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Losing volume through pedals


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I recently ditched my budget Stagg patch leads and got some George L's. I bought a batch with my housemate and when he rewired and re-ordered his pedals he found that everything was more responsive and he was also getting much more volume and tone in his signal.

This did not happen for me..

I've attached an image below but here is my chain as it stands, I took it on a gig last night and was fine, the only thing that has changed is the cables and the pog being before the compressor..

Bass > Boss TU > Tone Hammer > Envelope > Octave > Octave > Compressor > Phaser > Reverb > Amp (Aguilar TH500 w/DB112 x2)

All patch leads are George L's and two Fender leads I have always used previous and never suffered from low volume. When I plugged directly into the amp I had the regular volume again so it isn't an issue with my bass or instrument leads. 

Is there an issue with the order? I understand you will always lose volume with pedals but it seems strange that I'm losing more with higher quality cables?

Thanks to anyone who can help!

Jack

pedalboard.jpg

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1 hour ago, JuliusGroove said:

Bass > Boss TU > Tone Hammer > Envelope > Octave > Octave > Compressor > Phaser > Reverb > Amp (Aguilar TH500 w/DB112 x2)

I understand you will always lose volume with pedals but it seems strange that I'm losing more with higher quality cables?

I do not understand that you should lose volume with pedals. Usually cables have issues more than pedals, but I suggest you try this:

Take a looper (or CD or anything that keeps its output steady). Put that running to the first input of the pedal set and check the output from each pedal, one after another until you find the damper. You may try on/off with each while the looper keeps its output steady. 

It should be easy to make the volume comparison with on/off switch with each unit through the line. If some unit has a lower output and it has gain or volume or similar, adjust it accordingly.

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It could be one bad cable, it does happen. - Process of elimination for that one. Get one of your Stagg cables and go along the line swapping your new ones one at a time. If you get to the end of the line with the same issue it ain't the cables.

It could be a dodgy contact in a pedal that was fine until you fitted new cable (jack sizes do vary, I have a Fender cable that always causes crackling because the jack is a tiny bit smaller).

It could be the power draw of adding one more pedal. (I assume you're using a power supply) - check the current draw of each pedal against the output of your power supply. Some only draw power when activated (True bypass), Some draw power even when they are off (Buffered).

It could be the POG being before the compressor is boosting the signal enough to kick in the compressor (depending on how it is set), causing it to reduce the volume...

 

 

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