Members Bob Doom Posted January 5, 2013 Members Share Posted January 5, 2013 Link to sound So, over the summer, I bought a second-hand mint condition EHX Black Finger. It's been my go-to ever since. The past few days, I've heard this annoying noise coming out of it. I thought it might be a power-issue because I had my DMM plugged in. Unplugging the DMM seemed to work the first time. A few days later, it came back. I thought maybe it was some kind of interference with the small Vox combo. So I unplugged the amp, ran the BF into a mixer, tried different cables, outlets, and anything else I could think of. Nothing has stopped it. It only happens when this pedal is on and now it's been consistent. If anyone is willing to subject their ears to some horrible white noise for a few seconds, I'd really appreciate any input. I did a rough recording through the mixer. The output gain is cranked, so it's noisier, but it's that distinct clock/dial-up noise that's bugging me. The only solution I can think of is to replace the tubes, because the noise is new and the preamp gain doesn't sound as sweet... but that could be my imagination. I really hope it's nothing wrong with the actual circuit. It was a dream pedal up until now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Fender&EHX4ever Posted January 5, 2013 Members Share Posted January 5, 2013 Be careful if you open it up. There are some nasty voltages in there. Be sure to wait a while after powering it up to prod around. I'm a huge fan of the EHX tube series... all of them... but the construction is sometimes questionable. The 3pdt switch is literally squashed in among other components without any room to budge. It's possible that something came loose there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Bob Doom Posted January 5, 2013 Author Members Share Posted January 5, 2013 Eek. Yeah, I'm hoping it's nothing in the pedal. If it's a loose bit, that's one thing... but I've never heard a cycling noise like that and this is my only tube pedal. It's lot more intimidating than a bad switch in a Crybaby. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GREC Posted January 5, 2013 Members Share Posted January 5, 2013 Sounds like the clock from the Memory Man(?) So when you remove the memory man it stops? Grounding issues? Doubt its your tubes, but wiggle them in a bit in the socket. Maybe they came unseated. My English Muff'n came with a bad tube out of the box new. Didn't sound like that though.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Bob Doom Posted January 5, 2013 Author Members Share Posted January 5, 2013 The noise in the clip is the Black Finger plugged directly into the mixer with a 6" patch. There are no amps, guitars, or pedals adding to it. I'm stumped and severely bummed out about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Fender&EHX4ever Posted January 6, 2013 Members Share Posted January 6, 2013 Originally Posted by Bob Doom The noise in the clip is the Black Finger plugged directly into the mixer with a 6" patch. There are no amps, guitars, or pedals adding to it. I'm stumped and severely bummed out about it. EHX's repair services have been very reliable for me, and quick as well. Even if it's your last resort, it's a good one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Bob Doom Posted January 7, 2013 Author Members Share Posted January 7, 2013 Shameless bump. I signed up for EHX's board and asked in the help/tech Questions forum... no dice. I sent a question to the email address listed and I'm hoping to hear back. Here's my dilemma. I'm tempted to buy a cmatmods Signa-comp from PGS while I can still use the -$25 coupon. That would be a pretty fantastic compressor for $135, if there's nothing I can do for my Black Finger. If I'm lucky and it's as simple as replacing the tubes, I can obviously get away with only $30 worth of tubes. It's just a shame because the BF is such a fantastic pedal, when it was working. I'd love it have it working again but if it's going to be costly, I'd rather switch to a solid-state compressor I can run at 9v. So, anybody have any more thoughts? Has anyone heard that rhythmic noise in any other piece of gear? Is there a way to narrow it down to a probable cause? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Bob Doom Posted January 7, 2013 Author Members Share Posted January 7, 2013 Shameless bump. I signed up for EHX's board and asked in the help/tech Questions forum... no dice. I sent a question to the email address listed and I'm hoping to hear back. Here's my dilemma. I'm tempted to buy a cmatmods Signa-comp from PGS while I can still use the -$25 coupon. That would be a pretty fantastic compressor for $135, if there's nothing I can do for my Black Finger. If I'm lucky and it's as simple as replacing the tubes, I can obviously get away with only $30 worth of tubes. It's just a shame because the BF is such a fantastic pedal, when it was working. I'd love it have it working again but if it's going to be costly, I'd rather switch to a solid-state compressor I can run at 9v. So, anybody have any more thoughts? Has anyone heard that rhythmic noise in any other piece of gear? Is there a way to narrow it down to a probable cause? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members arthurdent'd Posted January 7, 2013 Members Share Posted January 7, 2013 did you try tightening the ground screw that is inbetween the tubes, under the tube protector bar? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Bob Doom Posted January 7, 2013 Author Members Share Posted January 7, 2013 Originally Posted by arthurdent'd did you try tightening the ground screw that is in between the tubes, under the tube protector bar? Unfortunately, yes. I tried moving the tubes around in the slot to make sure they were nicely seated and checked the screw. It was tight as could be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Fender&EHX4ever Posted January 7, 2013 Members Share Posted January 7, 2013 I doubt that it is the tubes. If you were going to spend $30 anyways, I think that would cover the repair and shipping costs from EHX's repair service. Knowing that it was working fine before, I'd bet that something just came loose inside and needs to be soldered back into place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Bob Doom Posted January 31, 2013 Author Members Share Posted January 31, 2013 I finally heard back from customer service. The only option I was given is mailing it to NY with a $30 money order. Sigh. What stings is that this was my concern with getting a tube compressor and I decided to take the chance. Damn luck.So, yes, I'm bumping this up again... on the off chance that maybe someone might just happen to recognize the issue. It's worth a shot... fingers crossed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Frankie_Mnemonic Posted November 15, 2013 Members Share Posted November 15, 2013 Hi, here an italian Black Finger owner.I these last two weeks I Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members V Posted November 16, 2013 Members Share Posted November 16, 2013 The noise in that original clip sounds, to me, like you're picking up noise from a nearby laptop or cell phone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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