Very Noisy JB Wah Pedal?

[pryde]

A friend of mine bought a joe bonamassa wah pedal and promptly handed it to me saying it must be broken.

I plug it in, engage it, and hear a working wah BUT man does it have a lot of white noise/hiss when engaged. The noise changes frequency with the sweep as well. Really unusable IMO, at least for recording it would be ridiculous.

It looks very well built and has a Halo inductor in there. However, one thing I notice is the Halo is really microphonic when you lightly tap on it 

I plugged in my weener  and it really is dead quiet compared to the JB (and sounds way better IMO)

Anyone have one of these things? Is it normal? Is it broken? I would like to help him if there is something that can be done but not sure as it "works" ok. Thanks.

[jkokura]

That sounds broken. I'd get warranty replacement, cause that's unacceptable.

Jacob

[pryde]

That sounds broken. I'd get warranty replacement, cause that's unacceptable.

Jacob

I don't think warranty is an option for him unfortunately as I believe he bought it used. Messing with it again this morning and producing LOUD wooshy ocean wave sounds. Crazy as I am sure they charge a premium for these things. The noise floor is just way to much.

[jkokura]

I'd get out the audio probe and get at her then. Find the fault, then we can fix it!

How good a friend is he? Keep track of your time and bill accordingly

Jacob

[pryde]

I'd get out the audio probe and get at her then. Find the fault, then we can fix it!

How good a friend is he? Keep track of your time and bill accordingly

Jacob

He is a good friend so this one will be on the house if its fixable. I cant get a schematic for this one but I suppose its not too different from a standard Dunlop CB. this one does have an internal switchable buffer I see. (makes no difference in noise floor).

My guess at this point is the weird microphonic inductor or a too high gain transistor in there.

[jkokura]

Yeah, tapping the inductor and getting noise is certainly strange. Joe's the man to help you.

Jacob

[Govmnt_Lacky]

Is the JB relatively new? Meaning has it been released from Dunlop for a long time?

If not, then you might be able to finagle CS at Dunlop to do a free RMA.

If so, then its time to get into debug mode. Maybe Mr. Gagan will see this and provide advice/knowledge!

[pryde]

Is the JB relatively new? Meaning has it been released from Dunlop for a long time?

If not, then you might be able to finagle CS at Dunlop to do a free RMA.

If so, then its time to get into debug mode. Maybe Mr. Gagan will see this and provide advice/knowledge!

I don't know for sure how long these have been out but I think for a couple years maybe? I will see if Mr. Gagan chimes in and has any advice on this one.

My bud bought it used (I wonder why the owner sold it  ) so I don't think Dunlop would help him on it but we will see.