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  • December 29, 2010 at 6:27 pm #81218
    locust
    Member

    Just got the pedal yesterday, inspired by the features for an analog delay at the price. It’s otherwise an awesome piece of equipment, but I’m worried if the unit I got is ok… The repeats are accompanied by a hiss. Tried it with 9Vs of different sources, including the high-quality power of T-Rex Fuel Tank Junior, but no help.

    I tinker with electronics, so I opened it up – mainly SMD components so there’s nothing I can do… Or is there, and is there anyway or are analog delays always hissy? I can understand (and love) the degradation of sound quality in the repeats, but I don’t recall hearing such hiss when I had a Carl Martin Red Repeat… Nor can I hear such when I listen to any recording I know been made with DMM.

    Could it be just a small turn of a trimmer, a faulty part, bad electricity of my flat (which I doubt), or do everybody owning the pedal hear the hiss? Are the chips cheaper alternatives of some high quality chip, so a chip job could fix it?

    Thanks for any answers!

    December 29, 2010 at 6:53 pm #113403
    Cryabetes
    Participant

    the Carl Martin Red Repeat was based off a PT329x chip, I believe; the DMM’s use MN3005’s and the DMB’s use MN3205’s. It’s not really a fair comparison. The Delayla looks like it was one of the MN chips, which would be a better comparison, except the Delayla wasn’t really designed to last, apparently. It’s probably a trimmer or slightly-faulty part [perhaps in the compander portion of the circuit, if it’s noise being generated].
    Still, don’t putz with the trims yourself- contact EHX and inquire if they can help you.

    December 29, 2010 at 7:12 pm #113404
    locust
    Member
    Quote:
    the Carl Martin Red Repeat was based off a PT329x chip, I believe; the DMM’s use MN3005’s and the DMB’s use MN3205’s. It’s not really a fair comparison. The Delayla looks like it was one of the MN chips, which would be a better comparison, except the Delayla wasn’t really designed to last, apparently. It’s probably a trimmer or slightly-faulty part [perhaps in the compander portion of the circuit, if it’s noise being generated].
    Still, don’t putz with the trims yourself- contact EHX and inquire if they can help you.

    Ok, thanks. And you’re right, not a fair comparison.. I just recalled the fact that RR is actually digital.

    Just to be more specific, the pedal is dead silent when on and I’m not playing. The hiss is present only in the repeated sound.

    December 29, 2010 at 7:19 pm #113405
    Kevin Demuth
    Member
    Quote:
    Ok, thanks. And you’re right, not a fair comparison.. I just recalled the fact that RR is actually digital.

    Just to be more specific, the pedal is dead silent when on and I’m not playing. The hiss is present only in the repeated sound.

    Do you have the delay time set quite high?

    Almost every analogue delay pedal I’ve used gets noisy/hissy when the delay time is towards its upper limit.

    December 29, 2010 at 8:50 pm #113408
    locust
    Member
    Quote:
    Quote:
    Ok, thanks. And you’re right, not a fair comparison.. I just recalled the fact that RR is actually digital.

    Just to be more specific, the pedal is dead silent when on and I’m not playing. The hiss is present only in the repeated sound.

    Do you have the delay time set quite high?

    Almost every analogue delay pedal I’ve used gets noisy/hissy when the delay time is towards its upper limit.

    Hmm.. Guess it depends what’s considered high. :) Maybe 300-400 ms was the highest setting I’ve played with it so far. Now that I think about it, that’s about the high end of a “standard” old analog delay, isn’t it? I’m more familiar with digitals so far… I’ll try tomorrow with lower delay time + long feedback and see if the hiss is there. That’s if I have the time before hitting the road again – guess without the DMB for now, though…

    January 9, 2011 at 10:33 pm #113601
    locust
    Member

    I’ve now listened carefully about every DMB vid on Youtube (there are a couple with good sound quality), and none of them have the kind of extra noise mine has. Actually the repeated sound itself is a bit different too – on my unit it’s muddier. I also noticed one interesting point: The gain knob seems to be pretty high on many videos, and if I remember it right, mine starts distorting way earlier. Tested it with an old Ibanez Lukather Model, self built Tele with SD Vintage ’54 Lead and a Strat with DiMarzio Area ’58 & ’61, so hotness of the signal shouldn’t be the issue. Been almost a week since the last test though, cos my practice amp died on me…

    Oh, and I did contact them directly. Reply (which came at unbelievable speed for a big company!) was, that hiss is normal with analogs. Ok, I’m guessing it’s half automatic reply, and I lack experience in analog delays. But I trust my ears, and the feeling I got after listening to the demos was that my unit sounds different (worse) than the DMBs in any of the vids with good sound quality. Better test it again with my trusty gig head, just have to pick it up from the bus.

    Thoughts?

    January 14, 2011 at 1:54 pm #113730
    locust
    Member

    Ok, sorry the monologue… :)

    I’ve tested it extensively with my gig rig now, and I bet there’s something wrong with it, or then it’s simply a bad design. It’s just plain noisy. Even when it’s just on and I’m not playing it makes a hum no other pedal on my board (except distortions of course) makes. And it doesn’t even sound that good. Hmph.

    But the case is closed now, DMB is in the box and ready to be sent back to where it came from. I’m not patient enough. Gonna spend the money on something that works out of the box…

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