PedalSnake Troubleshooting

Troubleshooting

Troubleshooting Poor Tone

There is one primary reason for having poor tone with a PedalSnake system: A proper buffered pedal is not being used as the last buffer in the pedal chain.

PedalSnake requires at least one buffered pedal in each pedal chain. It is rare, but sometimes even buffered pedal may not be a good one for PedalSnake. It may be an old or odd pedal with a high output impedance. PedalSnake likes to see on output Z of 2k ohms or less, which 99% of buffered pedals have.

For more, see Preserving Tone with PedalSnake.

How Do You Know if a Pedal is Buffered?

If a pedal is buffered, when turned off, it will not pass any signal through when power is removed. Test it like this:

Turn your rig on and make sure you can hear your guitar.
For the pedal in question, turn the effect OFF.
Remover the power plug (or battery) from that pedal.
If you can still hear your guitar, that pedal is not buffered. It is true bypass.
Conversely, if you can no longer hear your guitar, the pedal is buffered.

NOTE This is why a buffered pedal must be unplugged to preserve the battery. The circuit remains on even if the effect is turned off. (Another good reason not to use batteries).

Add a Buffered Pedal, or Try a Different One

If you don't have a buffer in your Amp Input pedal chain, you must add one. (This is not necessary if you have active pickups in your guitar that require a battery. These provide a low Z buffer from your guitar, which will drive cable all the way through your pedals to your amp input.)

If you are using buffered pedals now, and still have poor tone, try another pedal as the last buffer in the pedal chain.

A buffered pedal here can be ON or OFF.
A true bypass pedal can be used, but it will have to be ON.
You will have the best chance of success with a major brand, especially Boss, which makes only buffered pedals.

Troubleshooting Noise

All players should consider maxmizing their signal-to-noise ratio. This helps with any kind of noise. See Improving Signal-to-Noise Ratio.

PedalSnake has included a Guitar Noise Manual at the PedaSnake Blog. Each type of noise is identified with a specific set of solutions.

Troubleshooting a Defect

It may not be hard to determine that you have something broken. The trick is finding out exactly what is broken, so it can be returned. PedalSnake offers a full One Year Warranty on all parts.

If a problem is found to be in cabling, it is almost always an intermittent problem (at least to begin with). Broken cables are usually due to a broken solder joint in the connector.

The best way to determine the culprit is this:

Grab a connector and hold it firmly, so that it does not move.
Wiggle the cable that attaches to that connector.
Bend it right, left, and also pull it away from the connector, and push it into the connector.
If the connector is the problem, then one of these motions should produce the problem, and be repeatable as you repeat the motion.

Once a broken connector is found, that part can be replaced. If it is a PedalSnake part that is broken, it may still be under our One Year Warranty. If so, it can be returned for a refund, or exchanged for a new part.

PedalSnake Returns
5209 Birchleaf Drive
Raleigh NC 27606

Be sure to Contact Us first. Email is best. Include a printed copy of the email with the returned part.