hi guys... got a story to share

i just got my keeley ds-1 shipped. so tonight i wanted to test it out. since i don't have my amp with me so i plugged my guitar to a ts-808 (for lead boost) to keeley ds-1 and into a podxt (just to use the amp modeller. everything else was off)

while i was trying to whole thing out... i suddenly noticed a song playing in the background. it was pretty clear. and i could make out that it was datuk siti singing. i think it was radio era!!!

i started to panic cause i tot my ds-1 is picking up unwanted signals. both the 808 and the ds-1 was on at the time. i turned off the 808 and the signal was still there but less clear. turned off the ds-1 and on the 808 and the signal was gone. i was like "F*&K!!!!"

then i tot it was my guitar. so i lowered the guitar volume to complete 0 and turned on both pedals, boost their volumes all the way up and turned up the volume on the podxt... it was still there... i can make out what the dj was sayiing!!!

i took the 808 out of the loop and leave just the ds-1... it was still there but very vague... i'm now sure the problem was the ds-1 and coupling it with the 808 bosted the signal (the 808 doesn't have a true bypass so i guess even when it's off it still boosted the signal a bit)....

i was ready to email robert keeley and tell him my prob when i tot of something...

i whipped out my old instrument cable. it's nearly 8 years old but i bought it in the states and it was pretty expensive (USD40 for a 6 foot cable... i also have the same cable in 10 foot long). it looks like one of those classic cable with basic connector heads with cloth braided cables. the cable was pretty hard even after years of use which is a hassle if i got it tangled which is why in the end i put it away and bought a softer rubber type cable here. i swapped the cable with the one i'm using and voila... radio era no more...

so... it was the cable from my guitar to the rest of the gear. the cable i was using was pretty new... just over a year old and it was pretty expensive (above rm100 for a 10 foot cable). the cable is actually planet wave's "custom series" instrument cables

http://www.planetwaves.com/Pcablesdetails.aspx?ID=1


the cable is supposedly very quite (which turned out my 8 year old cable was more quite) and you have to plug it in correctly (one way) with the "shielded end" at the amp and the other plug at your guitar...

i'm still thinking the problem might be because the podxt uses a power adapter so there's no ground to it since the planet waves has that shielded crap technology to it so maybe it needs to be grounded.... i'll know once i try it on an actual amp...

for the time being i'm taking out the couple of old cables and put them back in service....

Off topic, are you located in Malaysia? How much did you get the Keeley DS1 for?

yeah... got it direct from keeley website. if u wait around forums it'll pop up once in a while with better price. i couldn't wait.