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Post subject: Deluxe Vintage Modified amp and Pedals Not Working
Posted: Mon Jun 09, 2014 7:30 am
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Good morning! I've searched the forums and found a similar post, but I could use more help. I just got a pedal board, and am unable to use my new pedals with the Deluxe VM amp. When I use them in conjunction with the amps distortion, the amp's volume drops significantly, and the distortion completely cuts out. If I play extremely hard and loud, the distortion will kick in for less than 1 second. It sounds scratchy and terrible, and immediately returns to a low-volume clean sound.

I'm using the following pedals (in order of connection)

[guitar in]
Boss Pedal Tuner, Boss DD-6 (delay), Boss CS-3 (compression/sustainer)
[out to amp front input]

Similar post here indicating pedals shouldn't have any affect on VM:
http://forums.fender.com/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=71214

Clean channel seems to be OK with the pedals, but I haven't tested that thoroughly. I really need to be able to use the amp's distortion with these pedals. Any help much appreciated!


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Post subject: Re: Deluxe Vintage Modified amp and Pedals Not Working
Posted: Fri Jun 13, 2014 2:24 am
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You might try isolating the issue by trying the pedals one at a time to determine which one(s) may be responsible. The tuner is a passive device so I'm guessing it's not that one.

Arjay

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"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY


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Post subject: Re: Deluxe Vintage Modified amp and Pedals Not Working
Posted: Fri Jun 13, 2014 5:24 am
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Thanks for the reply. The issue is that both pedals work great with the clean channel. It only seems to be when I activate the distortion that things get crazy.

I did isolate both pedals using the clean, and both work fine individually and seem to function normally (Boss CS-3 compressor, Boss DD-6 digital delay).

I'm not sure where the on-board effects fit into the effects flow... I'm wondering if it has something to do with that. I'll be doing more playing this weekend. Any other ideas are appreciated.


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Post subject: Re: Deluxe Vintage Modified amp and Pedals Not Working
Posted: Fri Jun 13, 2014 7:13 am
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Here's the schematic for your amp......

http://support.fender.com/schematics/gu ... ematic.pdf

According to the owner's manual, the amp has an effects loop -- you might try connecting your compressor and delay pedals there.

Arjay

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"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY


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Post subject: Re: Deluxe Vintage Modified amp and Pedals Not Working
Posted: Fri Jun 13, 2014 8:34 am
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That's a good idea. I'll see if using the effects loop has any change over using the amp's front input.

That means I'll have to buy some more cables. Why does the solution always involve more cables?

:)


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Post subject: Re: Deluxe Vintage Modified amp and Pedals Not Working
Posted: Fri Jun 13, 2014 2:44 pm
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greigner wrote:
That means I'll have to buy some more cables. Why does the solution always involve more cables?


It comes with the territory, Hoss.

:mrgreen:

Best of luck and report back on any improvements.

8)

Arjay

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"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY


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Post subject: Re: Deluxe Vintage Modified amp and Pedals Not Working
Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2014 9:46 pm
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greigner wrote:
Good morning! I've searched the forums and found a similar post, but I could use more help. I just got a pedal board, and am unable to use my new pedals with the Deluxe VM amp. When I use them in conjunction with the amps distortion, the amp's volume drops significantly, and the distortion completely cuts out. If I play extremely hard and loud, the distortion will kick in for less than 1 second. It sounds scratchy and terrible, and immediately returns to a low-volume clean sound.

I'm using the following pedals (in order of connection)

[guitar in]
Boss Pedal Tuner, Boss DD-6 (delay), Boss CS-3 (compression/sustainer)
[out to amp front input]

Similar post here indicating pedals shouldn't have any affect on VM:
http://forums.fender.com/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=71214

Clean channel seems to be OK with the pedals, but I haven't tested that thoroughly. I really need to be able to use the amp's distortion with these pedals. Any help much appreciated!


You need to get rid of the tuner pedal. Unless you have a TRUE bypass pedal, all that thing does is suck your tone, and that's not a good thing.

If you're in a high gain channel and using pedals and when the pedal is switched on and the distortion seems gone, and volume drops, etc... it's because you are over driving the input. Remember, the pre gain of the high gain channel is there to drive up the signal to the power section. If you over drive that signal then the channel will compress badly, so much so that distortion sounds are gone and the volume drops.

You could try turning the pedals output level down, all the way down, and slowly raise it to where you're getting the pedals effect without it's output over driving the input.

Since you have an effect loop then use it for non signal gain pedals like a delay, reverb, chorus. Only use gain pedals on the front end like boost pedals, distortion, or even a wah. And when you do use the effects loop, also figure out the out and in levels. You need unity gain settings, which means you are not feeding the pedals too hot of signal in to them, and you are not feeding too hot of signal back into the loop.
Some people use a loop to create a boost for solo's, but only do that if you first know how to set the in/out levels.

Try one pedal at a time and get that level right, then add the next pedal and go from there.
Again, take the tuner pedal out completely unless it is TRUE bypass pedals.
True bypass pedals are usually not low cost as the relay switching adds to the pedals complexity and cost. A true bypass circuit routes the guitar signal around the pedals electronics so that they don't suck or color the tone when they are turned off.

Good luck, and post what happens. :)


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Post subject: Re: Deluxe Vintage Modified amp and Pedals Not Working
Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2014 7:22 am
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Thanks so much for the feedback Rverb and Retro! You helped immensely. I'd love to have a true bypass tuner pedal, but I just can't swing it right now after paying to set up this pedal board I just put together. However, I did play around with the settings on my compression/sustain pedal and the pedal order, and that seems to have helped.

I'm still not using the effects loop, but I will try that as soon as I can afford more cables. So, to help anyone else, here's my current setup with the Fender Deluxe Vintage Modified combo amp:

Guitar --> Boss Tuner --> Boss CS-3 --> Boss DD-6 --> Front Input of Amp

I basically kept the sustain and compression settings well below maximum on the CS-3 pedal, as well as put it BEFORE the other effects. Those 2 things seem to have helped.

I will be adding my Digitech Whammy into the mix soon. Thanks again guys.


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