Darkglass Cab Sim Noise

#41
For you folks complaining about hiss, why is it problematic? Is it in the recording or live use that it bothers you? If it's recording, the hiss can be taken care of within most DAW's or with noise reduction plug-ins. I realize that might be an extra cost, but the AOU is a very unique sounding pedal and as with a anything high gain, there is a give and take. If the price you paid isn't worth the pedals hiss, then get rid of it. The DG stuff has a pretty well known reputation for being unique, well made, but also sometimes noisy, unfortunately. Sorry you guys are having these issues.
 
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#42
CheloWiiU said:
Hello guys, I'm from Chile and a few months back I bought an Alpha Omega Ultra from OverdriveCL which is the official dealer here in my country.

I can tell you I'm having the same problem with my AOU. I managed to reduce the hiss using the software suite, and apparently the MD421 Impulse Response has less noise than the others, so I decided to leave that one on the pedal. I wanted to use the Nolly Mega Meld IR, but the other one has less noise. This is for the balanced XLR output.

But the issue is not only that. The hiss is persistant through the 1/4' output as well.
I noticed this because I recently got a Microtubes 900V2 head, and it's really clean, even with the B3K or Vintage distortions at high level. But when I engage my Alpha Omega Ultra pedal I get a hiss that is really annoiying, specially for recordings.
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The AOU definitely has an inherent and unfortunate high-frequency noise level that is a result of the unique EQ topology they used in that pedal (according to Doug). It bothered me slightly once I first heard it through nice headphones when actually looking for it (it was literally inaudible through my live rig and so I didn't even notice it for my first months with the pedal), but was never a real issue in recordings or live for me- in a multi-track recording I found it a complete non-issue among all the other noise, all of which is generally reduced in software anyway during production or mastering. If you are super sensitive to noise then that pedal might be the wrong DG Ultra pedal for you because of that EQ (the noise is not tied to a particular EQ band, so can't be reduced that way- though boosting your signal into the pedal does improve the signal to noise ratio).

I realize standards for noise-free operation have gone way up in the digital era, but all of these pedals are so much quieter than the drive setups I used when I was younger and I still never had a real issue with any of those in a recording environment. When I compare the IRs of the DG Ultras to the basic amp/cabsim plugins I have on Logic I frankly can't tell a real difference in noise level when they are both dialed in to sound similar and for optimal signal-to-noise.
 
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#43
willsellout said:
For you folks complaining about hiss, why is it problematic? Is it in the recording or live use that it bothers you? If it's recording, the hiss can be taken care of within most DAW's or with noise reduction plug-ins. I realize that might be an extra cost, but the AOU is a very unique sounding pedal and as with a anything high gain, there is a give and take. If the price you paid isn't worth the pedals hiss, then get rid of it. The DG stuff has a pretty well known reputation for being unique, well made, but also sometimes noisy, unfortunately. Sorry you guys are having these issues.
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I think I'm going to get rid of it, just because of the HISS, and get a regular Alpha Omega.

The thing is, I got the pedal because of the Pre-amp section, that graphic EQ is really good. I play in a modern rock band, but also I play in a church with mainly clean tones (I also play lots of chords with a 6-string bass), and the hiss becomes a problem when no one else is playing. In the rock situation, I don't care, because the bass sounds huge, and agressive, and between the distorted guitars and drums, it's no real issue.

Like someone said in the commets above, it's really strange that of all the review videos of the ultra pedals they never mention problems like these.
 
#44
Sorry it isn’t working out for you. That’s a bummer. The video reviews are a good base but I never know how much time these folks spend with the pedals and a I’ve also never seen a bad pedal review from Excane or Patrick Hunter. Every pedal is amazing with no faults. So I kind of take them and then do some searching on here and make my decision. It’s a crap shoot though even then.
 
#45
CheloWiiU said:
I think I'm going to get rid of it, just because of the HISS, and get a regular Alpha Omega.

The thing is, I got the pedal because of the Pre-amp section, that graphic EQ is really good. I play in a modern rock band, but also I play in a church with mainly clean tones (I also play lots of chords with a 6-string bass), and the hiss becomes a problem when no one else is playing. In the rock situation, I don't care, because the bass sounds huge, and agressive, and between the distorted guitars and drums, it's no real issue.

Like someone said in the commets above, it's really strange that of all the review videos of the ultra pedals they never mention problems like these.
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I traded out my AOU for a standard AO, but it was only to pick up an X-Ultra. For what it’s worth, the X-Ultra has the same EQ points as the AOU but is much quieter (plus has a great compressor, etc). Nothing else sounds like the Alpha-Omega circuit though. The combo of the AO into the X-Ultra is massive!

You can hear the hiss of the AOU in videos if you listen for it, but as in my experience it isn’t really that noticeable. Most of the videos are recorded using high-output active basses though, and since the noise seems to only be affected by the Master Volume a higher input signal means a better signal to noise ratio (when using the preamp in clean mode perhaps you could boost into the pedal to minimize the noise). Perhaps part of the reason it was never problematic for me is because I was always pushing the front of the AOU with another pedal (improving my SNR despite fairly low-output passive Rickenbackers).
 
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#46
willsellout said:
Sorry it isn’t working out for you. That’s a bummer. The video reviews are a good base but I never know how much time these folks spend with the pedals and a I’ve also never seen a bad pedal review from Excane or Patrick Hunter. Every pedal is amazing with no faults. So I kind of take them and then do some searching on here and make my decision. It’s a crap shoot though even then.
Click to expand...
CheloWiiU said:
I think I'm going to get rid of it, just because of the HISS, and get a regular Alpha Omega.

The thing is, I got the pedal because of the Pre-amp section, that graphic EQ is really good. I play in a modern rock band, but also I play in a church with mainly clean tones (I also play lots of chords with a 6-string bass), and the hiss becomes a problem when no one else is playing. In the rock situation, I don't care, because the bass sounds huge, and agressive, and between the distorted guitars and drums, it's no real issue.

Like someone said in the commets above, it's really strange that of all the review videos of the ultra pedals they never mention problems like these.
Click to expand...

Most pedal videos are "demos" moreso than "reviews". Unfortunately there is no real incentive to be honest about pedals that are sent to you to demo for free as most of the big name demo guys get them- doing so would probably mean companies would stop sending them pedals. And a store that does a demo for a pedal they're selling obviously has incentive to not tell you why not to buy it! Running through the controls with different basses is usually the extent of these videos.
 
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#50
sunbeast said:
I traded out my AOU for a standard AO, but it was only to pick up an X-Ultra. For what it’s worth, the X-Ultra has the same EQ points as the AOU but is much quieter (plus has a great compressor, etc). Nothing else sounds like the Alpha-Omega circuit though. The combo of the AO into the X-Ultra is massive!

You can hear the hiss of the AOU in videos if you listen for it, but as in my experience it isn’t really that noticeable. Most of the videos are recorded using high-output active basses though, and since the noise seems to only be affected by the Master Volume a higher input signal means a better signal to noise ratio (when using the preamp in clean mode perhaps you could boost into the pedal to minimize the noise). Perhaps part of the reason it was never problematic for me is because I was always pushing the front of the AOU with another pedal (improving my SNR despite fairly low-output passive Rickenbackers).
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With my AOU, noise stays at the same level, no matter how I set the Master. Turning up the Cabsim level and bringing down the Master doesn't work. Noise is there, unaffected, as if it was on a parallel channel where you have no volume or blend control. And it's LOUD. Louder than my sound. It's totally unusable for "serious" recordings.
 
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#51
Kijuer said:
With my AOU, noise stays at the same level, no matter how I set the Master. Turning up the Cabsim level and bringing down the Master doesn't work. Noise is there, unaffected, as if it was on a parallel channel where you have no volume or blend control. And it's LOUD. Louder than my sound. It's totally unusable for "serious" recordings.
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We are talking about the non-cab-sim noise correct? This sounds like non-normal operation noise to me. The AOU does have a high-frequency hiss, but it is definitely not as loud as you are describing (louder than your bass signal?!)! On my AOU I’m pretty sure the hiss was affected by the Master Volume, so increasing my bass signal before the pedal could effectively lower the amount of noise by allowing me to drop the Master. Unfortunately I don’t still have the pedal here to verify, but I used it for every show and recording from when it was released until the X-Ultra came out so I’d say I got pretty familiar with it!
What power supply are you using? I assume you have tried it on different power supplies?
 
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#52
No. Cab-sim noise. Like a river flowing. Unbearable. As long as the cab sim is not engaged, everything's perfect. I'll try to make a recording of it in the next days.

I power everything with a Cioks Ciokolate. Isolated outputs. I've been using that PSU for years. I've powered all kinds of pedals AND DIs with it (basically every SansAmp model, Two Notes Le Bass, Fishman, Dr. J, Moen, Behringer, Artec, EHX...), never had a problem.
SansAmps and the LeBass feature speaker sim, none had such a hiss.
 
#54
Kijuer said:
And, as I said before, adjusting Master volume will not affect the noise in any way. The noise level always stays exactly the same, whether I max out the Master level or I "mute" It. But even when Master is maxed, noise is louder than my signal.

No Cab SIM -> perfect silence, though.
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Ah OK- I thought we were still talking about the other noise from the AOU. That still is definitely not normal, and warrants a message to Darkglass Customer Service. When I raised the internal Gain in the DG Suite for the sim mine it decreased the noise dramatically (as I mentioned, pretty much on par with the brighter amp emulation plugins I used previously in Logic). Is this through headphones or only DI? I assume you have tried it through different DI connections to eliminate some outside ground loop issues? Tried different XLR cables, etc?
 
#55
sunbeast said:
Ah OK- I thought we were still talking about the other noise from the AOU. That still is definitely not normal, and warrants a message to Darkglass Customer Service. When I raised the internal Gain in the DG Suite for the sim mine it decreased the noise dramatically (as I mentioned, pretty much on par with the brighter amp emulation plugins I used previously in Logic). Is this through headphones or only DI? I assume you have tried it through different DI connections to eliminate some outside ground loop issues? Tried different XLR cables, etc?
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Yep. Different connections, different cables...both the XLR out and the headphone out suffer from this massive wall of noise. The only thing I haven't tried yet is third-party IRs, but I don't think it's going to help. I suppose the cause is in the hardware, not the software. I guess I'm gonna have to go cabsim-less with this one...
 
#56
Kijuer said:
Yep. Different connections, different cables...both the XLR out and the headphone out suffer from this massive wall of noise. The only thing I haven't tried yet is third-party IRs, but I don't think it's going to help. I suppose the cause is in the hardware, not the software. I guess I'm gonna have to go cabsim-less with this one...
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Seriously if the noise is louder than your signal just email Darkglass customer service and get it taken care of- that is not normal operation noise
 
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#57
Kijuer said:
And, as I said before, adjusting Master volume will not affect the noise in any way. The noise level always stays exactly the same, whether I max out the Master level or I "mute" It. But even when Master is maxed, noise is louder than my signal.

No Cab SIM -> perfect silence, though.
Click to expand...

That's the same problem I have with my AO-Ultra!
That's why I'm going to change it for a regular Alpha Omega
 
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#58
So for live use I leave the cab sim off since I'm driving a power amp into a bass cabinet. For jamming at home I have the cab sim on. However for recording, I would leave the cab sim off and use my Torpedo Live's IR loader, or the Wall of Sound plugin. Is there any way to get the IR's that come with the pedal in wav files so I can use them in my own IR loader? To me, this would be the only way to actually get the sound out of this pedal that was promised to me watching all of those demo sales videos on youtube without that incredibly annoying hiss.
 
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