Tonedexter problems

$ongWriter · #1 11-20-2019, 03:37 PM

OK...opened up my tonedexter...excited...plugged in sure sm57...plugged in brand new head phones...horrible horrible sound coming thru the head phones...like a wild banshee!!!....unplugged headphones...let it go ahead and learn the mic...then when I plugged it in and ran thru an amp...same thing...horrible horrible sound....what am I doing wrong???..

(to be continued...well...I called them...they said they saw this post...said I got one of the few bad units...so now I have to ship it to them for a repair...????

AeroUSA · #2 11-20-2019, 04:13 PM

It sounds like you got a defective unit, it can happen with any gear.

jonfields45 · #3 11-20-2019, 04:51 PM

ToneDexter's physical design oozes quality, but it looks like you got unlucky.

Marshall · #4 11-20-2019, 06:45 PM

Is the guitar plugged in all the way? Could be the jack is not all the way in the guitar or the TD.

Might be the pickup on the guitar.

phcorrigan · #5 11-22-2019, 09:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by $ongWriter

...well...I called them...they said they saw this post...said I got one of the few bad units...so now I have to ship it to them for a repair...????

Did you buy it direct or from a dealer? Ask whoever you bought it from if they will cross-ship a new one. Sweetwater will do this and I'm sure others will as well.

Toast311 · #6 12-23-2020, 11:04 AM

I'm on my second tonedexter. First one lasted about 5 days. Was training with a 2019 Taylor 414 with ES2 pickups and a Audix F9, Rhode Nt1, and a generic Condenser for comparisons. All 3 mics gave me an Awful Harsh Metallic sound during the training phase that was not apparent in either the pickup signal or the Mic signal. It was like it was adding fret buzz to the wave map that was not there. After trying to get it working it finally let out a nasty buzz then a pop and never turned back on. Contacted Sweetwater and they had a replacement pedal to me within 3 days. Tried training it again and still had a completely unusable sound. After lots of trial and error and updating to the new 2.0 firmware , I was able to get a somewhat usable sound after switching to an actual cable instead of my Boss Wl-20L wireless system. Still had the added fret buzz/metallic overlay noise but not nearly as bad. Tried it with my Marin 00-15 Retro and a Breedlove Atlas D-25 as well to rule out the guitar as the problem, but it was persistent in all of them with all the mics. Overall I'm not as impressed with it as I was hoping.

AeroUSA · #7 12-23-2020, 11:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Toast311

I'm on my second tonedexter. First one lasted about 5 days. Was training with a 2019 Taylor 414 with ES2 pickups and a Audix F9, Rhode Nt1, and a generic Condenser for comparisons. All 3 mics gave me an Awful Harsh Metallic sound during the training phase that was not apparent in either the pickup signal or the Mic signal. It was like it was adding fret buzz to the wave map that was not there. After trying to get it working it finally let out a nasty buzz then a pop and never turned back on. Contacted Sweetwater and they had a replacement pedal to me within 3 days. Tried training it again and still had a completely unusable sound. After lots of trial and error and updating to the new 2.0 firmware , I was able to get a somewhat usable sound after switching to an actual cable instead of my Boss Wl-20L wireless system. Still had the added fret buzz/metallic overlay noise but not nearly as bad. Tried it with my Marin 00-15 Retro and a Breedlove Atlas D-25 as well to rule out the guitar as the problem, but it was persistent in all of them with all the mics. Overall I'm not as impressed with it as I was hoping.

Definitely train with good cables and not wireless. I have a harsh frequency in my maps lately but I also hear it slightly in the guitar so I think it’s just being magnified when it’s amplified.

loco gringo · #8 12-23-2020, 11:23 AM

Crazy question here, but did you try to contact the manufacturer? I think they would be the most qualified people to help with a problem like that.

BlueStarfish · #9 12-23-2020, 11:48 AM

To $ongwriter and Toast — I don’t know what kind of pickups you guys are using, so this may or may not be helpful. But if you have active pickups, here are some things I’ve learned. These points are all covered in the user manual but in the kind of dry and terse language you get in user manuals so I had to figure it out the hard way...

The TD seems very sensitive to gain structure between the guitar and the unit. If there is too much gain, it goes metalic and screechy very quickly. And “too much” starts at a point much lower than I might have guessed. If I set the input gain at unity gain (12 o-clock), I need to keep the gain wheel on my pickups (active UST’s) at 25% or less. The colored clip lights are your guide. When you strum hard it should just barely hit the yellow, with mostly green. NEVER red.

And then once I’ve got the tone dialed in, if I change the gain on the guitar, it goes all metallic again, so if that happens I’ll probably need to pull a new wavemap.

Another thing I have learned is that, for my guitar where the pick-up has a tone wheel, I need to understand how that wheel works to get the right setting. For some tone wheels and knobs, the neutral position is 50% (often with a detente that clicks). If that’s the case, go with the 50%. Lots of tone knobs on pedals work like that. But the tone wheel on my guitar is the kind that rolls off the treble. So if I set it at 50%, it gets rid of 50% of the treble content and then the TD has to try to fill it in which also leads to shrill metalic noise. Much better result to leave that kind of tone wheel at 100%. Then the TD has more signal to work with.

Brent Hahn · #10 12-23-2020, 11:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by loco gringo

Crazy question here, but did you try to contact the manufacturer?

I'd do that. They've reached out to me about my concerns and invited me to their HQ (post plague, of course) and I don't even own one. And most people seem to be thrilled with the results they get in the training/home-studio phase, so there's definitely something weird going on.

tadol · #11 12-24-2020, 11:21 AM

One of the biggest problems you can have training the Tonedexter is not understanding how your pickup works - as noted above, the volume / tone wheel setup can be critical, but the other part is phasing of the pickup sensors - some manuafacturers mix the polarity of the sensors as part of their design, and that reversal can cause problems in the training. You may have to mute one or two strings, or every other string, or only pick certain strings while doing the training, in order to get the best map. And always do it wired, guitar and mic and headphones, as wireless units can introduce a variety of unusual signal problems -

If you have ANY problems with the Tonedexter, just email James with all the details, especially the model of pickup, and he’ll get back to you with the best info possible.

loco gringo · #12 12-24-2020, 11:25 AM

I didn't get the feeling he was looking for help. At no point in his post did he ask a question like, "has anybody else seen this problem". He replied to 2 different Tonedexter threads with the exact some post. And, he hasn't responded to the thread in 24 hours.

I think he may have been just looking for a platform to complain.

dnf777 · #13 12-25-2020, 03:36 PM

1) I would use a quality cable. Never a wireless system.
2) active systems can easily clip a system designed for piezo system. (Passive)
3) using wireless system with some active pic ups can have issues all its own.
4) Ive found it far better and easier to create maps with a small-diameter condenser mic. PreSonus reference mic-$88- is all I use now.