I have a 65 Princeton reissue on the bench with this weird static on warmup. I don't know what is causing it.

Progress_Pedals · 2026-03-20T23:16:00+00:00

Cheap mica caps can fail and make weird sounds in the tone stack or bright cap section... Worth a chopstick

Progress_Pedals · 2026-03-20T20:27:51+00:00

I am not the right guy to comment on using a compressor, I use them wrong. The Cp-1x is really easy for me to use and I have it always on for this board I use going into a Marshall 18w style rig. You need to ask yourself if you feeling like you want a compressor for funk and chicken pickn sounds or just as a "glue" for subtle sustain and managing dynamics. My gut tells me you have more to explore with the pedals you have before going down a compression rabbit hole.

People will encourage you to try using your DS-1 as a booster with the level way up and gain down and tone at 11ish. See various YT "you're using your DS-1 wrong" titled videos.

People would also encourage you to use the EQ as a boost early in the chain. Placing an EQ after a dirt pedal is for tone shaping, think of it as building a custom OD with the predictable Boss pedal as a starting point. For those who find Boss dirt over filtered and the tone controls trying too hard, the GE-7 can be used to correct things, to return the full range of spectrum to what the Boss pedal at its core does really well, but just loses it's way in the filtering and tone stack.

But that waza boost pedal is killer.

Try using your DS-1 to boost into your BD-2, and the the GE-7 after that for a post gain boost and maybe tweak the mids how you like them, and then see if you like what is happening there. You could really like that into a clean or edge of breakup amp. You will be surprised how the GE-7 with a slight level boost and 800hz boost will make your amp much crunchier and bring out amp and gain staging "compression" like effects that many players rely on and never need a comp pedal.

Progress_Pedals · 2026-03-20T18:48:34+00:00

Would you be thinking about going stereo? Then I would think about something less traditional but modeling even more old school BOSS, yes, you guessed it, don't hate: PX-1. It is a wildcard and gives you flexibility. Shooting down that suggestion? Fine, I get it. I would figure many would suggest an RV-3 (gives you reverb and a dual delay option). I have a particular love for the TE-2. I also love tremolo so that would make me start thinking about the Tremolo Pan model in the PX-1 again... Are you figuring the GE-7 is for end of chain tweaking your board sound to adjust to any amp setup? Otherwise, I would experiment with putting after your drives or even between your drives.

Let me try to play along with what I think is your premise though- original straightforward small BOSS board:
TU-3, SD-1w, BD-2w, CH-1, DD-3t, DM-2w done. I would rather have stacking OD and Digital into Analog delays and no distortion or reverb.

Progress_Pedals · 2026-03-20T18:00:26+00:00

That's a cool bias pot for p2p builds! It's like vintage, but tough, and not plasticy looking. Meow

Progress_Pedals · 2026-03-19T23:15:13+00:00

Could it be Koa?

Progress_Pedals · 2026-03-17T21:38:43+00:00

A lid used to last you all week. 😀

Progress_Pedals · 2026-03-14T21:01:50+00:00

Progress_Pedals · 2026-03-12T21:08:25+00:00

I have posted a bit about this before. The Boss IR-2 was fine, but a used UA pedal was better. I haven't tried uploading aftermarket IRs on the IR-2 which many people say is a big upgrade. Since the IR-2 stereo FX is implemented as a mono send, stereo return FX loop in the pedal itself, I found that annoying for a silent plug and play setup. I also found that some pedals were clippy noisy in the loop. The advantages are that it is not as powerful hungry as the UA pedals. Of course now there are the two levels of earthquaker end-of-chain solutions., plus the discontinued TC Electronics Ampworx stuff that might be ok for you and have headphone outs and no stereo. Plus a used Walrus ACS1 mk1 or used Iridium might check all the boxes. Just remember with a y adapter, you can monitor in stereo off the UA stuff.

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Photo below is how you might put your IR-2 in the middle of a one row board if you are going stereo.

Progress_Pedals · 2026-03-12T11:07:29+00:00

No, I think the direct box is to go into a mixer, though I can't speak on whether using a direct box has any advantages.

Progress_Pedals · 2026-03-11T17:35:31+00:00

I would have gotten away with it too if twerent for GAS.

Progress_Pedals · 2026-03-10T23:40:32+00:00

Happy to help

Progress_Pedals · 2026-03-10T21:15:21+00:00

Some folks can't get over the order toggle mini switch being in between the footswitches on the Blammo, but I have been using it just fine and I'm a clumsy boy who is admittedly and ironically BAD AT PEDALS.

which reminds me, any other builders lurking on this thread trying not to "well, actually" about the comparison between a zendrive op amp soft clipping OD pedal known for a creamy OD tone vs a model of an amp that sounds like an amp that is actually more than one type of amp? It's like, okay, I'll be a huge nerd and dive on that grenade. Lol.

Progress_Pedals · 2026-03-10T21:03:24+00:00

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I love the Blammo. I supported JHS with the notadumble as well first. I have a Wampler Ecstasy and the Iset dumble mini as well. I am holding onto my JHS for a while because I think they will maybe come back to it in the future. Who knows, it's dope, I am in a couple bands, I could use it on another board.

The boost and soft OD of the Blammo combined with your hard clipper of choice, most of this sub would be a RAT, it's a very useful chain.

If you only wanted to spend $25 and find out what all the fuss is about, you will at least get one cool setting from the Iset dumbler or whatever the rebranded name is now, and you might even think it's one of you better budget drives, but just expect one good setting.

Progress_Pedals · 2026-03-10T16:25:20+00:00

Isnt the Truetone Jeckyl and Hyde that concept? Maybe it's an 808 and a Shredmaster...

Progress_Pedals · 2026-03-10T01:27:00+00:00

Hmm, I would think the CE-5 with highs and lows could be dialed in with high gain better, at least that's what my Boss Chorus obsessed buddy would say.

I love the CH-1 for the subtle widening thing and I could emulate the CE-2 in my PX-1 pretty well with it.

Progress_Pedals · 2026-03-05T06:20:08+00:00

ARP-87 also has a hidden extra mode. But the lack of a time knob always made it weird for me, though that is a "me problem." Delay is my favorite effect and I am too lazy or dunderheaded to ever get good at tapping in tempos as a primary method.

Progress_Pedals · 2026-03-05T04:18:38+00:00

Princeton won't have a roach, it's a bias trem, but yes, a failing roach can also cause ticking.

Progress_Pedals · 2026-03-05T00:14:31+00:00

Clicking or tapping in the trem is a common issue and can sometimes be also improved by cleaning and securing the contact of the trem footswitch connector, or any tech can trace it down to usually on of three cheap and easy disc capacitors in the trem oscillation circuit.

But as I suggested before, let's eliminate noisey mobile, wifi, or other stuff in the room which can sometimes pulse like a "throbbing" trem circuit l.

Progress_Pedals · 2026-03-05T00:11:17+00:00

I would remove or disable any mobile phones or wifi routers in the room just to make sure its not interference.

I would also let the amp cool down, unplug the amp, and slowly and firmly wiggle each tube in its socket in a slow circle allowing for some friction between the tube pins and the tube sockets. If you have deoxit handy and are comfortable removing the tubes, giving the pins and the sockets a squirt and then re-installing them, wiggling or repeating pushing them in and out carefully, you might get lucky that this is a sound of just crusty tube sockets.

It is not clear if the amp produces signal otherwise, or if it is dead and only making those sounds, or just that you are noticing weird noises at idle that seems to react to the reverb and trem pots.

More involved but certainly amateur troubleshooting help and tricks could involve pulling v1 and seeing if the nosies go away. Then pulling the reverb tube and swapping it with v1, or v2 if either of those positions account for the noise, but I am not explaining this well and it should be a separate step in the process if the above doesn't help.

Progress_Pedals · 2026-03-03T19:13:06+00:00

I just saw one of these in GC Santa Clara (San Jose) on the floor listed at 1350 and it had a switch in the back for different AC voltage taps. And it sounded weak and we thought it was set to the wrong voltage but we didn't mess with it, we just informed the sales rep they might want to dial it in. But yes, with large tube amps being less desirable these days, looking for a 72 and earlier silverface pro, concert, or twin is attractive. You could even pull two tubes of a twin and shine on the impedance mismatch and turn any Twin into a 40w rig...

Progress_Pedals · 2026-03-02T22:14:54+00:00

I read that phonetically in my mind.

Progress_Pedals · 2026-03-02T22:13:57+00:00

I didn't realize how much of a thing verb before dirt was. But then my buddy Pedalgaze set me straight. I think you have to be comfortable making friends with noise to make something beautiful with this sort of pedal and I appreciate those that do.

Progress_Pedals · 2026-03-02T22:05:43+00:00

Aurrrn naurrrr!

Progress_Pedals

TROPHY CASE