Noise issue with a true bypass A/B loop switcher

[John Matrix]

I use a Saturnworks A/B looper pedal (two loops in series, a switch to go back and forth between them, a true bypass master bypass switch) to switch between two different distortions. I am noticing some weird cross channel noise. If I am on loop A I hear a high pitched buzz being caused by the pedal in loop B. The pedal in loop B (The Elements) is running with the volume at full blast. If I turn that pedal off or turn it down the buzz goes away.

Any suggestions on how to get rid of this? Any similar products to the Saturnworks that might not have this issue? I have a noise gate that can take care of it but I don’t want to use it because it does some other shit I don’t like. Turning The Elements down is not an option.

[John]

Are they on a daisy chain?

[Blackened Soul]

What is you chain?
What power are you using for each pedal?
What kind of cables are you using?

Gain pedals are notorious for picking up extra signal noise like: ground hum, digital power supply radiation, radio signals and bad vibes.
Trubypass loopers tie everting together and will pass along issues.. most common fixes are using a power supply with isolated outputs and cables with molded ends OR taping/shrink wrapping you cable plugs, you can test this stuff by seeing if you wires are touching each other and moving them apart to see if the sound goes away, some times though it is the jack touching the trubypass looper housing.. now loopers… even with all that I have to run it’s power supply separate from the whole board sometimes… good luck

[D.o.S.]

Yeah power supply would be the first thing I'd check. But also the elements on full blast is not the quietest pedal out there if you have the treble on anything other than 0.

Since the elements is non-negotiable (very good) I'd run through BS's list.

[John Matrix]

What is you chain?
What power are you using for each pedal?
What kind of cables are you using?

Gain pedals are notorious for picking up extra signal noise like: ground hum, digital power supply radiation, radio signals and bad vibes.
Trubypass loopers tie everting together and will pass along issues.. most common fixes are using a power supply with isolated outputs and cables with molded ends OR taping/shrink wrapping you cable plugs, you can test this stuff by seeing if you wires are touching each other and moving them apart to see if the sound goes away, some times though it is the jack touching the trubypass looper housing.. now loopers… even with all that I have to run it’s power supply separate from the whole board sometimes… good luck

I use a Voodoo Lab pedal power.
Each gain pedal is on its own tap...but come to think of it...the looper itself (I think the only thing being powered is the LED's) is being run off the tap on my tuner.
The cables are a mix of cheapo patch cables...they do have molded ends though.

I'll try pushing things around a bit and see if that changes anything. I did notice another specific quirk to my problem. The Elements has three different clipping modes. If I am on the "no diode" mode then the noise goes away.

[John]

Each gain pedal is on its own tap...but come to think of it...the looper itself (I think the only thing being powered is the LED's) is being run off the tap on my tuner.

Yoooo. this has given me noise problems in the past. I find some digital pedals (pitch shifter, reverb) run fine off my Pitchblack, but not other analog stuff, and I doubt there's any filtering or buffer in the Saturnworks.

[John Matrix]

Each gain pedal is on its own tap...but come to think of it...the looper itself (I think the only thing being powered is the LED's) is being run off the tap on my tuner.

Yoooo. this has given me noise problems in the past. I find some digital pedals (pitch shifter, reverb) run fine off my Pitchblack, but not other analog stuff, and I doubt there's any filtering or buffer in the Saturnworks.

I just tried changing the power to the switcher and it didn't change it. I think I'll take a look at the guts of the switcher next.

[goroth]

I reckon it's parasitic noise from the insane gain levels. I've used a lot of loopers, buffered, non-buffered, fancy digital switchy shit, just straight up wire shit. And with bananas volume and gain this can happen with any of them.

Check that the bypass is also dumping the input to ground and not just the output.
If it already is then consider using shielded wires at least for the input and output.