MXR Carbon Copy Analog Delay Pedal

[David Greenblatt]

I have a Williams 700 SD10 Pedal Steel with a Bill Lawrence USA 705 reissue humbucker, tuned to E9. With the Steel plugged into a MXR Carbon Copy Analog Delay pedal, into a Quilter Travis Toy 12, when I double stop the 3rd and 4th strings, open or fretted, I get a lower octave ghost note (the technical term is Intermodulation Distortion). This even happens with the Carbon Copy knobs set to 0. When I turn off the Carbon Copy, no ghost notes. Any suggestions on a brand of delay pedal that will work for me? Thank you.

[Tucker Jackson]

You said you plug the steel straight into the delay... does that mean you don't have a volume pedal in the chain?

Steel pickups are a lot hotter than those on 6-string guitars and they sometimes overdrive the input of certain effects units, especially if there isn't a volume pedal sitting between them. Most steelers run their volume pedal somewhere well below 'full on,' so that reduces the output signal going to the effects unit making it more likely to 'play nice' with a hot steel guitar pickup.

Other than that, I don't know what could be causing the problem... seems like I've heard people say they like the MXR a lot for steel. If you already have a volume pedal in the chain, you might try lowering the pickup slightly and seeing if that helps. It might also be a power-supply issue so be sure you are using the proper power unit.

[Chris Harwood]

Yeah it sounds like you're blasting the front end of the delay...a unit geared for a much lower 6 string guitar output.
As mentioned...go into the volume first if not already..plus the volume then won't cut off delay tails.
Or...stick another pedal before it as a buffer.

Those are generally highly regarded delays, at least for the sound.

[David Greenblatt]

Thanks for the insight. I do plug the Steel into a Telonics Multi Taper Foot Pedal with the taper setting set to 6 which is the "Telonics Special Sustain Taper". I just tried a TC Electronics Flashback Digital Delay pedal. That seems to have alleviated the ghost note almost completely.