Direct Drive noise questions

[pvictory]

Ok, I tried this once before but I don't think it posted. Long story short... MIA Strat --> DD --> Fender The Twin (redknob) and I'm getting a lot of buzz/hum with the volume set at 9:00 and the gain around 12:00. It doesn't seem to matter where the tone knob is set, it only adds a little high hiss, but the volume and gain are the main culprits, obviously. Anything beyond noon is unusable. This is my first Barber pedal, though I've been researching and admiring from afar for months now. Any help would be really helpful.

[pvictory]

In an effort at full disclosure, I bought the pedal on ebay, but it is pristine inside and out from what I can tell.

I tried different patch cables to no avail, and while these aren't top of the line, they've worked before with a Danelectro Daddy O without the buzz/hum.

I A/B the pedal with an Ibanez Distortion Charger (buzzy, hissy thing) and the DD actually was buzzier/hissier.

I tried it through my Crate 15 Watt SS bedroom amp, and it was just as noisy.

All this said, I really love the tone of this pedal. I mean, the notes were using the speaker as a springboard--just jumping off the cone all bright and shiny and beautiful. Also, I've done my research, read up on Harmony Central and the like, and even read this space too, and the consensus was the Barber pedals are some of the lessy noisy pedals out there.

This is a big disappointment to me. I had visions of an all-Barber board (well, except of course the stuff he doesn't make--delay, etc). The story of his reputation, etc, had made him a bit of a folk hero around my house, even my wife was excited to see the pedal (and she hates hearing about pedals, etc). I'm sure I'm doing something wrong here and this can be fixed. Any help would be huge.

***** Fast forward to the end of this thread and you'll see, I was doing something wrong--lamo pickups. Kudos to Mr. Barber and the folks on this forum for their help.

[CalebT]

What power supply are you using with your DD? A non-isolated power supply like a 1Spot, for instance, could lead to hum. Try the pedal with something like a PP2+ or just attach a battery, and see if that helps with the noise.

Alternatively, the problem could lie with your guitar's single coil pickups. Try switching to positions 2 and 4 (humbucking) and see if that makes a difference.

Cheers!

[pvictory]

CalebT:

Thanks so much for the timely response. I appreciate the help.

I am using a battery to power the pedal. As for the pickup positions, I did try each of the positions and it didn't seem to make any difference as far as the hum/buzz was concerned. Not sure if this is assumed or not, but my strat is an S/S/S, so no humbucker. (I think what you mean, though, is that position 2 and 4 use two singlecoils at once, thus its humbucking in a sense.)

Again, this same guitar had no problem with the Danelectro, nor with a Boss SD1, even when the pedals were stacked.

However, I used those pedals at a different location and my house has 50s electrical. Could this be part of the problem?

Thanks again. This is my first internet forum (stone age geezer that I must be) and its great to receive friendly help so easily and quickly.

[mjcyates]

Well I do have an all Barber board and I have no problems with noise at all. I also use a 1 spot for power. No issues. You either have a defective pedal or a problem with your set up.

[gonzo-x]

my DDSS is dead quiet..

problem is, since your adding so much more gain in front of the amp, the pedal is going to amplify any NOISE that your pickups are recieving.

this is common to any gain pedal.

i've experimented with this a lot lately..

i have a vintage mesa boogie amp, 60 watts.

if i run the clean channel, and boost the DD Wide open into the clean channel, i get very little background noise, using noiseless Bill Lawrence pickups in a strat-style guitar.

if i switch the mesa to the lead channel, which triples the gain, then all kinds of noise happens with the DD engaged, and i have to back off the VOL, and the GAIN, to marry a suitable boost from the pedal with the natural gain from the amp.
there is always a SWEET spot, and it's different for every rig.

point is, if you have noisy pickups, or pickups that are not shielded well, or are not humbucking, you'll get noise in the line from almost any pedal.

every thing in your chain can contribute to noise, from the pickups to the shielding, to your cabling, to your power in your house/studio/live setup.

have you a/b'd the pedal using other guitars?
other cables?
too many variables, but i can say, they all have a play in the final equation.

[pvictory]

mjcyates:

You're point is exactly why I joined this forum and posted this question. I read dozens, probably hundreds, of reviews on Harmony Central and the like, as well as checking out the opinions on this forum, and between tone, customer service, reliability, and being noise free, even the most expensive pedals didn't come out as highly ranked as the Direct Drive and really Barber Pedals in general.

I figure there's something wrong, figure it very likely could be something I've overlooked, or something I'm doing, but I'm not ruling out the possibility that someone got a defective DD, and instead of contacting Mr. Barber and getting it taken care of, they decided to pass the joy on to me by selling it on ebay without telling me something was up. (Maybe they didn't realize.) In any case, I'm hoping someone can help, because I still have great faith in my DD and Barber pedals in general, even though this is my first experience with them.

Thanks for your quick response to my question, by the way.

[pvictory]

gonzo-x,

Thanks for your quick response. I just wanted to add that the noise I'm talking about is plugged in to the clean channel. I ran it with the dirt channel and that was ridiculous noise, so I shut that down real quick. I realize my strats sc pups might not be the best, but I had no problems with both a Danelectro Daddy O and a Boss SuperDrive, which in my mind should be far inferior to the DD. (And tone wise they definitely are, they just ran quieter.) Same with the cables, by the way.

I A/B'd it with the only other pedal I have at home now, which is an 80s Ibanez DS 10--the pedal that turned me off pedals as a child, because it's a noisy squalling tinny sounding mess. The DD was louder when idling. Its tone blew away the DS 10 but the noise seems like something's wrong. I can't get either the gain or volume above noon. I didn't even try with both turned up.

I plan to A/B it with something else tonight, but I'm hoping someone is going to tell me something I might be overlooking here. Thanks to everyone for your help. This is a great forum when so many people are so ready to help th new guy so quickly.

[David Barber]

What happens to the noise when you turn your guitar's volume all the way down?

Is the amp set to the clean channel or OD channel? is the amp playing perfectly clean?

[pvictory]

Mr. Barber,

Thanks for responding to my question. (Especially considering I'm not technically a customer.)

The noise goes away when the volume knob goes down. The amp is set to the clean channel and the tone is completely clean. I realize my single coils and room and electricity and amp all probably contribute to the problem, but I A/B'd it again today with a third pedal, a high gain distortion, and my dd still came out the loudest when idling.

Thanks again for taking time out to respond to this.