Barber Electronics forum.

I did some pedalboard re-arranging, and put my (PaulC) Timmy right after the Tone Press (V1)


When engaging the TP, volume would drop off considerably. If I put on the Timmy, volume comes back. Shut off Timmy, signal drops back off. I put the Timmy BEFORE the TP, and everything works as it should. Power is good, cables are good...I'm guessing there's a weird loading issue going on here ?? Any comments appreciated

RussB wrote:I did some pedalboard re-arranging, and put my (PaulC) Timmy right after the Tone Press (V1)


When engaging the TP, volume would drop off considerably. If I put on the Timmy, volume comes back. Shut off Timmy, signal drops back off. I put the Timmy BEFORE the TP, and everything works as it should. Power is good, cables are good...I'm guessing there's a weird loading issue going on here ?? Any comments appreciated

All pedals at unity output gain? Power supply?

I run 2 BBE Supa-Chargers. Outputs were turned up & down.

I was looking through pics of my previous pedalboards, and I have in the past had Tim and Timmy right after the Tone Press with no problems before...now I'm really confused.

The TP works fine by itself, and when the Timmy is removed. The "problem" is likely related to the Timmy. My Timmy has an LM1458 op-amp in it, if that makes a difference. I'll swap it out just to see if it matters.


Can the TP be operated at 12 volts? 18 volts??

RussB wrote:I run 2 BBE Supa-Chargers. Outputs were turned up & down.

I was looking through pics of my previous pedalboards, and I have in the past had Tim and Timmy right after the Tone Press with no problems before...now I'm really confused.

The TP works fine by itself, and when the Timmy is removed. The "problem" is likely related to the Timmy. My Timmy has an LM1458 op-amp in it, if that makes a difference. I'll swap it out just to see if it matters.


Can the TP be operated at 12 volts? 18 volts??

Extra voltage should not improve the situation. The Tone Pump is meant to run at 9vdc, but I have not damaged a TP at higher voltage, still, we suggest 9vdc. What do you mean by "up and down"? If the unit before the Tone Press (or most comps) is spitting out higher than unity signal, then the Tone Press will compress the signal down and then have to try to makeup the gain at output. Most OD pedals have much more available output that comps. I don't think the op-amp will make a difference.

The question about operating voltage wasn't intended as a "fix", I was just curious



By "up and down" I was referring to turning the volume's of each pedal through their range.

I tried powering each pedal from the same supply, then switched each pedal to the other PS (again, I have 2 Supa-chargers)


edit: I updated my pedal chain in the sig

RussB wrote:The question about operating voltage wasn't intended as a "fix", I was just curious



By "up and down" I was referring to turning the volume's of each pedal through their range.

I tried powering each pedal from the same supply, then switched each pedal to the other PS (again, I have 2 Supa-chargers)


edit: I updated my pedal chain in the sig

If you set each pedal so that when it is used by itself you have unity gain, you still get a drop when you engage tp+timmy? Amp set dead-clean?

Just a follow-up...


I got time today to figure out this "dilemma"

The Tone Press does not work right when placed AFTER the Wampler Clean Buffer, so I put it before. Problem solved!

Oddly (at least to me) the Retro-Channel Fuzz works much better AFTER the buffer. Whoda' thunk it?!

Revised effects chain is as such,

Turbo Tuner > BudWah > Tone Press > Wampler Clean Buffer > Retro Fuzz > Timmy v2 > Mighty Red Distortion > Dirty Bomb > Trifecta > Timmy v1 > MM4 > RV-7 > DL-8 > Carbon Copy > B-Buff