Please help me. I cant solve this problem

[Bill M]

Have you tried changing the guitar cable from the guitar to the effect input? sounds like a capacitance problem from all the discussions above. I learned a long time ago to only use high quality cables.

[6tring]

I don't know how yours active PU are powered, but may be are you replacing only one of multiple batteries?

A friend of mine had a problem like this on a Taylor with 2 AA battery. Replacing only the first one, the preamp was working good for some minutes only.

Hope to be useful, excuse for my English

bigfinger
italy

HI Bigfinger, I have emg 81's for my active pups and that was the first thing I did when the problem first occured.

[Ronsonic]

Well the scratchy volume pot thing and measuring a DC voltage on the output of the guitar would be the main thing. Just stick a plug into the guitar and measure voltage with a DMM.

At some point we have to be ruling out the existence of non-corporeal beings who hate the Metal.

Did you like ever annoy an old Gypsy or maybe Creole woman with your music?

I joke because we're where I'd have to get this stuff on a bench to do it any good.

[bigfinger]

Troubleshooting

I don't fully understand the SMS type explanation at the beginning, yet something "seems" to stick out about all of this:
1) 3 different guitars, same symptoms, let's cross them out.
2) 3 different pedalboards, same symptoms, let's cross them out.
3) 3 different sound transducers (different speakers and headphones) , same symptoms, let's cross them out.
4) 3 different headphones, same symptoms, let's cross them out.
Excuse me for being so boring, but on impossible cases the only trick that gave me consistent results was to make a written list of everything possible, check them one by one and tick them off unless finding that one really doing something.
Running in circles is bad for your health.
Going on:
5) In all cases you play through the same (unspecified) amplifier. <--SUSPECT
6) In all cases the problem appears when you play heavy, loud, very distorted sounds. <--SUSPECT
I would Scope the speaker out to begin with, and then the amp Line Out to check where the presumably blocking stage lives.
After that, I'd Scope plate by plate to find the culprit.

I think Fahey give you the best answer.
There is only one way to solve problems. Try to forget everything and start over from zero.
Give a full description of the sound path. "Full" means to describe also the smallest step in the sound travel from your guitar to speakers or headphones. Try to specify the difference between active and passive devices.
What is powered and how is powered.
For instance: Guitar with EMG 81 > cable brand x> stomp box brand-model (9V battery)> guitar amp brand-model > speaker-cable type x > speaker or cabinet brand-model.

There is something you never said, or senior members and qualified people should have understand your problem.

Troubleshooting needs to never give anything for granted, needs to isolate whatever certainly works well (in all possible situations).

Excluding, step by step, what is working good, you will found the fault.

Try to find the time to describe deeply the sound path.

Good luck

bigfinger

[6tring]

Did you like ever annoy an old Gypsy or maybe Creole woman with your music?

So thats what this is all about!! THAT BITCH.... I'M GONNA KILL HER!! j/k j/k lol.

Ya it is kinda funny and at this point I aint ruling out anything.

[6tring]

What if I put something like this in front of mfx unit.

[6tring]

Hi J M, Thats what I'm gonna do ALL DAY tomorrow since I got the day off and not stop until I figure this nightmare out.

Thanks alot for the advice

[6tring]

There is something you never said, or senior members and qualified people should have understand your problem.

I CANNOT think of anything else. I've been troubleshooting for the past month, to the point of obsession.

But it wont hurt to do it from the beginning once more.

Thanks a million for your continued support. Its more than appreciated.

[Zipslack]

RFI/EMI ?

Very strange problem...multiple guitars, multiple outputs, multiple units...same problem, but only on high-gain settings. Think the high-gain is a critical clue. Any noise/Radio Frequency Interference(RFI)/Electromagnetic Interference(EMI) could easily couple in and be magnified...possibly causing phase-shift problems with your guitar signal. Is there a computer or cell phone in the same room? Does your neighbor have a high-powered ham radio setup? If nothing else, try moving your entire rig to a different location and see what happens (bonus points if you can move into a metal shed/building - that acts as a Faraday cage).

I may be completely wrong - wouldn't be the first time. But I consider it an educated guess (did I mention I used to be an Engineering Design Tech for a company that specialized in EMI/RFI products for military and medical fields?)

[Steve Conner]

It did cross my mind that the guy might have a neighbour trying to jam him.

I also moderate a forum for high voltage experimenters, and every so often someone will join and start a thread like: "My *&%^$ neighbour won't quit playing his guitar/stereo/whatever, is there anything I can build to destroy/disable his amp remotely?"

I have no idea what the problem might be outside of that. Maybe the line voltage dips really low, or something.

[armaddy63]

Im brand new here, and dont know if you solved this or not...but to me It's either the AMP or Guitar...everything else has been eliminated. Something to note for good measure though...if your pedals don't have AMP SIMULATION they WILL sound like crap through headphones...one more thing...If you pickups are wired out of phase it wont be that noticable until you are running alot of distortion...will sound weak and like a half cocked wah wah in a way...I do it on purpose to one of my guitars... What happens on another AMP being used...(that will eliminate guitar)..or do you ONLY use headphone outs...if so its AMP SIMULATION to me....

Final Note: On digitech pedals a FACTORY RESTORE turns OFF AMP SIMULATION...

[6tring]

Have you tried changing the guitar cable from the guitar to the effect input? sounds like a capacitance problem from all the discussions above. I learned a long time ago to only use high quality cables.

Hi Bill. Ya I did do that with the cables, I switched from my neighborhood guitar brand to monster cable.

[6tring]

It did cross my mind that the guy might have a neighbour trying to jam him.

I also moderate a forum for high voltage experimenters, and every so often someone will join and start a thread like: "My *&%^$ neighbour won't quit playing his guitar/stereo/whatever, is there anything I can build to destroy/disable his amp remotely?"

I have no idea what the problem might be outside of that. Maybe the line voltage dips really low, or something.

Hi steve. This is so funny. My neighbor put up a satellite dish 3 mos. ago.
But that wasent the problem

[6tring]

Very strange problem...multiple guitars, multiple outputs, multiple units...same problem, but only on high-gain settings. Think the high-gain is a critical clue. Any noise/Radio Frequency Interference(RFI)/Electromagnetic Interference(EMI) could easily couple in and be magnified...possibly causing phase-shift problems with your guitar signal. Is there a computer or cell phone in the same room? Does your neighbor have a high-powered ham radio setup? If nothing else, try moving your entire rig to a different location and see what happens (bonus points if you can move into a metal shed/building - that acts as a Faraday cage).

I may be completely wrong - wouldn't be the first time. But I consider it an educated guess (did I mention I used to be an Engineering Design Tech for a company that specialized in EMI/RFI products for military and medical fields?)

Hi zipslack.

You hit the nail on the head. But problem solved

[BBK]

Hi 6tring, kinda late to ask but... how did you solve this problem?? I have the exact same problem as you had and its really getting on my nerves!! I can't figure out how to get the distortion to sound right. Its all fuzzy and sounds like crap. Any suggestions?