"A Ghost in the Delay"

[Jeffrey Snyder]

Good evening:

I have noticed when using my MXR Carbon Copy Delay with my Pedal Steel Guitar, there is a sound on the repeats other than the notes I am playing. It is kind of a dark, windy sound. I am wondering if it is originating in the volume pedal. The pedal does not sound scratchy. Anyone else had this experience? Advice appreciated.

Additional note: This does not happen when I am playing my Telecaster through the delay.

[Bobby D. Jones]

Check all connections from guitar to amp. Are all connection clean, bright and snapped in tight. Use 0000 steel wool on chord ends and jacks with contact cleaner. Check solder connections for corrosion on jacks and pickup.

Remove volume pedal from the chain, And try.

Try another set of cables in your setup.

Just 1 bad connection can cause the whole problem.

[Dave Grafe]

I have one that adds a noise like a static spike that often goes into an uncontrollable feedback loop as soon as it powers up. Useless. I contacted Sweetwater and they promise to replace it when they get them back in stock, someday. Not that they are inexpensive or anything

[Donny Hinson]

...there is a sound on the repeats other than the notes I am playing. It is kind of a dark, windy sound. I am wondering if it is originating in the volume pedal. The pedal does not sound scratchy.

Have you tried another amp? If your amp is leaking DC on the input jack, a volume pedal will make just such a noise.

[Marty Nemanick]

I've had that same experience with the MXR, had it replaced and the exact same thing on the second unit, returned it to Amazon for a refund. It is very annoying whatever it is doing. I bought a Neunaber Echelon mono echo and it works perfectly.

[Jack Stanton]

It's inherent in many analog delays, especially with high powered steel guitar pickups. I had the same problem with the original red Boss delay pedal (DM-2). My early 80's Deluxe Memory Man does not have that problem, but boy does that puppy eat up real estate on my pedal board.

[Brad Sarno]

Important question. Do you have the delay pedal before or after your volume pedal.

The hot steel pickup issue completely goes away when we place an effect pedal after our volume pedal. The typical output signal voltage from a volume pedal will be massively attenuated from the actual pickup voltage. I'm wondering if maybe you've got the delay pedal before your volume pedal and could be overdriving the internal analog delay circuit with the hot steel pickup signal.

And a delay and/or reverb pedal should always be after the volume pedal, never before.


Brad

[Jeffrey Snyder]

Thanks everyone for your input. I run my steel into the volume pedal, and then into the delay. Jack, I believe you are correct. The analog units seem to do this. I just plugged in my early 80's Roland SDE-1000 Digital Delay, and there are no ghost sounds.

[Jonathan Shacklock]

I also had an MXR Carbon Copy Delay that made an additional percussive noise when the strings were struck and I've had a similar experience with other analog delays using different steel guitars. Reluctantly I've swapped to a TC Electronic Flashback II - digital - no weird noises but the pedal has too much hiss for me (I use a lot of gain on the amp). So I'm still looking for other options. I really liked the MXR but the noise was too annoying.

[Jeffrey Snyder]

Thanks again everyone for taking your time to share your experience. That's what I love about our community! Play on, and stay healthy and happy!