Looper/router

[davidwpack]

Ey! I just got an effects router/looper/switcher. Have any of you used these? I noticed my distortion has a lot more hiss and my Belton reverb brick pedal that I built used to have a slight boost now actually has a slight cut in the signal. I was wondering if this is to be expected with having effects in parallel rather than in series. Anyone know? Overall, I'm not impressed by any means. If this is normal I think they sound much better in series.

[MakerDP]

Which one did you get?

You may need a good buffer at the front of your effects chain. What pedal goes first? Any good tuner pedal should have a decent buffer in it.

I have a BOSS MS3 and it has transformed my life. SOOO much easier to navigate my effects on stage now! No issues with tone loss or noise at all.

[davidwpack]

It is a Loop-Switchers. Yeah I used plenty of buffering and it had an aweful effect.

[MakerDP]

Well that's odd. I hope you can work something out. I love having the flexibility that even the limited 3-loop MS3 has. It's built-in effects are really high quality so I was able to replace a ton of pedals and just use my "special" OD pedals in the loops and a couple unique tone-shapers before and after it.

[davidwpack]

I'll probably experiment more later on. It mainly affected od/distortion and reverb. I've got 3 different pedal boards set up because I get bored. It was on my stereo set-up so maybe that had something to do with it. I'll probably try it on another board next time I'm bored. I'll update if I like it more next time around

[G._Hoffman]

What's your power supply?

Gabriel

[davidwpack]

I've tried both a Dunlop dc brick and a Caline CP-05.

[G._Hoffman]

I've tried both a Dunlop dc brick and a Caline CP-05.

I'm pretty sure neither of those are transformer isolated, but are instead at best electronically isolated.  I'd be willing to bet getting a proper power supply (Voodoo Labs, Walrus Audio, Ciocks, etc.) would make a world of difference.  The more complicated the system, the more critical it is to really get the fundamentals right, and power is at the top of that list.  And yes, that means you are going to be spending 3-4 times as much money on your power supply, but it is worth every penny.  My rather absurd pedal "board" (don't ask, it's complicated) has something like 30 devices on it (not all pedals, some of it is MIDI stuff, some of it is switching, etc.) never has any problems because I started from the fundamentals, including proper power supplies. 

[davidwpack]

Yeah, I plan on upgrading my power supplies before trying the loop switcher again. I need to anyway to eliminate a ground loop from running in stereo from a tremelo/panner.

[G._Hoffman]

The other thing to go for with stereo output is transformer isolation for one of the two channels. 

Gabriel

[davidwpack]

Isolate a channel with a transformer? Not sure what you mean or how to go about it. Something like the Radial twin channel isolator?

[G._Hoffman]

Isolate a channel with a transformer? Not sure what you mean or how to go about it. Something like the Radial twin channel isolator?

That would be mic level, so not really suitable for guitar or line level.  The two I'm using right now are a Shur Buffer, which gives you an isolated split, and a Goodwood Audio Output, which gives you buffered output, and switchable phase and ground loop isolation for two channels, and the ability to sum the two channels if required.  There are others out there which do similar things.

Gabriel

[davidwpack]

I used to have a Digitech 2120 stereo rackmount tube preamp/processor with a foot controller. I'm starting to wish I'd kept it.

[MakerDP]

A little late and you may already have it sorted, but I use this for all my pedalboard power, including my Boss MS3 switcher...

https://truetone.com/cs12/

You would be very hard pressed to find a better power supply than that.

[davidwpack]

Thanks for the info. I haven't really done anything yet. Not going to worry about it until I'm ready to start recording in a couple months. Thanks!