Pedalboard overdriving the amp

[Matt Saraca]

Hi all,

I have a 78' Marlen S10. I run it through my guitar pedalboard and even with all pedals OFF, it overdrives the amp. The amp is a 1980 Musicman 1/12 large combo amp. Combo tube and solid state. Very powerful. I know (think?) its not the amp because when I run it with just a delay pedal or direct in, there is no distortion. I also tested it on a solid state bass amp. Also distorted. Pickup height is pretty low as is.

I have done an elimination test and it appears to be one of my overdrive pedals. Perhaps one with a buffer?

Does this make sense? Have you experienced this before? Do any of you stack overdrives on steel as you might with a six string electric?

Advice on pedal board setup with steel, including delay, would be helpful.

Thanks,
Matt

[Mike Auman]

It sounds like your steel is overdriving one of your pedals, which is generating the distortion within the pedal, not in the amp. Most pedals are designed for guitar-level input which is usually lower than steel-level input. It has to be one that has an always-on buffer rather than true bypass, but you can figure it out by adding just one pedal at a time between your steel and the amp.

[Jon Light (deceased)]

Yeah, really --- it's a pain to do all the wire-hopping but systematic trial of individual pedals should reveal the culprit.

[Matt Saraca]

Thanks folks. Wondering if you think I could damage a guitar pedal by sending a steel signal through it?

[Mike Auman]

Thanks folks. Wondering if you think I could damage a guitar pedal by sending a steel signal through it?

No, it would take a much larger signal than a steel pickup to do any permanent damage to a pedal.

If your pedal board is after a volume pedal, another thing you could try is reducing the steel level with the volume pedal, and see if the distortion goes down. You could also have a guitar pedal that's failing, and is distorting at normal input levels.

[Matt Saraca]

...Did not mention that the pickup is a BL 805. Pretty hot. You all recommend playing this type of steel through a solid state?

Thanks,
Matt

[Donny Hinson]

Is it distorting all the time, or only when you’re playing loudly?

Does it distort more on chords than on single notes?

What kind of volume pedal are you using?

(Keep in mind that not all buffers are unity (zero) gain. Some do boost the signal.)

[Matt Saraca]

1. Distorts when playing louder for sure -- but not cranking the amp by any means. A six string wouldn't even come close to break-up at that level.

2. Both chords and single notes can distort when played with hard attack.

3. Earnie Ball Jr. Volume Pedal. Don't love it. The non-linear response makes for all or nothing feel.

I think I need to run the steel direct into the amp and turn up a little bit. If the amp distorts with only the steel in the signal path, it would appear that the amp is getting overloaded. I would be surprised if the Music Man RD112 with a large EV speaker would not handle that signal. Could be wrong.

Matt

[Mike Auman]

I think I need to run the steel direct into the amp and turn up a little bit. If the amp distorts with only the steel in the signal path, it would appear that the amp is getting overloaded. I would be surprised if the Music Man RD112 with a large EV speaker would not handle that signal. Could be wrong. Matt

Yep, try running your steel directly into the amp and see what happens.

If your amp has the Limiter switch, make sure that's off, since having it on will cause distortion. If you have a footswitch, make sure that's in Clean mode, not Limiter mode.

If there's no distortion, add ONE device (volume pedal, effect pedal, etc.) and see what happens. If that device is OK, remove it and add a different device. If all of them are OK individually, start rebuilding your normal signal chain by adding one device at a time.

Your Musicman RD-50 has input protection to prevent overloads from a hot signal: any signal that's over the limit will be rolled off and will sound distorted. However, that protection doesn't kick in until the signal exceeds 16 volts peak to peak, which is far, far beyond the capability of even an active pickup, let alone your BL 805 humbucker (although the 805 is a bit hotter than the average pickup.) It's possible your amp is faulty, but I think you'll find the problem is that one of your effect pedals wasn't designed to handle your steel's normal output level.

[Matt Saraca]

Makes sense. Thanks for your time on this, everyone.