Humming fooger

[Pantherairsoft]

I noticed today that my Moogerfooger Ring Mod is emitting a sub-level (SUPER low frequncy) hum when you touch it, which can be 'grounded'/muted by touching another pedal or one of the jacks else where on the board. I only noticed this with my Streamliner 900 amp up at max looking for the cause of a crackle and at playing volumes this is not audible... But now I know it's there is going to bug me.

When I'm not touching the pedal it does no such thing.

I assume this is a grounding style issue and wondered if anyone can advise in where to look within the pedal?

Shep

[latigid on]

Try a different power outlet, preferably the same one that your mixer/amp is connected into.

Hth,

[Pantherairsoft]

Hey,

It's doing it with multiple power supplies/outlets and on a shared power supply with the rest of my pedalboard (which is how it is generally powered).

I'm going to have a peek inside as soon as I get chance and check no dry solder joints etc...

[Alien8]

Good to check, however random grounding issues / humming seems to be amplified by Moogerfoogers at random. It could be another pedal, or two touching, or even a CV connection between two other foogers.

Start with isolating the ring mod to see if it is the source, or just the amplifier of the noise.

Good luck! I sympathize with this frustration, but love it too!!

[vasago]

Humming is also caused by having the gain/output knob up to high. This happens with the mf102, mf103, mf105......all of them actually lol

The type of humming will tell you which one is doing it. Tremelo=ringmod. sweeping type sound=phaser. etc etc etc The mf105m does have some sweet sound syou can get out of it this way though. Very cool if youre into noise music.

[Pantherairsoft]

It's most definitely electrical... Like touching the jack cable from an amp against something metal... Deep bass 'EERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR' kinda sound, though low in volume an very low. Past the point of frequency roll off on my cab so I'd suggest around the 20hz point - I can feel it rather than hear it.

I'll isolate the fooger today and try that.

No other foogers are doing it. All drive knobs no higher than 12.

[Alien8]

So, I had a look at your massive board pics in the other thread to see if I could see any similar scenarios that I had been in, and there are a few:

A) power supplies under certain pedals, especially foogers can contribute to noise. The low pass is bad for this, as are wah pedals, and sometimes the phaser.

B) CV connections between foogers - tho they serve a purpose, they can cause issues, and sometimes cause ground loops, noise and unexplained events. As a rule I track these noise sources when they appear, and decide if it's live-able / controllable / or just annoying.

C) TRS cables or TS cables... Sometimes one is noisy, sometimes the other isn't.

D) pedal enclosure contact - through touching directly, or via the mounting system. Tho this is unlikely, it does happen, and can be a source of noise.

Those are the big hitters for me.

Suggessted steps: since your board is large ( I have experience building and troubleshooting many sizes; and this good for every pedal / synth musician out there) it will require patience, pen and paper and patience - lol or not

Start with finding the noise. Start at the beginning of your signal chain leaving the physical location of the pedal as it is and begin to unplug all connections in sequence. If the ring mod is making the noise you should hear it disappear only when you remove the jack from the output and all pedals in have been removed. If it disappears any other time, you have found your sound source.

Next... The reason that I suggested keeping the pedal in the location is so that you can isolate the real cause of the noise. Even though the source of the sound could be the ring mod for example, the cause could be anything around the pedal, or inside it. To eliminate inside, remove the pedal from its location on the board, and test it solo, and away from other sources of noise. Use a single power supply like a wall wart, not a pedal power or similar supply as even they cause problems. Be sure to use proven cables, and equipment. If the noise is present, you know the pedal is the problem, if it's gone, you have more work to do...

Start with electro magnetic issues by powering the pedal, use long cables pluged into the chain as normal, the move the pedal over the area it will sit. If the noise comes and goes, find the source and make sure that there is a lot of distance between the two. I have an MXR eq that hates being around my pedal power for example. If the noise is constant keep looking...

Put the pedal back into its location and hook it up as you want it. This is where it gets annoying. Start by removing power cables one by one to see if this has an affect. If you find a change, start focusing on the connections from that pedal / power supply. Isolate the problem pedal to see if it is the source etc. You may find a bad cable or power connection at this point too.

This should help you find the real issue. It could be really easy to find or near impossible. I had an OCD powered at 18V at the end of my chain, that caused a noise to travel through to a compressor near the beginning of my chain. Took me almost a year to discover this was the cause. I sold the compressor. Another time my LPF emitted a low frequency that only the ring mod would amplify. Turned out that was a radio station that didn't quite tune in.

@Pantherairsoft - what's the pale green three knob boss pedal? Let us know how your search goes - I would start by removing the CV to carrier in to see if that's the link providing the noise...

[Pantherairsoft]

Thanks for this buddy...

The green pedal is a rather rare Boss PN-2 Tremolo/Pan... AMAZING on bass!

I have isolated the issue to being the Ring Mod itself. I have the same issue with this pedal regardless of wether it is on the board, or, as I found today, powered in a different room with a different power supply and different cables!

The only difference with it being in place on the board is that the in order to 'really' hear on it's own you need to turn the drive knob to MAX, where as in the chain it becomes audible with the drive around 12 o'clock. I know my excessive (but very tidy!!) signal chain does amplify the noise floor a little (which I find from some older fuzz pedals) and assume this is the reason the hum becomes more audible. Having a CV input does amplify it a little too!

At the same time, removing the Ring Mod from the chain means I can not get the same noises with the rest of the board. Definitely the ring mod... and possibly something that has always been there and just worsened a little, or become audible as my signal chain has grown.

I'm going to open it up this weekend and check the pedal out thoroughly!

[Alien8]

I had a feeling that was a tremolo! Sweet!

You have a couple of options to eliminate the noise too - like a noise gate or low shelf EQ. Removing it would be a good idea so it doesn't wear your speakers. You may have something in the eventide box or tc boxes to help, there's lots of extra goodies in them...

Best of luck!!

[Pantherairsoft]

Well... I opened her up today. She looks fine inside. I applied copper shielding tape to the inside of the wooden walls and ran a strip of or from the footswitch to the walls as well.

It looks lovely. It hasn't helped in any way though

Thankfully the noise is not heard when playing as it's only there when you touch the metal of the pedal and only with bare skin... So the sole of my trainer does not cause it. Maybe it'll go away if I pretend it's not there!