Got my FX8 Mk 1, hooked up but massive noise

skyhighrocks

skyhighrocks

Inspired
Got the FX8 in last night and got it hooked up in 4cm and using 2 humbuster cables. As soon as I turned my amp on (Friedman BE-100), I'm getting crazy noise. I'm running through some of the presets as I haven't started creating my own yet. I'm updated to the latest firmware as well. I find I have to crank the gates up pretty high to even dial a small amount of noise out...by noise I mean hum, white noise, etc...

UPDATE: Getting a little bit of a handle on it. Adding the expander in the loop helps.
 
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That's not expected. I have a mark 1 and it is silent in all my amps. Check fx loop gain settings compared to your amp, that could be something.. but this unit is so quiet it's not even funny.

My amps for ref: Mesa Boogie Mark IV, Dual Recto.
 
brads4 said:
That's not expected. I have a mark 1 and it is silent in all my amps. Check fx loop gain settings compared to your amp, that could be something.. but this unit is so quiet it's not even funny.

My amps for ref: Mesa Boogie Mark IV, Dual Recto.
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I'm getting a handle on it. The expander is helping in a big way. Do you mean fx loop gain settings on the FX8?
 
Yes, there is +4 db and -10db. You should not need to use the noise gates to get no noise. I have a ISP Decimator G-String in the loop, to catch pre-amp noise, but I only need it for the most extreme settings. I can live without it. It's silent without gates in every other scenario.
 
brads4 said:
Yes, there is +4 db and -10db. You should not need to use the noise gates to get no noise. I have a ISP Decimator G-String in the loop, to catch pre-amp noise, but I only need it for the most extreme settings. I can live without it. It's silent without gates in every other scenario.
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I believe it's set at +4. I use the gates for the high gain stuff. The clean seems ok.
 
I went from pedals to the FX8, and my rig got a lot quieter.. If it's adding noise in any way, perhaps contact support and see if they have any ideas.

Do try what the other gentleman suggested, even if it won't work live, it may point to a power related problem, and troubleshooting can be focused on that.
 
Is it a new one or s/h? If s/h maybe do a Reset System Parameters? In utility menu - helped me when I got mine as the I/O page had some custom levels set up. Should be silent though. Is it noisy with an empty preset? I know you had the AX8 before so hopefully not suggesting stuff you already know :D
 
Vaiai said:
Is it a new one or s/h? If s/h maybe do a Reset System Parameters? In utility menu - helped me when I got mine as the I/O page had some custom levels set up. Should be silent though. Is it noisy with an empty preset? I know you had the AX8 before so hopefully not suggesting stuff you already know :D
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I'll figure this thing out. There are some differences from what I remember with the AX8. I did all the resets but that didn't tame the noise. Using presets that have the expander definitely helped the high gain on my amp.
 
marshall2553 said:
I'm using mine with a Smallbox and a Dirty Shirley and there is virtually no noise. Do you have the humbusters connected correctly?
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Isn't there only one way to connect them??
I'm able to cut down the noise alot after messing with it all day. I play with ALOT of gain so that added to it.
 
Hum and white noise are two different things. If they're both way too high, there's a good chance that you're running with way too much gain.
 
skyhighrocks said:
Isn't there only one way to connect them??
I'm able to cut down the noise alot after messing with it all day. I play with ALOT of gain so that added to it.
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Well, there's only one correct way to connect them. Blue ends go to the input and effects return of your amp, black ends go to out 1 and 2 on the FX8.

I would think the BE has the same loop as the SB and DS, not sure why you'd have so much noise unless it's an RF issue in the room, something not connected correctly or a problem with the FX8 or BE. Are you using any other pedals?
 
marshall2553 said:
Well, there's only one correct way to connect them. Blue ends go to the input and effects return of your amp, black ends go to out 1 and 2 on the FX8.

I would think the BE has the same loop as the SB and DS, not sure why you'd have so much noise unless it's an RF issue in the room, something not connected correctly or a problem with the FX8 or BE. Are you using any other pedals?
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Yes, that's how they are hooked up. I know some of the noise is the room/house I'm in. I'm a high gain player and it was really amplifying the noise. Like I said earlier, a simple gate expander after the loop pretty much fixed it.
 
skyhighrocks said:
Yes, that's how they are hooked up. I know some of the noise is the room/house I'm in. I'm a high gain player and it was really amplifying the noise. Like I said earlier, a simple gate expander after the loop pretty much fixed it.
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It still seems unusual. I play with the gain almost maxed on the BE channel and occasionally hit that with a drive pedal on the FX8 and I'm fine only using the input gate with default settings. There's some noise, but my pickups are slightly microphonic PAF style pickups.

In fact, I just fired up the Smallbox with and without the FX8 connected and I don't hear any difference in the amount of noise. There's only the slight hiss that the amp always produces even when nothing is plugged in and a little RF noise my guitar picks up that goes away when I roll my volume down.
 
marshall2553 said:
It still seems unusual. I play with the gain almost maxed on the BE channel and occasionally hit that with a drive pedal on the FX8 and I'm fine only using the input gate with default settings. There's some noise, but my pickups are slightly microphonic PAF style pickups.

In fact, I just fired up the Smallbox with and without the FX8 connected and I don't hear any difference in the amount of noise. There's only the slight hiss that the amp always produces even when nothing is plugged in and a little RF noise my guitar picks up that goes away when I roll my volume down.
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When I have the BE switched to the highest gain setting (front switch to the right), there's a very audible hiss/white noise. I've had that on every high gain amp I've ever owned and I pretty much expect it. I hardly ever use a gate in front of an amp...always in the loop to kill that noise. As I've said, using the expander has made the rig silent for the most part. I just use different settings for each scene.
 
skyhighrocks said:
When I have the BE switched to the highest gain setting (front switch to the right), there's a very audible hiss/white noise. I've had that on every high gain amp I've ever owned and I pretty much expect it. I hardly ever use a gate in front of an amp...always in the loop to kill that noise. As I've said, using the expander has made the rig silent for the most part. I just use different settings for each scene.
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Same problem I have with my MARK Vs. Adding the gate at the beginning of loop fixes it for me too..
 
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