Alesis nanoverb...seems too noisy

[dporto]

Hi,
I just got a guitar amp that's got no reverb, and while it's a great sounding amp all by itself I still miss a little 'verb sometimes. Enter Nanoverb...I've had one of these laying around forever so I figured I'd plug it in a see how it sounds. It's definitely got some useable sounds in it but it is excesively noisy (yes I've got the gain structure dialed in properly). There is no oscillation or anything just a real "frying pan" type of hiss. I'm wondering if anyone is familiar with this symptom in this box and whether there is a simple fix like an op-amp or something similar- Thanks in advance

[Steve Conner]

Is it plugged in the FX loop, or between the guitar and amp?

[dporto]

It's between the guitar and amp - no effects loop unfortunately.

[Steve Conner]

The Nanoverb probably wasn't designed for direct input from a guitar. Try putting a pedal with a buffer before it, like the Boss tuner pedal.

[dporto]

The Nanoverb probably wasn't designed for direct input from a guitar. Try putting a pedal with a buffer before it, like the Boss tuner pedal.

Yes, I tried running it through the effects loop on my pedal board and it's definitely quieter. I guess the effects loop is buffered. Thx

[dporto]

So it turns out that even in the effects loop of my pedal board, this thing was still very noisy - both hum and the "frying bacon" sound... So I broke down in one last ditch effort and did some cable re-routing (and making some new cables) and basic clean-up/houskeeping on the board. Better but not quite there... Decided to open up the Nano-verb. There's not a whole lot in there - a couple of ic's, a few caps/resistors and a few pots (no surprises there). It did give me access to all the jacks and pots as far as cleaning though, so I shot them all with some Deoxit D5 (including the wall wart jack)... I'll be damned if it didn't do the trick! Lesson learned - don't underestimate the simple stuff!!!