After hours of wiring my rack, Houston We Have A Problem

[martinmxr]

Alright so I was done wiring the pedals to my rack
4ebeaa71-c611-43e3-ba15-23564197d537 by martinmxr, on Flickr

and then decided to taste the sound. Then I noticed that I was not getting any guitar signal from my rack and amp.

I have everything wired down and powered up.
_20150407_224403 by martinmxr, on Flickr

So since I wasn't getting any signal, I looked at the tuner [wich is on loop 1] and it was getting signal but nothing after loop 1. So I did a few tests.

here is how my noise gate is plugged in... My final output is my MXR noise Clamp that goes to the amp... the "out" of loop 1 goes the input of the MXR NC, and the "in" of loop 2 goes MXR NC send... my Rat 2 is on loop 2 S/R and from there to loop 3 which has my MXR S badass. from there loop 4 has my tube Sc and the output of loop 4 goes to my return of my MXR NC. and the out of the Noise gate goes to the amp.

Now, Ill let y'all know, I've been having occasional issues with the MXR NC from a long time where the input of it has some faulty contact inside and makes crazy loud noise, but that only happens if I move the input a lot. I been using this same pedal for over a year so I know how to tame it.

So at first I thought it was the noise gate, since I had issues with it in the past, so I unplug it from the switcher, so loop 4 out goes to my amp and on from loop 1 out goes to loop 2 in and the Rat 2 is on the S/R.

After trying this method I do get sound out of the rack and amp!! But then from my controller I press on loop 2 [Rat 2] and I get no sound!! But from loop 3 and 4 [MXR and Tube Screamer] I do get sound, and even if i turn all the loops off, i get sound [notice with the noise gate plugged into the switch I was not getting ANY SOUND at all even with everything turned off]

So its weird my loop 2 was not giving me any sound... Also I have George L's, which I tested every patch cable that i made with my tuner to see if it was working, ALL of the patches seems to work fine after I double checked.

So to sum up, when I have the noise gate plugged in, I get no signal flow, no sound no matter what is on or not. When I unplug the noise gate and use loop 4 as the output I only get loop 3 and 4 to work but loop 2 just goes off [even though the Rat 2 is plugged in]

My theory is: The noise gate is the problem with the way is wired up with Loop 1 out to the input of the noise gate and the loop 2 in goes to the send of the noise gate... And for some stupid reason the rat 2 stops the signal flow.

if anyone is kind enough to help me thought this, please any comment or suggestion will be helpful!

Here are some more shots so you guys can have a visual idea.

ff5493a4-59a6-4ee0-85f7-59596255837e by martinmxr, on Flickr

4e10d70e-78ff-456b-bd4b-2044d7a669e6 by martinmxr, on Flickr

[nyteowl]

I can't open any of your pictures, but from what I read there doesn't appear to be anything wrong with the original signal routing you described. Just to clarify, though, is this the signal routing you started out with?

Loop 1
In=guitar signal
Send/Return=tuner
Out= Noise Clamp In

Loop 2
In=Noise Clamp Send
Send/Return=Rat
Out=Loop 3 In

Loop 3
Send/Return=MXR Badass
Out=Loop 4 In

Loop 4
Send/Return=Tube Screamer
Out=Noise Clamp Return

Noise Clamp Out=Amp input

Now if that's the way everything was wired it should have worked fine, unless there was something physically wrong, like bad cables, bad jacks, or broken gear. You did say, with the Noise Clamp removed, you still didn't get any sound when you activated Loop 2 via your GCPro, so there is obviously a problem there. More than likely you have one - or more - bad cables, or perhaps the Rat itself may not be working.

Make sure the Rat works on its own by connecting your guitar directly to the Rat Input and connecting the Output directly to your amp. Then I'd suggest re-testing all of your cables for continuity using either a multimeter or a cable tester, and definitely get that jack fixed on your Noise Clamp before trying again.

[martinmxr]

Thanks for the fast assistance Bro, and the route is correct just that there is return for the tuner

Loop 1
In=guitar signal
rear Guitar out=loop 1 in
Send=tuner in
Out= Noise Clamp In

Loop 2
In=Noise Clamp Send
Send/Return=Rat
Out=Loop 3 In

Loop 3
Send/Return=MXR Badass
Out=Loop 4 In

Loop 4
Send/Return=Tube Screamer
Out=Noise Clamp Return

Noise Clamp Out=Amp input

The RAt 2 works very well by itself. None of my pedals have any issues besides the noise gate, which I know how to fix, and until I get some money, I won't be able to fix it, but it still does it's job 100%. As long as am not messing with the input and output the it, it won't make an noises or drop the output signal. I tested the cables with the tuner, and for each cable I saw it was sending signal [the tuner was moving back and forth between A and B]

Now what has me thinking is that it could be one of the patch cables, I need to find a multimeter or a cable tester for sure. like I said before, when I bypass the noise gate and make loop 4 out go straight to the amp, loop 3 and 4 work fine. but not loop 2 [I made sure loop 1 out went straight to loop 2 in

Also when I unplug the patch cables from the noise gate [send, return, in and out] I hear pop sounds come out of the amp, which means the cables on the noise gate work [right..?]

Here are the links for the pictures.

https://flic.kr/p/r4VbdK
https://flic.kr/p/r5pFyJ
https://flic.kr/p/r5pFyU
https://flic.kr/p/s2hifh

[JohnClark]

Step 1 is to check the cables! ...and so is step 2


That the cables make the amp pop when you plug or unplug them isn't a good test that they are correctly working.
Here is what I would do to test.
1. Take the cable that normally runs from the output of the Noise Clamp to the input of your amp and connect it to the Out of Loop 1, so the Out of Loop 1 is going to the input of your amp. (You still have the guitar going to Guitar In and Guitar Out going to Loop 1 In)
2. Test that there is guitar signal going to your amp.
3. If this works, remove the cable between Guitar Out and Loop 1 In and replace it with one of the other cables you are using in the rig.
4. Test that there is guitar signal going to your amp.
5. Keep repeating steps 3 and 4 until you run out of cables to test.

Let us know what you find!

[martinmxr]

Hey fellas! I ended up testing each cable and I had 3 bad cables, i just fixed them by removing the input and turning it and that's it. Now my rack has sound.

Now I have another issue. I just got my Tc G-force and I hooked it up to loop 5 (High-Z input Left [mono]) to send and (Balanced output Left [mono]) to return of the loop 5.
And plugging my FX loop send to in and return to out of loop 5.

And I have no effect sound what's so ever. The preamp pedals sound good, but nothing fxs wise.

I have programmed the GCP to the G force and I even set the tap tempo to IA 8 and cho, delay and rev to IA 5, 6, 7. And I see the changes on the G force. and Also my volume pedal shows live midi signal on both the GCX and G force (I see the LEDs blinking when I move the pedal)... So Midi wise the GCP, GCX and G force are communicating with each others.

But there aren't any sound coming out (effects wise, preamp pedals are ok)

One more note... I just got it today, and I've noticed the G force turns on and off by itself sometimes. Like, i be changing presets or navigating through the settings and it resets on and off. and The green LED screen dims out and its hard to see the screen and I need to turn my rack on and off and with some tries the LED green screen goes back to normal.

Any solution boys?

Thank you so much for all the help so far!

[JohnClark]

Do you hear the effects when the G-Force is connected directly to the amplifier Effects Loop?

[martinmxr]

I hear nothing when I plug it straight up to the amp fx loop. Actually when I unplug the return cable, my sound comes back on and when I plug it back to the fx (from the G force) it goes out.

I tried my TC electronic Trinity t2 through the FX loop and it work perfectly. No sound lost or anything.

Now... Here's another note

I plugged my T2 to the FX loop and to the GCX loop 5 and turned loop 5 on on my GCP and the T2 works fine....Now, I tried with the G force and when I turn loop 5 on it cuts the output off.... Makes no sense to me.


So the G force is plugged to loop 5, i turn loop 5 on and nothing....When I turn loop 5 off my sound comes back. When i try my T2 it works fine. IDK what is wrong with te G force,

Also, when i try to remove the return able from the amp fx loop, the sound comes back.

Also, when I try to remove the send cable from the G force i hear the normal static sound when you unplug your guitar with the amp on, but when I try the return cable, nothing.

Another thing, when i turn loop 5 on, I see the G force receiving my guitar input when I strum the guitar.. I see the meter go up and down. But no output comes out. Its like the G force takes the input for its self.

Am sorry am all over the place, I am just annoyed, spent all my money and now I fee like I lost it all.

Thank you very much for the help guys

[JohnClark]

Well, given the other problems you were describing with the G-Force I figured it would be best to just jump to checking if it is even passing signal. Since you mentioned that it's power was cutting out randomly, and now you can't even get it to pass signal, it sounds like your G-force does have a problem. I'm going to assume that this goes beyond a setup error but either way you may want to take it up with TC.
As you can see when swapping the G-Force out for another device, you have the connections for GCX Loop 5 correct... Get your G-Force problem resolved and you should be off and running.

Let us know how it goes!

[nyteowl]

Maybe I missed it, but did you try testing your G-Force in front of the amp?

Guitar to Left Mono Input on the G-Force, G-Force Left Mono Output to Amp Guitar Input.

If you're still not getting any sound, and you're positive you're using good cables, then I'd say you're definitely looking at a G-Force issue.

[martinmxr]

nyteowl I did tried it. I did could hear the effects by placing it in front of the amp, but I had to turn the input and output of the G force all the way and my amp master volume very loud for me to hear something. And a lot of hizz noises. And the power still cuts off and on.

I contacted TC support and I need to decide whether to return the device to the person who sold it to me, or ship to one of the TC electronic technicians.

If I ship it back to the seller, I'll end up paying for some shipping money that I don't have, and the seller lives in Canada, so the shipping is a bit more expensive. I am considering on getting it fixed... What do you guys think is cheaper?

And If i keep a defective unit that I need to pair for the repair, what rating should I give the seller? and should the seller give me some kind of refund?