It's a bit tedious to isolate problems with bad sound, but not difficult.  There are lots of potential causes, including:

  • bad audio cables
  • dirty power
  • worse than normal EMF noise
  • bad cable or cable connection in a module
  • modules out of adjustment (internal or external adjustments)
  • low power or wrong type of power
  • problem with a module
  • problems with amp, guitar, other equipment
  • overloading one pedal with another

The approach to finding these problems is similar to finding the source of a No Sound problem.  Start with the simplest setup and add pieces until the problem shows up.  Then you'll know where the problem is.

Start with just your guitar and amp.  Add in your signal chain, one piece at a time until you hear the bad sound.  Note that you don't have to disconnect the power or switching cabling from your modules.  Just unplug the audio cable that comes out of the first module and plug your amp cable in that jack.  If that is good, reconnect the second module, but disconnect the output of the second module and connect it directly to your amp.  Repeat this until you have added the module causing the noise.  Troubleshoot that module.

If a module is making "bad sound", make sure that this isn't "expected bad sound".  Some modules will overload with gain and volume or other controls maxed.  That is normal for those modules. Extreme low or high settings on some controls of some modules might also sound bad to you.

Once you have the problem isolated to a particular module, doublecheck to make sure all the internal cables for the module are connected properly.  That is the most common cause of "bad sound" problems.  Also make sure that you haven't changed internal trimmer settings to something that doesn't work well.

If you are using a switching power supply, throw it away and get a decent power supply.  If you aren't using a good power conditioner/filter, try one.

If you are using cheap, unshielded cables, try better ones.

If you still can't find the problem, contact Customer Support and we'll try to help figure it out.