Issue with levels with guitar and beatbuddy

BeatBuddy Help, Questions and Bugs
1

Someone tried to ask about this previously but as they never got an answer, and most people who replied did not seem to understand the issue, I think it is worth raising:

in my basic set up I have a Zoom G9.2TT multi-effects processor feeding into my Beatbuddy which in turn feeds into my Boss RC30 looper and from that to my PA amp.

There are issues about syncing the Beatbuddy with the RC30 looper, but those are more to do with the limmiations of the RC30 looper than with the Beatbuddy (you can set a tempo on the RC30, but only by tapping not in terms of BPM) so I will not be complaining about them here!

The problem I am having is that the level of the output of the Beatbuddy is so low, even with the volume set to 100% that the guitar or bass drowns out the drums unless I turn the level on the G9.2TT so low that it is barely audible.

When someone else tried to ask about this they got answers based on solutions such as feeding the Beatbuddy into a mixer on a different channel to the guitar, but the point is that you are supposed to be able to input the guitar, plus any effects chain you may have, into the Beatbuddy, with the Beatbuddy operating as the final stage of the effects chain, and to use a combination of the Batbuddy volume setting (to control the level of the drums) and the level of the effects chain (to control the volume of the guitar) in order to balance the level of the drums and the the guitar without needing to use a mixer - which is ideal if you are a solo musician who has no sound engineer when busking or playing a gig, which is precisely the kind of application the Beatbuddy is marketed to satisfy.

The problem is that even with the volume set to 100% the levels are so low from the drum snth of the Beatbuddy that you have to turn the level of the output of the G9.2TT that it is barely audible.

This is because even at 100% volume setttng the levels of the drums from the Beatbudy is really low, and when I reduce the volume setting on the Beatbuddy it rapedly becomes inaudibly quiet.

This speific problem has nothing to do with the looper, it remains even if I connect the Beatbuddy directly to the PA , nor does it have anything to do with the effects chain, it remains if I plug in the guitar directly into the Beatbuddy.

Yes, realise I could achieve a proper balance by putting the output of the Beatbuddy into a mixer on a separate channel to the guitar, but I contend I should be able to do it oin the way laid out in the manual.

Regards

Michael

2

Hi,

I would try the BB as the last pedal in the chain, there’s no real need to have it going into the looper. So processor → looper → BB → speaker.

Also is the BB loud enough on its own? Are the other pedals loud on their own? Try mono cables v stereo cables (tip, ring v Tip,ring,sleeve). I recall something to do with headphone volume also when I had problems so make sure that’s up.

Probably you’ve tried these steps but it’s a case of fault finding - check one item at a time, then two together etc.

Hope this may help - good luck for your search.

Kind regards

Carl.

1 Like
3

Actually there is a good reason to have the looper as the last pedal in the chain, that is because with my looper, the boss rc30, it’s almost impossible to create a loop cut so perfectly that it remains in sync with the beat buddy over a protracted period - this is not a problem with the beat buddy, but rother stems from the fact that you can only set the BPM timing setting on the rc30 by tapping, you can’t do it numerically as you can with the beep buddy. There is a workaround, that involves prerecording a blank wave file of the required duration, but it involves planning and is no good when using it creatively.

However, removing the looper from the chain makes no difference. The problem is that the maximum output level of the beat buddy the simply far lower than the level of the signal coming through as the input. Of course, with the bea buddy on its own I can simply amplify the signal enough to make it perfectly audible, but that doesn’t fix the issue of getting the balance when using it with another instrument passing through the bear buddy input, and most especially when layering over the drums because they simply vanish out of the mix when using the looper to add layers over the drums.

There are lots of workarounds, I mean I could use a mixer and not put the guitar through the beat buddy, but this would make my pedalboard more complex and less portable and really defeat the object of having a drum machine that you can use and control in a live performance. It is also not how the beat buddy is intended to be used, at least not according to the manual which suggest you should use the beat buddy as the final pedal in the signal chain

I would estimate, and it’s only a very rough estimate, that the output level of the drum machine in the beat buddy is about a quarter or less, when the beat buddy is at 100%, than where it should be in order to enable achieving a proper balance between the level of the drum machine and the input from a straight guitar, or one passed through a pedal or multi-effects unit.

4

Hi Michael,

Thanks for clarifying. I’ve not noticed any volume changes in v out but I’ll check again later.

As an aside - if you want to have the BB match the looper bpm exactly then check out midi sync - it wont solve volume issue but it makes using the BB with a midi capable looper even better fun.

Kind regards,

Carl.

5

Hi Michael,

So I’ve tried replicate this issue……

BB 3/4 volume → powered speaker. Plenty loud.
Guitar straight into → BB → speaker. No big change. Although had to dial down the guitar a tad from 10 to 8.
Guitar → BB → Looper (Aeros). No change.
And finally what I believe is your set up
Guitar → effects (Spark go 3/4 vol) → BB → looper → Speaker. No change.

If I pump up my effects vol to max then I had to lower speaker volume and hence the BB is quieter in the mix.

The BB out put volume is not changing, only thing I’m changing is the input vol of guitar or effects unit and if I drive that to much I’m have to lower the speaker vol and hence BB is relatively quieter.

Is there a way to switch the zoom G9 output between line & instrument? To see what impact that has?

Bit rambling but I hope it might help.

Kind regards

Carl.