Patch cable volume loss

peterleroux

I took all my newly assembled pedals out to rehearsal last night, and I notice a severe volume difference between plugging direct into the amp and running through the four pedals, with all of them in bypass. I have a few theories about what is wrong, I'd appreciate some guidance:

-low impedance pickups (Jazz bass) are not able to drive the signal down such a long cable run
-cheap nasty patch cables (those R15 multi-coloured ones) are causing volume drop
-I have a bad connection on one or more of my pedals (but each one sounds fine on it's own)
-aliens

Which of these is most likely to be causing trouble, and how would I solve them?

Shibbibilybob

Right, so I would be inclined to think the cheap patch cables are the biggest of your issues right now.
The thing is, just one weak link can dirty your signal path. So your signal is only as strong as your weakest element.

Most pedals also feature a not-quite-perfect bypass. Some feature buffered or even true bypass circuitry, but again, only of use if all your pedals feature a good bypass. Of course, a series connection of many pedals with poor bypass will cause each pedal to deteriorate the signal individually, which can really dirty it.

That said, I would not expect series volume drops over four pedals, perhaps just a tiny bit of high end attenuation.
Most likely source in my experience is gonna be a single shoddy patch cable.

Get some good ones, it's well worth it.
If you can, try and get some George L's ? do it yourself cables

DDR4LYF

peterleroux wrote:
-aliens

This is how I feel almost every time I try put a circuit together (especially opamp chips)!

billionairebum

Patch cables! By te way if ou find any George L connectors please let me know!!!

AlanRatcliffe

+1. Faulty patch cable. Those cheap things with the moulded plugs are often bad out of the packet and aren't very good even when they do work.

I'm not a fan of the solderless stuff either - compact and easy to make and repair, but more likely to need repair.

DonRoos

You could try a proces of elimination. Start with your best 2 leads from guitar to one of the pedals and another from the pedal to your amp. If that works, add another pedal and on patch. If it works, carry on adding. If it does not try another lead (last one added).

How new are the pedals? It could also be the plug sockets in the pedals that have coroded. Sometimes rotating the plug in the socket can resolve this partially. If it is a coroded socket, you will need to open the pedals and clean them or replace them if badly coroded. You could also have a dry joint in one or more of the pedals.

peterleroux

Thanks for all the replies. I'll weed through all the cables and check continuity and ground/live isolation with a multimeter.
There's a good chance there is a cold solder on one of the pedals as they're all of my own making and my soldering skills are rudimentary.
Another thing that can make pedals intermittent is poor grounding- I'm using aluminium enclosures, and if the jacks are not screwed in tightly they don't make adequate contact with the enclosure

Norman86

i would say cables are the last things to be checked..
personally, i would start by only having one pedal inline and check them all like that, one at a time.
only after eliminating the pedals do you have to start worrying about the cables.

plus, your cables going into and out of your efects will have significantly more effect on your tone than the patch cables between your pedals.

Shibbibilybob

I would agree with that in general (with the length of the cable being a primary factor in how much influence it has on the signal), however, since we already know we're talking about those moulded, colourful patch cables, I expect they are the issue.

AlanRatcliffe

Norman86 wrote: i would say cables are the last things to be checked..

Au contraire, mon frère. Cables should always be the first thing you check - you'll save yourself thousands of hours through the years by always starting your troubleshooting with the cables.

Shibbibilybob wrote: since we already know we're talking about those moulded, colourful patch cables, I expect they are the issue.

+1. To be brutally honest, if I see those moulded things I immediately rip 'em out and throw 'em away. If they aren't the root of the problem now, they will be soon.

peterleroux

Alan Ratcliffe wrote: ...Au contraire, mon frère. Cables should always be the first thing you check - you'll save yourself thousands of hours through the years by always starting your troubleshooting with the cables. ...

Best advice I ever had, from the first sound guy I worked with - check the cheapest component (i.e. power and signal cables) first.

I only used my fuzz pedal last night, so I left everything else out, will troubleshoot properly this week.

nicovlogg

Hard to judge without hearing, but some high end and volume loss is definitely going to happen with all true bypass pedals and a long chain. Best solution for that is a good buffer first up in line. Will preserve the quality of a good low impedance pickup while still driving the rest of the chain.