Home › Forums › Help/Technical Questions › Voice Box AND B9 Pedal problems with excessive noise in effects chain

Viewing 13 posts - 1 through 13 (of 13 total)
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  • May 21, 2016 at 11:27 pm #84403
    fuzzy joe
    Member

    I bought my B9 new at guitar center. I bought the voicebox Open-box used, without manual or adapter on Amazon. The EHX site states BOTH pedals take the same adapter.

    Let me first address my definition of “Excessive Noise” before everyone jumps down my throat about how “oscillator and delay based effects cause noise.” You turn on your amp, plug in the cord, turn it to the distortion channel, and touch the contact on the cord with your thumb. THAT’S the noise I’m getting from the Voice Box. YES, I have a gate on the chain after the pedal, NO it doesn’t make it better. The noise does not abate at all, EVER, regardless of what I do (except for when I unplug the Voice Box, and put it back in my case).

    The B9 is a similar situation, but emits a high pitched whine, loud enough to open the gate, even at max threshold. MY gate is the Joyo “Gate of Khan”.

    My pedal rig is all new pedals, most of which are Joyo pedals, except for my compressor, which is an older “Punch Factory” by Aphex (I use this pedal in the studio- dead silent). When I exclude my EHX pedals, the rig is DEAD silent. I also have the Joyo Power Supply, which I stopped using with my EHX pedals when I noticed that, while they SAY 9v on the top, they actually SHIP with a 9.6v adapter. I run the Compressor LAST in my chain, to normalize the signal going to the amp, with the gate just before it. I run the Voice Box and B9 pedals no 1 and 2 in the chain, respectively. The other pedals I run are a Joyo Fuzz, Chorus, Phaser, and Delay, but this problem persists when they are bypassed.

    My amp is a Mesa Mark V (admittedly not the quietest tube amp out there, hence the gate pedal), and my guitars are too numerous to mention, but let’s start with my Fender American Deluxe Strat (just so you know I ain’t foolin with firewood here…).

    Today, I left the B9 at home, and hooked up the Voice Box First in the chain, using the EHX 9.6v adapter that was provided with my B9 (not my Joyo power supply). The signal thru the XLR plugs was clean as a whistle, but the guitar signal, even bypassed was SEVERELY compromised by this hum. I came home and checked the site, which recommends the exact model of adapter I was using for this pedal. Bear in mind, the gate was held WIDE OPEN because of this hum.

    What am I doing wrong here? I love my EHX pedals, but I’m gonna have to dump em on Ebay if I can’t get this figured out…

    May 23, 2016 at 2:17 pm #121546
    Flick (EHX Staff)
    Moderator

    We understand you are getting excessive hum from the Voice Box’s instrument output while using the EHX 9.6V power supply. You also said you are receiving a high pitched whine from the B9. Was the B9 powered from the EHX 9.6V adapter when you heard this whine or were you using the Joyo power supply? Can you provide a link to the Joyo power supply you are using?

    May 24, 2016 at 3:41 am #121552
    fuzzy joe
    Member

    The power supply I’ve been using was the JP-01 by Joyo. I was poking around on their site the other night, and I don’t believe it to be still in production. Reviews on Amazon were pretty good for the unit- not stellar, but most of the complaints folks had were regarding the life span of the item. The Organ pedal whines with either the power supply provided by EHX or the Joyo 10 outlet unit I’m using, although, admittedly, it’s somewhat less when I use the provided 9.6v Wall Wart. This pedal, I have never used with a different wall adapter. The Voice Box has been tried with the Joyo, the power supply I got with the organ pedal, and the power supply my bassist got with his mel9 pedal, to the same effect.

    I have noticed a reduction in noise level in the organ pedal, when I use it in the effects loop on my amp. Not sure what that might signify, but the thing doesn’t track too well when I do that (as the manual implied).

    In retrospect, all the videos I saw of the voice box in use had it being pretty much the only effect in the chain. Is that the key? Should I route organ/fuzz/chorus/phaser/delay/gate/compressor through the effects chain and have the voice box stand alone before the amplifier? Or would it be preferable to split my guitar signal, and have one branch of it dead-end at the voice box? These pedals are pretty much the coolest things on earth, and I REALLY want to utilize them both.

    May 24, 2016 at 1:48 pm #121554
    Flick (EHX Staff)
    Moderator

    As a quick test, can you borrow the power supply your bassist received with the MEL9 and try it with your B9 and let us know if the whine persists with that power supply.

    As far as the Voice Box placement, it shouldn’t matter where it is inserted in the pedal chain. I have seen it used in the middle of a pedal board before an amplifier. Having said that your idea of splitting your guitar signal and then dead end it at the Voice Box is definitely worth a try.

    May 26, 2016 at 6:30 am #121562
    fuzzy joe
    Member

    I’m going to try a few other things, too. I’m wondering if there might be something wrong with the jack on that voicebox- like maybe it’s not grounded right. Like I said, I bought it used, so who knows if it’s been tampered with? Do people mod those pedals? The organ pedal… well… I’m prolly gonna grin and bear it. Guitarist I used to play with had a Wiggler, and it was very noisy. “small price to pay for cool” he would say…

    May 26, 2016 at 1:39 pm #121569
    Flick (EHX Staff)
    Moderator
    Quote:
    I’m going to try a few other things, too. I’m wondering if there might be something wrong with the jack on that voicebox- like maybe it’s not grounded right. Like I said, I bought it used, so who knows if it’s been tampered with? Do people mod those pedals? The organ pedal… well… I’m prolly gonna grin and bear it. Guitarist I used to play with had a Wiggler, and it was very noisy. “small price to pay for cool” he would say…

    You could be right about bad grounding on one of the Voice Box jacks. Since it was purchased used it is possible it has been fooled with.

    As far as the B9 is concerned, it sounds like you recently purchased this unit brand new so it should still be under warranty. A persistent whine coming out of the B9 is not normal. It’s possible that the power supply it came with is defective. If you have a chance to try the B9 with another same EHX 9.6VDC AC Adapter that would help us figure out the problem here.

    January 25, 2017 at 9:24 pm #122544
    ebitnet
    Member

    I’m having a similar issue with my B9 that it produces considerable amounts what seems like 60 Hz hum. I generally isolate it from the rest of my pedal chain using an ABY splitter and I specifically power it with separate EHX “wall-wart” and not the main power-brick for the rest of the pedals. The “guitar” signal is sent to my guitar amp amp the “B9” signal goes to the PA or to a separate amp. So, in principle (at least) the two signals should be isolated.

    HOWEVER, I get noise and bleed-through of the B9 in my guitar signal, which is totally eliminated by unplugging the power to the B9.

    Everything seems to be OK when used as a stand-alone. So, there’s either a grounding problem or perhaps RF interference between the B9 and the rest of my guitar rig.

    Any help or suggestions in sorting this out will be greatly appreciated. I really enjoy using the B9, it adds a really interesting dimension to our music that catches listeners off guard.

    January 26, 2017 at 12:35 am #122545
    EHX STAFF
    Keymaster

    It sounds like a ground loop between the amps and the pedals..

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBEvnSmXc84

    https://www.google.com/search?q=ground+loops+and+guitar+amps&oq=ground+loops+and+guitar+amps&gs_l=serp.12…0.0.0.8661.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0..0.0….0…1c..64.serp..0.0.0.uEOyG4kebgc

    September 23, 2018 at 11:02 am #124332
    richiek65
    Member

    To the OP – does your pedal whine even when switched off (bypass mode)?

    I also have the high pitched whine. I’m in Australia, I bought the pedal from a dealer in the US, so i can’t use the supplied power supply, but no matter what power supply I use (I have Joyo bricks as well as many One-spot type wall warts), I get a whine that is present even when my B9 pedal is off. I put a Boss Noise Gate pedal onto my board that helps, but as soon as I’m playing past the noise gate threshold, the whine returns.

    I sent the pedal under warranty back to EHX, it was returned saying no fault was found. I plugged it in and of course, the whine was still there. Very frustrating!

    EHX staff – your thoughts?

    September 23, 2018 at 2:43 pm #124333
    EHX STAFF
    Keymaster

    Your supply does not have isolated outputs and you are getting noise in through the power supply.
    If you do not have isolated outs and you can not use the EHX supply you need an isolator adapter made by Diago ps09

    September 23, 2018 at 2:46 pm #124334
    EHX STAFF
    Keymaster

    Your supply does not have isolated outputs and the whine is caused by a ground loop from the supply.
    If you cant use an isolated supp OR the EHX supply try a isolator adaptor like the Diago PS09

    September 24, 2018 at 6:16 am #124335
    richiek65
    Member

    Thanks for the reply.
    I have used a stand alone wall wart power supply. I would have assumed being the only effect this was supplied with, then isolation wasn’t a factor, but let me know if I’m mistaken on this, I know nothing about electronics.

    Thanks in advance

    September 24, 2018 at 5:04 pm #124340
    EHX STAFF
    Keymaster

    It would be best if you contact the techs at info@ehx.com. M-F 9-5pm nyc time

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