Weird RV-3 problem

George Kimery · From: Limestone, TN, USA

I am getting a ghost like distortion when I play strings 3 and 5 at the 13th fret. Also, 4 and 5 at the same fret. A very slight amount at a few other places, but the 13th fret is by far the worst. I am coming out of the guitar into a Hilton pedal, then the RV-3. I tried directly from the guitar to the amp, no distortion. I tried using a Goodrich 120 pedal instead of the Hilton, still had the distortion. I am using the AC adapter with the RV-3. If I get the RV-3 out of the loop, then there is no distortion. The thing that baffles me is why only at the 13th fret and only on certain strings. I wonder if anybody else with an RV-3 has had this problem.

Bob Hamilton · From: California Central Coast

George, I had this problem with my RV-3, chased it for a long time, and discovered that the battery within the unit was weak. I know, it doesn't make sense, since you're operating on the power supply, but I was out of other ideas. Changed the battery and whamo, problem solved. It's worth a try.. Bob

George Kimery · From: Limestone, TN, USA

Bob, I think you have the solution. I only had a new reg. 9v. battery, not alkaline. I checked it and it had about 9.5 volts. Upon installing it, most of the distortion was gone. You have to really listen close now and can't hear it at all when you are playing a song. From past experience, I know some things are designed for only alkaline batteries. I will pick one up and give it a shot, but right now, I can certainly live with the tiny little bit of distortion I am getting. I would never have suspected the battery for one simple reason: Most manufactures ship their product, either without a battery, or one is included that you have to install yourself. They don't want the possibility of battery leakage or the thing being turned on accidently in shipping and just running the battery down. Well, I have never used this RV-3 with anything except the AC adapter. Therefore, I was assuming that there was not a battery in it because I had not installed one. I also found out the hard way that the battery installs from the top of the pedal, not the bottom as every other stomp box I have had does. This is just another prime example of how valuable the forum is. I would hate to be without it. If it takes money to keep it going, I am in. This information right here would be worth a year's subscription.

Bob Hamilton · From: California Central Coast

Glad it worked for you George. I remember it drove me crazy for a couple of weeks.

George Kimery · From: Limestone, TN, USA

The plot thickens! I had a forum member suggest that I just remove the battery completely since I am using the AC adapter. Well, I did. The reverb function worked fine, but the delay function would not work at all. So, does this mean that the battery drives the delay part of the pedal or is my RV-3 just weird?

Pete Burak · From: Portland, OR USA

FWIW, I have two RV-3 units (one in my steel seat for gigs, and one at home), and have never had the problems you mention with either unit in about 5 years of use.
I have the wall-warts that Boss reccomends (Boss makes a few types, so be sure you are using the right one).
I rarely use a battery or have a battery in the unit.
If possible, I would take that one back and/or exchange it.
Let us know how it works out!
~pb

George Kimery · From: Limestone, TN, USA

Pete, like you, I have had this unit for several years, so it is out of warranty. Taking it back and exchanging it is not an option. The way it is now, is fine. There is no way I can hear anything wrong when I am playing, only if I really listen close and play just the right string combinations at the 13th fret. Sounds like there is something wrong with it, probably in the delay part, but as long as it is perfoming as well as it is now after putting in a new battery, no problem.Thanks for you help just the same. PS: I am using the correct AC adapter as recommended by Boss.

[This message was edited by George Kimery on 31 May 2004 at 12:49 PM.]

rpetersen · From: Iowa

George - I remove the battery because of the same thing you are finding while using the wall wart - But mine works with reverb and Delay just fine with out the battery. A bad battery will effect them even using the wall wart!!

------------------
Ron Petersen &
The Keep'n Tyme Band
Mullen Universal 12 - 1975 Session 400

Bob Hamilton · From: California Central Coast

Yeah, that's what I thought was so weird, In my mind, the battery should be disconnected automatically when the power supply is plugged in, but as I mentioned, I was ready to try anything. The clue for me was that the unit started sounding very much like it did when the battery was getting weak, before I started using the wall-wart.

George Kimery · From: Limestone, TN, USA

DUH....here we go again. I just noticed that somehow, the #7 setting had got moved to #8. When I switched it back to #7, the delay was back and without any battery installed at all. Still has a little very faint fuzzy sound at the 13th fret. I forgot to mention earlier, the unwanted sound follows the note after you pick it, not while you pick it. Like I said, it's OK for now and I can't hear it when I am playing a song, so to heck with it. Not worth pursuing as far as sending it in for repairs. If it gets worse, then yes. Thanks to everybody for your responses.

Pete Burak · From: Portland, OR USA

Do you have a Boss TU-12 tuner in the chain?
That is one thing that will cause the faint distortion following the picked note that you describe.

Also, having that selector knob "between" numbers can cause an unexpected reverb/delay mix.

[This message was edited by Pete Burak on 31 May 2004 at 02:22 PM.]

George Kimery · From: Limestone, TN, USA

Thanks Pete for asking, but although I do have a TU-12 tuner, I do not have it in line. I am curious to see what happens when I try the RV-3 at someplace besides my house. Could be some electical or interference problem that only occurs in my house.It is beginning to look like there is a little something wrong with the RV-3.

Rick Johnson · From: Wheelwright, Ky USA

I noticed a similar problem once and
I found that my Preamp gain setting was
louder than the Power Amp gain, that
was my problem all along. Just keep
the Power Amp a little higher than
the Preamp gain.
Could this be your problem too?

------------------
Rick Johnson

George Kimery · From: Limestone, TN, USA

Rick, good thought, but I know to always keep my pre-gain lower than my post gain. My pre gain is on 5 and my post gain is on 8. Thanks for the suggestion though, you never know until you ask, as they say.

Lee Baucum · From: McAllen, Texas (Extreme South) The Final Frontier

I don't have a Hilton volume pedal; however, I do use the Hilton Digital Sustain. I have found that when I use "stomp box" f/x units, quite often there will be a slight bit of edge or distortion if I put the unit between the volume pedal and the amp. I believe this is because of the gain boost provided by the Hilton unit. Once I move the f/x units into the f/x loop of my amp, the problem goes away. I don't have this problem with rack-mount units, because they usually have input gain controls on them.

------------------
Lee, from South Texas
Down On The Rio Grande

George Kimery · From: Limestone, TN, USA

Lee, an excellent suggestion. I had already tried backing down the output of the Hilton with the control on the bottom of it. This did not help and I didn't like the feel of the pedal with the volume down. I did try your suggestion and put it in the effects loop on the amp. Didn't help any. I tried my Goodrich 120 pedal again, just to be sure. Didn't help any. The reason I posted this as "weird", I am only getting a little distortion on the 13th fret when I play strings 3 and 5 or 4 and 6 in the no pedals position. I have tried it on my Session 500 and my Evans amps, the result is the same, so I don't think it is an amp problem. If I unhook the RV-3, problem goes away. I just bought all George L cords, thinking that the old cords I had might be the problem. It does the same thing with the George L's. I think everything has been ruled out except a weird problem with the RV-3 itself. It certainly isn't noticable enough to get repaired and although F is probably my favorite key to play in, it is totally unnoticable while playing a song, so I am not going to run if I am not being chased. Just forget about it and have it fixed if an when it gets worse.

John Bechtel · From: Nashville, Tennessee, R.I.P.

George;
Back the Pre-Gain off to (3) or (4) at the most if you're using a Nashville 1000 and Pre-Gain on (5) for other Peavey Steel-Amps. such as the 400 Series. And then open that sucker up on the Master Volume (5) & ( Cool

is still too close for a clean-sound. You need the head-room! Trust me this time!

------------------
“Big John” Bechtel
Franklin PSG D–10 (9 & Cool

Fender ’49–’50 T–8 Custom
Fender ’65 Reissue Twin-Reverb Custom™ 15”
click here
click here

George Kimery · From: Limestone, TN, USA

Good thinking, John, but no cigar. I tried what you said and backed the pre gain down to 3 and tried the post gain at 8, 9, and 10. I am currently hooked into a Session 500 but I also have an Evans FET 500 which I also play. It does the same thing on the Evans, regardless of how things are set. I would love to have another RV-3 just to compare to see if all RV-3's act that way on my rig. I just know if I take the RV-3 away, everything is fine. And remember, the problem is only at the 13th fret when strings 3 & 5 and 4 & 6, are played together with no pedals. Everything is fine if you just play any of these strings as a single note.

Lee Baucum · From: McAllen, Texas (Extreme South) The Final Frontier

Strings 3 and 5, no pedals, 13 fret. Those notes would be A and C. What happens if you play those same two notes on different strings at different positions? Maybe those notes don't "agree" with your Boss unit. I would think that if there was a problem with the Boss unit, you would get the distortion no matter which strings were plucked to produce the A and C. Try tuning those strings down a half step and see if the distortion happens at the 14th fret. I was going to suggest changing the strings, but you said the problem goes away once you take the Boss unit out of the chain.

I've just about concluded that what you have is technically referred to as a "weird RV-3 problem".

------------------
Lee, from South Texas
Down On The Rio Grande

Forum Index > Electronics		Next oldest topic :: Next newest topic