Does it do it when not plugged in to an amp? I have the same problem, amped or not.
Chris, how can you hear it without an amp. I can't really tell, seems to sound OK but not loud enough with out amp or something like the RP-155.
May I ask why you aren't using a volume pedal?
I am a beginner and haven't decided which one to get, also I think a vol pedal can be used to hide a lot of stuff, so I want to get good techniques for picking and blocking. Without working a pedal you hear every little defect in the attack and block.
Last edited by Frank Montmarquet on 10 Sep 2012 7:01 am, edited 1 time in total.
Frank, I'm still not clear on whether this happens when plugged straight into the amp. If so, then crank the amp and turn down the guitar volume until it quits. I hit my Rolands with a pretty hot signal and they don't clip the input, at least on JC Clean... are you running the Blackface patch? Lots of folks seem to like it here, but I don't see drive and complex polyphony mixing well for me.
What happens if you plug your guitar into a recording console or the mic input of your computer and record it direct? Eliminate the amp from the equation. Does the problem go away?
Stephen: It happens when plugged straight into the amp. Don't have a vol. pedal yet so no way to turn down the guitar except with output control of something like a RP-155 or 7 band EQ.
B0b:
I will try straight into computer mic input.
Since it happens with just an RP-155 into earphones, unless the output is turned way down, I think it might be a guitar or pickup issue.
Groves on the fingers? I moved strings 1 & 2 to the side about 1/16", no change. Spring vibrating? The pitch of the beat changes with the fret and pedals, I think a spring would have a near constant frequency.
I have heard that rollers can vibrate and cause problems. Now that I think about it, when things started to sound bad is when I changed strings and when I did that I worked the rollers and oiled them until they turned freely, maybe they are loose on the shaft. This happened on my student Emmons and I remember that some rollers were stuck an would not turn. I lubed and worked them till they did turn.
What else, PU too close, it's down as far as it will go.
It happens when I pick softly, so I now doubt it is from overloading something. On the attack the strings seem to have an off pitch for an instant, that is the problem. It is natural for a picked string but this seems to much and too off pitch. It makes sense that using compression would reduce it.
Several weeks ago I borrowed a Crate Amp from a local music store, still happened.
Can bad cables cause this, I use whatever Guitar Center sells.
So, who is in upstate NY and is willing to help out. My guitar through your amp and your guitar through my amp. Need to fix this. I am near Rochester, any place from Buffalo to Syracuse and South to Ithaca would be OK.
I had a similar problem, my pickup had the braded ground wire and found that one little strand of the brade was touching the positve on the 1/4 in guitar jack
Pick harder, you will hear it. You have to determine if it's the guitar or the amp. In my case, it's the guitar. If you play acoustically for a while, your ears will adjust.
Raising D# to E, (lever or re-tune) and picking 2&3 instead of 3&4, no change. Lowering E to D# and picking 1&4, no change. Same thing if F# raised to G# or G# to F#. The first 4 strings seem identical as far as the bad harmonic/beat. If it was string related or caused by rollers or fingers you would think it would be a little different on different strings. It's not.
So what is constant, the pickup or something else vibrating.
I measured the resistance of the pickup and taps with the pickup removed (it's a Sierra) and at the plug with the switch in different positions. No more than 100 ohms change.
Next, get one of my sons friends over here with a 6 string and amp and test things.
