Unwanted radio through my amp

[Danster]

Hey all,

I got a Danelectro DaddyO pedal yesterday. The sound is good but. . . when its plugged in, I pick up a radio station through my amp. The station is coming through any time the pedal is plugged into the system, but it is worse (radio comes through louder) when the pedal is ON. I have only used the pedal plugged in to an AC adaptor so far, so I don't know if things would be different if I used a battery. This is my very first pedal, so I don't know if any ol' pedal would do the same, or if this is a problem I will only have with this pedal.

I'm guessing I'm not the first person in history to have experienced such a problem. :D How do ya solve it?? Thanks.

Cheers,
Dan

[szulc]

The first thing I would check is the cord you are using with the pedal. If the cord is damaged it could pick up radio. Try both cords without the pedal and see what happens. You might find out that one of the cords is bad.

[Danster]

Originally posted by szulc
The first thing I would check is the cord you are using with the pedal. If the cord is damaged it could pick up radio. Try both cords without the pedal and see what happens. You might find out that one of the cords is bad. Thanks for your reply. I was gonna try your suggestion, but I can't get any radio at all through the amp now, even with the same setup I was using yesterday. Radio stations do seem to come in better normally at night (through radios!) and that's when the problem was the worst. I checked it out this morning, and I still got the station, but it wasn't coming through as loud as last night. And now I try it, and there's no radio at all. Anyhoo, as soon as I get the radio coming through again, I'll try your suggestion. My guess is it will be something else, since the new cable I added for this pedal is brand new, and is the same brand as the one from the pedal to the amp, which I've been using with no problem.

BTW, I'm about to go study your guitar wiring suggestions you posted in the other thread, and see if I can figure out what you're saying, then I'll get back to you.

Cheers,
Dan

[Danster]

OK, its night, and I've got the radio coming through the amp again. I tried each of the cables (without the pedal), and no radio. Both cables plus pedal, and I get radio. It might not be so bad but its like a Spanish language religious station, so there's nothing there I want to jam along with. :D

Cheers,
Dan

[szulc]

The Pedal is improperly grounded or shielded.
Take it back! But before you do, try connecting a jumper wire from the input sleeve to the output sleeve (Shield to Shield), my bet is the noise will decrease drastically when you do this even with the pedal on. It may just be that the paint on the box used to house the electronics is keeping the box from being in electrical contact with the ground in this case the previous test won't change anything. You don't really want to use a stomp box for distortion anyway do you?

[Danster]

Originally posted by szulc
The Pedal is improperly grounded or shielded.
Take it back!Dang man, that is not what I wanted to hear. I bought it on ebay, so it could be a little messy sending it back.
But before you do, try connecting a jumper wire from the input sleeve to the output sleeve (Shield to Shield), my bet is the noise will decrease drastically when you do this even with the pedal on. It may just be that the paint on the box used to house the electronics is keeping the box from being in electrical contact with the ground in this case the previous test won't change anything. I'll try that. Thanks.
You don't really want to use a stomp box for distortion anyway do you?Why not?

And let me give you one more piece of info, which may or may not be irrelevant. I also got a new pickup for this guitar yesterday. The pickup was bought off ebay also, and didn't have much lead wire, and was going in the neck position, so I ended up soldering the wires to the other wires which go to pots, etc. The wire-to-wire connections for this pickup ended up in the cavity below my middle pickup. So where I have the hot wires soldered together, they are unshielded (right below the middle pickup). Might that be the problemo? I tried out the pedal before I started messing with the pickups, and no radio. However, I also got no radio earlier today even with the new pickup, so that's inconclusive.

Cheers,
Dan

[szulc]

Great distortion sounds come from your tubes in your preamp and poweramp not from transistors in stompboxes.

This new pickup has unshielded wires?

Is it a single coil or double coil?

Did you connect the shield from the pickuup to the ground?

This could very well be the problem.

You should invest in some heat shrink and some braided shield, insulate the hot wires with heat shrink and slide the braid over when you are finished the braid should be connected to ground.

All hot wires should be shielded and the shield should be grounded. This is not possible at the switches and pots, but you could insulate the wires and cover the whole mess with copper tape that is grounded. Most people don't take it to that level.

[metallibeast]

Hi, I've juz finish installing my new pickups as well (Dimarzio) I not so familiar with the terminology that you guys are using but anyway I'm getting really bad buzz coming from my guitar but whenever the black and white wires (the tip) are touching the tone pots the buzz goes away...should I solder the black and white wires to the tone pot? or is the buzz cuz by something else?

thanz for the help!!! :D

-Beast

[EricV]

Hi there...

did you follow the instructions that came with the pickup ?
Here is some advice from DiMarzio: Instructions (http://www.dimarzio.com/install/w_d_4_conductor.html)

The black and white wires have to be connected, and isolated ( solder them together and wrap tape around it ), the green AND BARE wires have to be soldered to the pot / ground, and the red wire goes to either the switch or the volume knob´s input ( depnding on how your guitar is wired... with a Strat, you usually connect the red one to the 5 way switch, but i.e. with my Peavey Vandenbergs, the red one is soldered to the input of the volume knob... the switch comes after the colume controls )
If you follow these instructions, it should work...
Eric

[metallibeast]

Well every thing seems to be correct except that I did not tape the black and white wires though...every thing works fine the buzz gets pretty loud only when I use my distortion pedal and once I turn my tone down the buzz goes away as well...

any idea what's happening?

will try that tape up the wires once I've the time...hopefully the buzz will go away

-Beast

[EricV]

Well, the tape won´t sure make the buzz go away ( it prevents the white and black wires to touch anything, like the pot etc. )

Are you sure you didn´t accidentially disconnect any other wires... is the ground ( back of pot ) connected to the bridge etc. ? If one wire gets loose, the guitar might still work but with too much buzz...
Eric

[szulc]

Are familiar with the term "Cold Solder joint"?
It means a solder joint that cooled too quickly or didn't get hot enough in the first place. If you have one they usually look 'hazy' and not bright and shiny. The resistance is much higher in a cold solder joint, because the crystalline structure is different.
Do you have an Ohmmeter? You might want to check you solder joints by testing the resistance across them (wire to wire) on the lowest setting for Ohms x 1. If you have more than a few Ohms you need to re-heat the soolder joint. Usually this is a problem when you connect to the back of a pot or the case of a switch.

[Danster]

Originally posted by szulc
[B]Great distortion sounds come from your tubes in your preamp and poweramp not from transistors in stompboxes.Up to this point I had been getting my distortion from my solid state practice amp. There are no tubes anywhere in my setup (does a guitar + amp qualify as a setup??:))

This new pickup has unshielded wires?No. The hot wires are shielded, but where I have soldered them, the shield is removed. This is what is right under the middle pickup (a single coil) and I considered might be causing a problem.

Is it a single coil or double coil?double

Did you connect the shield from the pickuup to the ground?Yes.

You should invest in some heat shrink and some braided shield, insulate the hot wires with heat shrink and slide the braid over when you are finished the braid should be connected to ground.

All hot wires should be shielded and the shield should be grounded. This is not possible at the switches and pots, but you could insulate the wires and cover the whole mess with copper tape that is grounded. Most people don't take it to that level. I may try that. But still, I only have the problem when the pedal is hooked up.

[Bongo Boy]

Try stapling aluminum foil to all the surfaces of your music room (floor, walls, windows and ceiling).

Just kidding :D

[EricV]

Hey Bongo,
that´s a neat suggestion, cuz even if it does not work, he´ll have a groovy looking room... all he´ll still need then is a lava lamp and a recording of "In A Gadda Da Vida"...

OK, well, I´m kidding too
Eric

[Bongo Boy]

...hmmm, I'm thinking actually a strobe light and mirror-ball would do the trick. Incense burner optional, but highly recommended.

[EricV]

Shaggy, baby. I dig, ya know ?
Got some banana skin ? :)
Warm regards
Eric

[Bongo Boy]

Well, at that point, the radio coming thru the amp wouldn't be a problem, it would be a feature.

[Danster]

Originally posted by Bongo Boy
Try stapling aluminum foil to all the surfaces of your music room (floor, walls, windows and ceiling).

Just kidding :D Yer crazy dude... conductive paint would be much easier! :D Actually, I've put this little problemo on hold until I get my project guitar wired up and going. Then I'll have another guitar to plug up and see if the radio coming through the amp is guitar-dependent (you may have read that I did some mods to my guitar at the same time I got the pedal).

[Bongo Boy]

Originally posted by Danster
you may have read that I did some mods to my guitar at the same time I got the pedal).

Well, yeah, okay...you know how sometimes during surgery they leave like, forceps or sponges in the patient? Is there anything missing from your place--like a little Sony Walkman FM receiver you haven't been able to find for a few days?

[Danster]

Originally posted by Bongo Boy


Well, yeah, okay...you know how sometimes during surgery they leave like, forceps or sponges in the patient? Is there anything missing from your place--like a little Sony Walkman FM receiver you haven't been able to find for a few days? Hee hee! I did get a chuckle from that. But now that you mention it, you know, I did find a Junior Mint in there. ;)