Home › Forums › Help/Technical Questions › Stereo Clone Theory, extremely noisy hiss
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December 3, 2008 at 9:20 pm #88312HanSoloMember
Wish I would have known this before hand, now I’m stuck with a pedal I can’t use.
Like I said I love all my other EH pedals (and I own a lot of them, lol), but this one is the only one that has ever gave me any trouble.
December 3, 2008 at 10:29 pm #88334Quote:Wish I would have known this before hand, now I’m stuck with a pedal I can’t use.Like I said I love all my other EH pedals (and I own a lot of them, lol), but this one is the only one that has ever gave me any trouble.
Tell me what your problems are. I really would like to know what you mean by “but this one is the only one that has ever gave me any trouble.”
There is no trouble that cannot be fixed.
Rick
December 3, 2008 at 10:34 pm #88336julianModeratorQuote:Wish I would have known this before hand, now I’m stuck with a pedal I can’t use.Like I said I love all my other EH pedals (and I own a lot of them, lol), but this one is the only one that has ever gave me any trouble.
If it is unusably noisy then there is something wrong with it. Because it isn’t completely quiet, but when you’re playing you shouldn’t be able to notice a thing.
December 3, 2008 at 10:35 pm #88337Quote:Wish I would have known this before hand, now I’m stuck with a pedal I can’t use.Like I said I love all my other EH pedals (and I own a lot of them, lol), but this one is the only one that has ever gave me any trouble.
Please let me know about what you mean when you say “this one is the only one that has ever gave me any trouble”
There is not problem that cannot be fixed. I really would lide to point you in the right direction.
Rick
December 3, 2008 at 10:38 pm #88338HanSoloMemberQuote:Quote:Wish I would have known this before hand, now I’m stuck with a pedal I can’t use.Like I said I love all my other EH pedals (and I own a lot of them, lol), but this one is the only one that has ever gave me any trouble.
Tell me what your problems are. I really would like to know what you mean by “but this one is the only one that has ever gave me any trouble.”
There is no trouble that cannot be fixed.
Rick
It’s just the unbearably loud hiss. It’s almost as loud as the effect itself when the effect is turned on. A little noise is fine, I have many other analog pedals that produce a little background noise when switched on but this is nothing like that. Well, sort of like that I guess but multiplied 10 fold.
I can call you guys and you can hear it over the phone if you’d like, it’s that loud.
December 3, 2008 at 10:53 pm #88340julianModeratorCould you post your set-up?
For example:
guitar with humbuckers ->
Big Muff ->
clone theory ->
Fender silverface Amp
Versus
guitar with low output single coils ->
clone theory ->
big muff ->
soldano amp
are two very different set ups that will yield different signal to noise ratios- the second one is of course the least ideal, you’re hitting it with very little gain and then adding a bunch of gain on top.
You want as little gain to be behind it as possible. Ideally, putting it in your FX loop on your amp if your amp has one is the best solution. Otherwise maybe using a boost before your clone theory could get you a better signal to noise ratio.
There are other potential problems that could be making it that noisy-
your chain could be long and effectively cut a lot of the volume going into it, effecting the signal to noise ratio
it could also be power related- how are you powering your Clone Theory?December 3, 2008 at 11:03 pm #88342It’s just the unbearably loud hiss. It’s almost as loud as the effect itself when the effect is turned on. A little noise is fine, I have many other analog pedals that produce a little background noise when switched on but this is nothing like that. Well, sort of like that I guess but multiplied 10 fold.
I can call you guys and you can hear it over the phone if you’d like, it’s that loud.[/quote]
If it is almost as loud as the effect then it has problems. While the Stereo Clone Theory has noise, you should not hear it on anywhere near the level of the effect itself.
Do you have a sound sample that you can email me? ricks@ehx.com
I could tell you a lot about your problem just from hearing it.
December 3, 2008 at 11:16 pm #88344HanSoloMemberI don’t have anything to record the sound with.
As far as my set up, I’ve never had it on my board, it’s always been straight in to the amp. I had problems with it since buying so it never went on my board.
So it’s just: Amp > Clone Theory > Guitar
I tried all 3 of my amps, and about a dozen different guitars. I have nice $50 cables, so it’s not that (which I tested anyway just to be sure). I also tried it in the effects loop of my amps and same results. I also opened the pedal up and messed with the trim pot in the back hopping to fix it, but when the trim pot is decreased or increased the noise is gone but the pedal no longer makes the effect. I also tried different power supplies, first a wall wart then a PP2+ and finally a DC Brick. Same noise with all.
It’s not my gear, it’s definitely the pedal.
December 3, 2008 at 11:24 pm #88345HanSoloMemberQuote:Quote:Wish I would have known this before hand, now I’m stuck with a pedal I can’t use.Like I said I love all my other EH pedals (and I own a lot of them, lol), but this one is the only one that has ever gave me any trouble.
Tell me what your problems are. I really would like to know what you mean by “but this one is the only one that has ever gave me any trouble.”
There is no trouble that cannot be fixed.
Rick
What I meant is I own a dozen other EH pedals, all of which I love and have never had any problem with period. Some are over 20 years old as well and still kickin’!
The Stereo Clone Theory however has been the only problem because I can’t get rid of that loud hiss. That’s the only problem. The effect is really lush and sounds great, but not when you have a hiss almost as loud as the effect itself. (just repeating myself now, but wanted to answer you directly)
December 4, 2008 at 12:11 am #88350electro-melxModeratorI’ve just been playing around with mine, firstly it’s nowhere near as bad as yours by the sounds of it…
but, this is what I found…
the hiss is a very high frequency, when I tried recording it on my 8 track I could hear the hiss when I played the track back but when I mastered it into a WAV file and played the master I could hardly hear it and when I tranfered it to the comp and saved it as a 192 mp3 I couldn’t here it at all….it obviously vanished with the slight loss of fidelity. (so no point in posting that!!)
anyway not really an ideal solution but if you have a graphic eq you might want to put it after and try turning the highest band down a touch because that’s probably around where the hiss is….if you boosted the next band along slightly you’d probably regain the treble back on your guitar.
anyway I gotta stop babbling, if you have a very trebely set up than I can imagine it would sound worse to you….if I back the treble off on my amp a little it almost dissapears altogether…
not really much help to your situation I know, but it’s what I found playing mine this evening.
December 4, 2008 at 12:20 am #88351HanSoloMemberQuote:I’ve just been playing around with mine, firstly it’s nowhere near as bad as yours by the sounds of it…but, this is what I found…
the hiss is a very high frequency, when I tried recording it on my 8 track I could hear the hiss when I played the track back but when I mastered it into a WAV file and played the master I could hardly hear it and when I tranfered it to the comp and saved it as a 192 mp3 I couldn’t here it at all….it obviously vanished with the slight loss of fidelity. (so no point in posting that!!)
anyway not really an ideal solution but if you have a graphic eq you might want to put it after and try turning the highest band down a touch because that’s probably around where the hiss is….if you boosted the next band along slightly you’d probably regain the treble back on your guitar.
anyway I gotta stop babbling, if you have a very trebely set up than I can imagine it would sound worse to you….if I back the treble off on my amp a little it almost dissapears altogether…
not really much help to your situation I know, but it’s what I found playing mine this evening.
I play an AC30 with all single coil guitars so yeah, I guess my setup is pretty trebley. lol
December 4, 2008 at 12:32 am #88353electro-melxModeratorQuote:I play an AC30 with all single coil guitars so yeah, I guess my setup is pretty trebley. lolI’d imagine that isn’t helping matters…
but still….I understand your frustration.
December 4, 2008 at 12:43 am #88354electro-melxModeratorTo be totally honest if it’s mainly chorus you are after I’d think about selling it and getting a classic small clone. (the big one!) I actually prefer the small clone for chorus but I really wanted the wobbly de-tuned sounds that the clone theory does….and I’m not a big chorus user either…I use the theory for wacky wobble bendy stuff.
If it’s ‘as new’ I’d expect you could get enough for it to buy a used small clone without you having to invest anymore of your money and you might well be happier with the small clone….just an idea to think about maybe?
December 4, 2008 at 12:47 am #88355HanSoloMemberQuote:To be totally honest if it’s mainly chorus you are after I’d think about selling it and getting a classic small clone. (the big one!) I actually prefer the small clone for chorus but I really wanted the wobbly de-tuned sounds that the clone theory does….and I’m not a big chorus user either…I use the theory for wacky wobble bendy stuff.If it’s ‘as new’ I’d expect you could get enough for it to buy a used small clone without you having to invest anymore of your money and you might well be happier with the small clone….just an idea to think about maybe?
I actually sold the Small Clone for this, and paid almost twice as much for the Clone Theory!
I was thinking of going back to the Small Clone, but i’ve dropped the Clone Theory down to $60 just to get rid of it and cover the cost of a Small Clone and nobody is interested because of it’s “noisy” reputation.
May 25, 2010 at 9:07 pm #105220FluffChopMemberQuote:As far as I can tell, the SCT is just a direct reissue of the original Clone Theory with surface mount components and stereo operation. It’s the BBD chips making the hiss so I can’t see any way of getting rid of it“It’s the BBD chips making the hiss”, is that a guestimation or has there been a clinical study? If it’s the chips then why only the BBD’s in this particular circuit and not all circuits? (No I don’t think it’s the chips personally).
I’ve heard the hiss on the ProGuitarShop video. You can hear it when Andy turns on the pedal but before he plays (and during if you pay attention). I have a Stereo Clone Theory on order, which after visiting here I am kind of wishing I didn’t, or else thinking why does it hiss/how can I fix it?
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