My guitar or amplifier only produces clean sound even with pedal

[jmaf]

I changed the cables and it worked like a charm .
My signal chain is like this right now.
Guitar>Cable>DS2>Cable>Ampli

Rock on!

[venomx924]

Were you curious enough to check each of the old cables just from the guitar to the amp? Maybe one of them is still good?

Apparently, it's fixed, but I don't understand how it can pass uneffected normal signal with a bad cable, and not react at all with effects on.

me either but it worked, maybe the old cable was grounded
Out of curiosity, tell us how each of the old cables sound straight from guitar to amp, as compared to the new ones?
I only changed the old one because the 2nd one was kinda new so I have a spare cable now
Brad1

RED

[venomx924]

Rock on!

Thanks man, Im loving DS2, do you think I should get an overdrive pedal?

[jmaf]

Thanks man, Im loving DS2, do you think I should get an overdrive pedal?

You may be tempted to buy all sorts of gear in the beginning. I guess we all are. After buying all my earnings in stuff, in the end I finished with a Tube Screamer and a tube amp...

About buying an overdrive, the distortion on the DS2 is harder than that of the Tube Screamer, but it depends on your taste and what kind of music you play.

[big_teee]

You may be tempted to buy all sorts of gear in the beginning. I guess we all are. After buying all my earnings in stuff, in the end I finished with a Tube Screamer and a tube amp...

About buying an overdrive, the distortion on the DS2 is harder than that of the Tube Screamer, but it depends on your taste and what kind of music you play.

I play Guitar, Cord and 2204 Marshall Clone.
It has enough drive for me.
I end up turning the drive down some on it!
Keep Rockin!
B_T

[venomx924]

I'm back again, it worked but I experienced it again twice this time I don't know I'm dying to play but it won't work! It happened again while me and my friend were jamming in their house fortunately I borrowed his guitar and cord and for somereason it magically worked but now It wont I tried switching 3 guitar jacks I have but wont work.
For the guys who helped me last time hopes you see this again, this time I uploaded a video on youtube to show you what the problem is. You'll notice that the DS-2 is on but it still produces clean sound, just louder.

I don't know what is wrong
Thanks

[Brad1]

Is the battery good? Have you been unplugging the cables from the Boss when finished using it? I assume you know leaving cables plugged in will run down the battery, even if the pedal is switched off. I assume the guitar's volume knob is turned up?

Boss pedals may light up to indicate they are on, but if the batteries are weak, it may be at just a point where it may pass signal, but produce no effect.

This history of your problem still makes no sense to me. the amp works...it has no bearing on this. The guitar works...it has no bearing on this. That leaves the pedal(s) and cables.

If the pedal is working, the distortion should appear at the amp. A 'bad cable' won't simply remove the distortion effect. It's impossible for a cable to de-effect an activated effects box, though it may distort an undistorted signal, cause crackles/hiss/noise, or lower the overall volume compared to a good cable.

If the signal through BOTH cables is somewhat comparably loud through the turned-off box as it is with box removed, using each cable alone, then the cables are probably good. I've mentioned testing them, but you resistant to troubleshooting in a logical manner, and seem more interested in coming to conclusions based on non-diagnosis, and just swapping things out.

That leaves the box. Which is also illogical. Because there was more than just that one box that you claimed were doing the exact same thing. It's unlikely that you got..what...three? bad effects units in a row. One...definitely possible. Two...possible, but unlikely. Three...I'd bet the odds of winning the lotto AND getting struck by lightning on the same day is better.

That's why none of this makes sense to me. It really shouldn't be hard to isolate the problem if you start with testing the basics, one at a time, and introduce items one at a time. Test each cable separate...guitar to amp. Install a brand new battery. If it still doesn't produce distortion, then you may have a bad effect pedal.

Brad1

[venomx924]

About the pedal I always use the adaptor I don't know if it still drains the battery though.

"Is the battery good? Have you been unplugging the cables from the Boss when finished using it? I assume you know leaving cables plugged in will run down the battery, even if the pedal is switched off. I assume the guitar's volume knob is turned up?" Yes I double checked all of them.
"If the signal through BOTH cables is somewhat comparably loud through the turned-off box as it is with box removed" yes with it off I can barely hear anything, but when its working Clean and Distortion is pretty loud.

I tried testing each cable without the pedal, I can barely hear it without the pedal if I put the pedal on and switch it on all I can hear is loud clean sounds. I'm pretty sure the pedal is working, I use it 1-3 hours a day maximum and I just bought it less than a month.

Thanks Brad.

[Chuck H]

I tried testing each cable without the pedal, I can barely hear it without the pedal if I put the pedal on and switch it on all I can hear is loud clean sounds. I'm pretty sure the pedal is working

Just to be clear... I take this to mean that when your not using the pedal, you can barely hear your guitar through any cable when plugged traight into the amp. Is this correct?

For all your trouble you could have driven a hundred miles to a music store, brought your rig, and have the counter guys help you. Which they surely could.

[venomx924]

Yes, and we will go to a music store later, should I bring all the stuff I have or just my guitar and what am I suppose to say to them since my problem is wierd.

[Chuck H]

bring all your stuff.

I must say that by the video it sure looks like everything is being done correctly, but not working correctly. One thing I can't see is your volume setting on your guitar. If you want distortion it should be all the way up. The volume control on the amp would be used as a loudness control when you want distortion from a pedal.

If there is very little volume with just the guitar and amp then you may have a problem with your guitar.

Good luck at the music store. Buy something while your there so they feel like your a customer. A couple of sets of strings and some picks maybe.

[venomx924]

It turned out that my pickup switch is faulty, they're going to fix it or replace it. Thanks Chuck H
I already bought straps, strings etc. this week :P

[Brad1]

It turned out that my pickup switch is faulty, they're going to fix it or replace it.

OK. So the guitar WAS at fault, then? If the level coming out of the guitar was way, way low, then running it through the Boss was basically only boosting a too-low signal...low enough that it didn't have much signal to chew on to put it into distortion? It seems that would have generated a LOT of hiss, but it didn't sound very hissy, though it's difficult to tell from the video...it sounded rather clean...like it was a normal signal just bypassing the pedal effect for some reason.

It's also kind of weird that the switch would cause that in all positions...but I suppose it's possible.

In the future, you'll save yourself quite a lot of confusion if you diagnose a problem logically. You have to minimize the setup, and test each component.

The first thing you should have done is eliminate the pedal, and test each cable direct to the amp.

Now, you're saying that that configuration produces a low signal, pretty much eliminating any of the effects devices as the culprits. That leaves the cables, the guitar and the amp.

So, the next thing is to try a different guitar through both cables direct to the amp. If that guitar gets good signal, that eliminated the cables AND the amp as the problem.

Now, all you have left is the guitar. Something must be wrong with it.

As you start adding things, you'll be glad to know basic troubleshooting techniques for not IF...but WHEN things get whacked out. The more you add, the more confusion it can cause. You have to take a methodical approach, and concentrate on what has been tested, and what's left to be tested. Each pedal added to a simple series setup adds a couple more possible points of failure.

If you got the guitar, cables, first effects unit and amp all at the same time, and plugged them all in right off the bat, I can see the possible source of confusion. In one of my earlier statements, I said it couldn't possibly be a cable if each cable was acting OK without the box, but if you tested each, and the signal was the same low level, you may have just thought the amp wasn't very loud. Another guitar plugged in would have revealed that problem right off, since it likely would have come blasting out at a noticebly louder volume. For the more experienced, a ultra-low level from the guitar would have probably been noticed right off.

Also, one of the cables could have been bad to mimic the same problem as what you say your guitar is causing, but it would have had to have been the cable going into the box, and not the one coming out. If the signal was strong going into the box, but the cable coming out lowered the level, you'd still have the distortion working properly...but the distorted signal would just be lower, noisy, etc. If the cable going INTO the box was bad, it might cause what is happening now with the signal being too low for the box to process much distortion from, so the signal coming out may pretty much like it is doing now with the odd problem of a PU switch causing low level at all positions. In other words, if one of the cables was bad, and you swapped positions, you'd get different results in the sound. It would likely still be messed up, but different.

Now, the most mysterious thing to me is your claims that different cable(s) fixed it for awhile, and then it whacked again. It's unusual for a (possibly) intermittent switch problem to correct itself at precisely the same moment that a cable has been changed to appear to have fixed the problem...but I suppose it's not impossible.

This is ALL pretty strange and improbable...but not impossible, I guess...

Anyway, remember all this for the inevitable problems you'll have down the road. Nobody escapes equipment annoyances....and they usually happen at the worst time. So, it's good to know what logical steps to take resolve things quickly. Sometimes, if you're playing at a gig, you may just have to eliminate the offensive unit entirely and patch around it until you get home to figure it out. (Who here hasn't at least once spent their break swapping cables and scratching their head to try to figure out why THAT pedal isn't working? And, the pressure is greater when the 10 minutes is counting down, you haven't yet ordered another drink and you're dying for a quick smoke, etc.)

Still, you have an overall weird situation.

Good luck.

Brad1

[big_teee]

OK. So the guitar WAS at fault, then?
Still, you have an overall weird situation.

Good luck.

Brad1

Sometimes Weird is the Norm Here!
B_T

[David Schwab]

Probably the output of the guitar was so low that it stayed clean.