Cry Baby/Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2 Plus Interference Issues. Need Help.

[Ric046]

Hi, I've recently finished building my own custom pedal board, and I treated myself to a Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2 Plus to finish the job off nicely.

The problem I've been having is the PP and my Cry Baby are creating rather noisy interference between each other, and I can't figure out why or how to stop it! So I was hoping some of you kind people on Madbeans forum might be able to help me out with some good advice.

The PP is situated on the underside of the pedal board and the CB is situated directly above with about 10mm of Ash separating them. neither can be moved out of these positions as I've had to route a 10mm crater in my Ash for the PP, so it clears the ground. Also, because I'm a singer the position I stand over the pedal board is dictated by the microphone and I need my Wah in position for my right foot.

If I move the CB and PP away from each other the problem does stop. I've done tests with all my other pedals, (Some originals pedals, most Madbean pedals that I've built myself) and none of them share this same issues.

I should also mention my CB has been rewired so it has true bypass, (NB. no interference in bypass mode). I rewired it a couple of years ago when I was just starting out pedal building, so the workmanship will probably leave a lot to be desired. The CB still has the original metal plate on the bottom, this is coupled with a 5mm piece of Perspex which is screwed (with the metal plate) to the CB and has Velcro on the bottom to secure it to a pedal board.

I really scrating my head over this one. I can't see what is different with the Cry Baby compared to all my other pedals.

[muddyfox]

I never owned a wah but I'm told they are excellent antennae for all kinds of noise (emf/rf/...) and people generally put them as far from power supplies as possible. Transformers = magnetic field, no way around it. I'm guessing the inductor in the wah just isn't very fond of it.

[Ric046]

Thanks for the info Muddyfox. It's probably not what I wanted to hear but at least I can now get on with finding a solution.

I wish I knew this about the Wahs inductor whilst I was building my pedal board. I could just have easily have put my power supply on the left hand side rather than directly below the Wah on the right. Now it's built, it's so easy of an option. Another lesson learnt the hard way I guess.

I tried my Wah on the left hand side of the pedal board last night with no interference at all, so that was good. It's not too awkward either. I pushed the whole pedal board to the right so I can still access the Wah with my right foot. I could still reach all my other pedals easily, and also it was quite comfortable standing in front of the microphone because with the pedal board shifted to the right, I felt like I had much more room to stand/rock in. So this whole experience may be a blessing in disguise. With a little bit of effort patching my pedals together I can still have my Wah first in the chain and last on the board.