Distortion Pedal Hum

Anyone had a similar experience to this?

I've just bought a Raygun Soda Drive Plus bass overdrive/distortion pedal and it's running through a Warwick BC 40 amp from my Squier Precision. It works, but there is an annoying hum even in bypass mode and some crackling noises when touching the strings. This doesn't seem to happen with a 9V battery only with my power supply. The problem I have is there is no battery compartment on these pedals so I've had to rig up a rubbish battery supply.

One suggestion is the 1A current through a single pedal is causing the noise so I've ordered the equivalent to a Boss power supply rated at 200mA.

Any other thoughts?

 

If you run the signal into your soundcard or a DI instead of the amplifier does the pedal have the same problem?
When the bass is not connected to the pedal, does it still have this problem?

Trying to figure out the cause here... The ground wire on your bass might not be properly in touch with the strings (through the bridge). The powersupply could also be the problem, but the instrument for now is the prime suspect.

 

I thought it may be the ground attached to the bridge. I whipped the bridge off over the weekend and made sure it was touching the ground cable. I think I'll take it off again and double check. The thing is, it doesn't happen with a couple of Boss guitar pedals but it does happen with a Blackstar Distortion pedal (LT-Dual).

 

It's hard to tell with limited info, and audio electronics is not my forte, but if it works without hum using a battery, but not the power supply, it sounds to me like the problem is with the power supply or the pedal. Have you tried another power supply? I tried to find a schematic for the pedal, but failed. Is the input jack for the power supply in good shape? Is the power supply you are using the actual unit designed for the pedal? How are you attaching the battery? How is the power supply cable routed? If the power supply wall plug isn't polarized, try reversing it in the wall outlet, and make sure the plug that goes into the pedal is the right polarity, if it is not the original factory supplied power supply. Some DC electronics use a full wave rectifier at the input to prevent damage due to mis-matched polarity, but if the input polarity is wrong, I could imagine you might get a humming effect. Good luck with it.

 

Fuzz wars!

 

Hi...well the Ibanez has got 2 single coils and a humbucker pickup and even if I use a Fender Strat with a Seymour Duncan Hotrail pickup the buzz doesn`t become any less. And if I unplug the guitar from the Pc the buzz is there with the program without even using the instrument. Well if there is not other source of error i probably have to use a noisegate to reduce the buzzing.