guitar > Amp Strymon El Capistan > Strymon Flint > upper Chili Picoso thru the effects loop. I then also tried the catalinbread SCP after the guitar through the front, and also before the strymons and every time is was noisy when the SCP was turned on with the dial at 9 o'clock, and if I turn it up to 12 o'clock it is very loud. Also handling the pedal while plugged in (tried it with its own one spot mains and through a Cioks multi power unit) a buzz is heard if I touch the bottom corners or anywhere on the bottom!! But the worsed thing is the massive loud click when activating the pedal! Bloody hell thats a loud pop. No chance I can use that live mic'd up through a P.A. Does anyone know what's going on ? Nord Stage 2 HA76 | Roland FA-06 Gretsch G5420s I H&K Statesman | Strymon Flint | Catalinbread SCP | Source Audio Nemesis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desertbluesman Posted August 9, 2016 Share Posted August 9, 2016 Send or take it back........ dbm If it sounds good, it is good !! http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=143231&content=music Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rikismyname Posted August 9, 2016 Author Share Posted August 9, 2016 Yes I think I'll have to send it back. Never had a problem with noisy pedals or pops before, my strymons and the keeley pedal I had where fine. Not sure If I should try a Keeley Katana or just not bother with a boost of it's gonna add noise and pops Nord Stage 2 HA76 | Roland FA-06 Gretsch G5420s I H&K Statesman | Strymon Flint | Catalinbread SCP | Source Audio Nemesis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caevan O’Shite Posted August 9, 2016 Share Posted August 9, 2016 Send or take it back........ Yhup, if it's new, then it's still under warranty, and Catalinbread has been a good complany as far as I've ever heard (UNLIKE TC Electronic, blechk! ). Don't void your warranty, don't try to fix it or let anyone else, send it back for free repair or replacement. I have a very old Catalinbread Super Chili Picoso booster/buffer/overdriver/line-driver/signal-inverter, and it's a good quality pedal. ______________ http://img.audiofanzine.com/images/u/product/normal/catalinbread-super-chili-picoso-56534.jpg ______________ Ask yourself- What Would Ren and Stimpy Do? ~ Caevan James-Michael Miller-O'Shite ~ _ ___ _ Leprechaun, Esquire _ ___ _ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larryz Posted August 9, 2016 Share Posted August 9, 2016 +1 on sending it back. A clean boost should not have noise unlike OD/Distortion pedals, many of which have a lot of white noise. I would love to try the Katana, or hear your review if you decide to try one. They are not cheap but they are good quality pedals. My Memphis pedal does not allow for a battery and uses a power supply. I suspect the Katana may be the same? Let us know if you go that way? My Tech 21 Blonde is a great clean boost pedal with no noise and can be used as an OD/Distortion with very little noise... Take care, Larryz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rikismyname Posted August 10, 2016 Author Share Posted August 10, 2016 Shop said sounds like I have an earthing problem but it's the only pedal misbehaving. Nord Stage 2 HA76 | Roland FA-06 Gretsch G5420s I H&K Statesman | Strymon Flint | Catalinbread SCP | Source Audio Nemesis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Winston Psmith Posted August 10, 2016 Share Posted August 10, 2016 Shop said sounds like I have an earthing problem but it's the only pedal misbehaving. A ground loop might create some of the issues you're describing other than the "pop' when you engage the switch; that was an issue with pedals in the late 60's & early 70's. There are live albums where you can hear the effects pedals being switched on. Single coil pickups, and poorly rigged fluorescent lights can also play hell with your sound. How is the rest of your gear plugged into the mains? One experiment to try: Unplug everything, then put a fresh battery in the SCP. Plug the SCP in right after your guitar, straight into the amp, no other effects, nothing else plugged into mains. If the noise goes away, you likely have a ground loop issue. If not, send the SCP back, right away. Clean boost pedals should be all but transparent. "Monsters are real, and Ghosts are real too. They live inside us, and sometimes, they win." Stephen King http://www.novparolo.com https://thewinstonpsmithproject.bandcamp.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larryz Posted August 10, 2016 Share Posted August 10, 2016 +1 on giving the pedal every benefit of the doubt. Check both guitar chords to make sure there is no noise. Then go straight to the amp using a battery in the offending pedal. Try another room or even take the same set up to another location like a friends house and/or a different part of your house/shop...if the noise just won't go away, I would send it back. Take care, Larryz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CEB Posted August 11, 2016 Share Posted August 11, 2016 Send it back and get a good Graphic EQ or 2 of them if you can Graphic is a clean boost and you can select what frequency range you boost or boost/cut. It can be a straight line +6db boost or you can boost your mids. I have a 10 band that will store custome EQ settings but part of the signal chain is digital and the AD/DA conversions suck. An old Boss GE7 or MXR 10 band sounds better than that fancy EQ of mine but I used it to make all my road Telecasters sound the same so I could interchange my guitars and have my same goto tone. "It doesn't have to be difficult to be cool" - Mitch Towne "A great musician can bring tears to your eyes!!! So can a auto Mechanic." - Stokes Hunt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
picker Posted August 11, 2016 Share Posted August 11, 2016 I wouldn't put a boost pedal in the FX loop, myself. You would be boosting any noise the preamp makes. Try it going into the front of the amp and see if that makes any difference. Always remember that you are unique. Just like everyone else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caevan O’Shite Posted August 12, 2016 Share Posted August 12, 2016 I wouldn't put a boost pedal in the FX loop, myself. You would be boosting any noise the preamp makes. Try it going into the front of the amp and see if that makes any difference. Good call, though I think Rikismyname did try the SCP in front of his amp, as well. Which reminds me- Rikismyname- for what it's worth, both the El Capistan and the Flint have boost and cut options among their the "hidden control features"; it's particularly very useful to set a boost to engage with the Flint's tremolo... Ask yourself- What Would Ren and Stimpy Do? ~ Caevan James-Michael Miller-O'Shite ~ _ ___ _ Leprechaun, Esquire _ ___ _ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
p90jr Posted August 22, 2016 Share Posted August 22, 2016 I'll plug a guy in my area again who I think makes the best transparent clean boost that I have come across (comparing it with the other things people I play with or do shows with have on their boards): The Lizard Leg Flying Dragon. I adopted a second Dragon that was sitting used and orphaned at a guitar center somewhere for $80 when they listed it on eBay... it's nice to have a second one for the acoustic rig board so I don't have to pull the first one off of the pedal board... but it's nice to have two on the board sometimes. It's nice just to play through it and use a volume pedal to pull down the volume and boost it for solos. It's just a great sounding pedal that doesn't change your sound, but just adds a little life to it, and it does wonderful things before and after other pedals. The only thing I've heard that I liked as much was the Vertex (formerly the Michael Landau) BOOST, which has an expression pedal input, which funnily enough is something a bandmate of mine asked Steve at Lizard Leg to look into adding about a decade ago. But a volume pedal inline probably achieves the same results, really. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Winston Psmith Posted August 22, 2016 Share Posted August 22, 2016 Still waiting to hear back about this? "Monsters are real, and Ghosts are real too. They live inside us, and sometimes, they win." Stephen King http://www.novparolo.com https://thewinstonpsmithproject.bandcamp.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
p90jr Posted August 22, 2016 Share Posted August 22, 2016 Send it back and get a good Graphic EQ or 2 of them if you can Graphic is a clean boost and you can select what frequency range you boost or boost/cut. It can be a straight line +6db boost or you can boost your mids. I have a 10 band that will store custome EQ settings but part of the signal chain is digital and the AD/DA conversions suck. An old Boss GE7 or MXR 10 band sounds better than that fancy EQ of mine but I used it to make all my road Telecasters sound the same so I could interchange my guitars and have my same goto tone. I used a Boss EQ as a clean boost forever... before that I would use an extra Boss Super Overdrive with the drive turned down and the level turned up as a boost. Both worked great... I just got snotty about using a specified clean boost pedal, and the Flying Dragon really is sweet. The Boss EQ still comes to acoustic gigs as a solo boost while the Flying Dragon just gets used as a tone enhancer (being able to manipulate frequencies is ideal with the amplified acoustic). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
p90jr Posted August 22, 2016 Share Posted August 22, 2016 You know, I do use the Flying Dragon and a TC Polytuner and EQ pedal as a clean boost in the effects loop of my Ashdown acoustic amp because running them in front gave me a loud click that drove sound guys crazy... and one of them suggested the effects loop during a soundcheck, and it eliminated the problem. Of course, that amp isn't overdriving so there's no noise to be amplified in that scenario. Doing that also let me connect the preamp units I use (either a d-Tar Mama Bear or a BBE Acoustimax) to the amp with an XLR cable, and that channel seems to see them better that way than with a 1/4 inch cable. The click was a problem when I ran into a DI without the amp, too. Never thought about why it stopped when feeding the board a post effects loop direct feed from the Ashdown... That problem shouldn't arise with an electric guitar and amp, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
p90jr Posted August 22, 2016 Share Posted August 22, 2016 Hmmm... just noticed Rik is in England (the term "mains" for power caught my eye, and I see his Cambridgeshire location)... I wonder if it could be the voltage/current difference doing something unexpected? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larryz Posted August 23, 2016 Share Posted August 23, 2016 I used an old MXR Compressor for a clean boost with no noise for many years. Then, I found a Tech21 Blonde which did a much better job with a Fender Tweed sound while adjusting the character of the amp sound. Then I went to a Fender Floor pedal using the comp function again for a clean boost while getting a deluxe Fender sound. Now, I pretty much just use the volume knobs on the guitar for a clean boost LOL! Take care, Larryz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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