FX8 "Tone suck" (only way i can explain it)

[Bash_Man]

Let me start by saying I think the FX8 is one of the BEST investments I've made in years to my rig. I honestly don't know why it took me so long to get one.

My rig consists of the following:
Guitar --> Fractal FX8 (Expression pedal for WAH and Boss FS-5 for Pitch shift) in 4 Cable method connected to a Splawn Nitro 100 tube head.

I have the bypass mode set to both pre/post.

Now, I've tested this with all the effects bypassed and in Full Bypass activated on unit. What I notice when the unit is not in Full Bypass is there's a difference in the tone. I loose a bit of high end, low end and even a hair bit of gain.

Even my 2 friends who are a guitarist and bassist noticed the difference.

It also doesn't sound like its "unity gain" either between the Full Bypass and Non-bypass with all effects inactive. There's a bit of a volume increase when going full unit bypass.

Yes, I am using Hum Buster cables that I built noise isn't an issue here... and the loop Level is set to +4 on the FX8 as well as on my Nitro's loop.

Any suggestions as to what I can try or check into to see what could be causing this issue?

Really appreciate any input and help.

Thanks

P.S. I had already posted this on the fractal forum and post had many views but no replies, so I just removed it and asking here.

 

[Tonelover]

Could be lots of things but I just dealt with that last week. Noticed that I was definitely losing a lot of hair with the effects on when compared to using true bypass. My issue was the Noise Gate (GTE) page on the main menu. I disabled it by turning the threshhold setting to off. After that the difference between effects on and true bypass was negligible.

 

[Bash_Man]

Could be lots of things but I just dealt with that last week. Noticed that I was definitely losing a lot of hair with the effects on when compared to using true bypass. My issue was the Noise Gate (GTE) page on the main menu. I disabled it by turning the threshhold setting to off. After that the difference between effects on and true bypass was negligible.

Thanks for the reply. Was this on an FX8 as well? And if so, did you notice this even if the gate was turned OFF but still within the chain?

 

[Tonelover]

FX8 MKII. It was part of the input chain by default, not a block I added. Both are available on the unit. Like I said, once I turned it off I didn't notice a difference anymore.

 

[Bash_Man]

FX8 MKII. It was part of the input chain by default, not a block I added. Both are available on the unit. Like I said, once I turned it off I didn't notice a difference anymore.

Ok cool. Mine is an fx8 MKII as well. I'll check that out this week when I am back at band jam and see how it goes. I did program F1 as a full bypass button, so I can test it quickly once I make the change.

Many thanks. Appreciate the info and post. Stay tuned.

 

[atomheart411]

This is good info. I just picked up an FX8 and have been struggling with tone loss and weird volume differences. I noticed the noise gate but now I will make sure it's disabled. I'm trying to set up a wet/dry/wet which makes everything even touchier it seems. Trying various routing scenarios, where to split the signal, and all that can get confusing very quickly if the signal keeps sounding off. Thanks.

 

[Tonelover]

I still use the Noise Gate but as an added block Post (in the loop), not PRE because my JP-2C with lots of gain and the shred feature on hisses like a den of rattle snakes. Spent time with it last weekend, by adjusting the threshold and ratio settings in conjunction with each other I was able to completely silence the amp, fully minimize tone loss and maintain the same output level. With my eyes closed can't tell if I have true bypass on or off. It required a very slight adjustment to the output level as well just to match on or bypass but only like a quarter of a db the way I did it. Very pleased with the lack of tone suck while silencing the amp.

 

[kmanick]

I did this check today and noticed the built in gate is on by default. I use about 5 patches when I gig and I turned it off on all of them and did notice a difference. I don't play super high gain so I only leave it on for one patch I have that is to beef up single coil tones. On that patch I can use it so I just have it on enough to control the hiss, I don't kill it but it's definitely quiter with it on.
'm surprised I didn't think to check this earlier, I've been using this thing for about 5 years now, I never noticed any 'tone suck" but now with the gate off I can definitely hear the difference.

 

[Bash_Man]

So I went back to my FX8, pretty much turned OFF the threshold on the Input Gate and I can notice the difference for sure. definitly tons more like the Full Bypass sound. I still use the Gate as a block to clean up noise from high gain sound and use that in the loop of the amp as part of the 4CM configuration.

Glad I brought this up. Looks like more people are benefiting from it.

Thanks Tonelover for the info.