Caline "SansAmp clone" Pedal Problems

[fender3x]

I have two basses I really like. Both sound good, but they need different EQ settings. I thought that a fast way to be able to go from one bass to the other is to have two EQ settings "pre-programmed." I have a Sansamp Bass Driver DI, that is the only pedal I spent some real money on, and I have always thought it was well worth it. What if I added a second one for the 2nd bass? BUT a real SansAmp BDDI goes for between $150 and $250 used here...which got me thinking that maybe a clone...?



So I got this Caline clone for $35 on Amazon. The one bit of good news is that the tones coming out of the Caline clone are REALLY close to those of the Actual SansAmp BDDI. The bad news is what else is coming out of it, namely, Spanish language radio.

I am thinking I'll try to exchange it. If that doesn't work (and no one here has a great idea for getting rid of the noise), I'll just return it and see if I can find a used Behringer clone. They are about twice as expensive, used, as the Caline. But that's still about half the cost of a genuine Tech 21.... Or I hold out for the real deal. Given easy returns by Amazon, I am not in the "good money after bad" stage of trying to save a buck... but may be there soon.

[DrNomis_44]

I have two basses I really like. Both sound good, but they need different EQ settings. I thought that a fast way to be able to go from one bass to the other is to have two EQ settings "pre-programmed." I have a Sansamp Bass Driver DI, that is the only pedal I spent some real money on, and I have always thought it was well worth it. What if I added a second one for the 2nd bass? BUT a real SansAmp BDDI goes for between $150 and $250 used here...which got me thinking that maybe a clone...?



So I got this Caline clone for $35 on Amazon. The one bit of good news is that the tones coming out of the Caline clone are REALLY close to those of the Actual SansAmp BDDI. The bad news is what else is coming out of it, namely, Spanish language radio.

I am thinking I'll try to exchange it. If that doesn't work (and no one here has a great idea for getting rid of the noise), I'll just return it and see if I can find a used Behringer clone. They are about twice as expensive, used, as the Caline. But that's still about half the cost of a genuine Tech 21.... Or I hold out for the real deal. Given easy returns by Amazon, I am not in the "good money after bad" stage of trying to save a buck... but may be there soon.

You could try putting a small cap on the input jack from the tip to the sleeve connection, maybe something like a 47pF, that might help by diverting RF signals to ground.

[fender3x]

I used Amazon's relatively easy return policy to send it back, and get a replacement. The replacement arrives on Friday. If it has the same problem I may give your suggestion a try. Thanks!

Sent from my CPH2655 using Tapatalk

[fender3x]

So... I returned the Wine Cellar Pedal to Amazon and used their "replace with identical item" option, which arrived today. I hooked it up, and had the same problem as before. I tried putting in the effects loop at the end, at the beginning, all-by-its-lonesome, with wall-wart power, with battery power. In every case the same result: Spanish language radio.

I did a bit of surfing last night to see what other solutions I might encounter--or if anyone had had a similar problem previously. There was some advice for radio-through-pedalboard problems:

Use good cable connectors.
Use a shielded power supply
Add a cap (as suggested by Doc).

While I did not find anyone else who would cop to having problem I was having with this exact pedal, I did find a video where a guy had opened up the case.



I wanted to see how hard it was going to be to add a cap without voiding the warranty. I was happy to learn that it should be pretty easy to do, since it's pretty easy to see where T and S pins from the input jack is soldered to the PCB. Didn't look too difficult since they are easily accessible from the back of the PCB once the bottom plate is off.

However the cap trick did not turn out to be necessary thanks to something Bassguitarist1985 says at about 5 minutes into the video, as a "word of caution" for if you are getting noise. The collar nuts on the jacks may need to be tightened to make sure that they make contact with the pin inside the plastic jack on the PCB. I checked mine, and sure-enough they were loose. I tightened them up and checked with a multimeter to make sure there was a good ground (one lead on the metal part of the XLR jack frame, and the other lead on the 1/4" jack collar nut). Once I had that taken care of that the pedal got very quiet. Problem solved.

I haven't played through it much yet, but it seems quite good so far. It doesn't have some of the bells and whistles that my genuine SansAmp has. But so far, I seem to be able to get a decent approximation of the tube-y and gritty sound of the SansAmp out of the Wine Cellar. It feels solid, it looks great and sounds great, it's quiet (now) in the signal chain. I love my SansAmp...but at 6-7 times less cost, this seems like a pretty good value. Perfectly adequate for the use I have in mind of basically having a second set of SansAmp-like EQ settings for a second guitar.

I was impressed enough by it, that I ordered their bass compressor...also well under $40. In for a penny...

[Trevor Davies]

Great that your issue is easily solved. A shame that their QC allows that issue to get through!

[fender3x]

Agreed on both counts. The quality of the finish is quite good, and if they guy in the vid is to be believed the components and build quality seem pretty good. So a bit hard to understand that somewhat loose nuts on the outside would be the thing that trips them up. And on more than one unit.