Guitar, Possible "beats" problem?

[rasputin1176]

I think u hit the nail on the head.
Just played even more. My doubts as to it being the pedal are 1) it's very uncommon for Bjorn's stuff to have issues. 2) the highly specific nature of the what causes it. 3) the reason I keep playing because of how good the pedal sounds, all the other great characteristics of the pedal are spot on.
Octaves seem fine. Also fifth seems fine. Yet if I hit something dissonant like Half step appart I get a nice vibrato ringing out. I think it's just inhancing those clashes as u said. Certain times it adds to the thickness even.
Don't want to jump the gun, that's why I asked here to see if any experience with something similar. I try to take it out to test with other gear than my own. Always a good way to eliminate possibilities. It will work out. If it really seems messed up Bjorn can check it.
For now you know I really am enjoying it! I've played for hours just today. If I find anything else out I will continue to post. Should only be a day or 2 before I get to the studio run thru more amps/guitars.
Thanks for the help so far, that's why I love this forum too

[rasputin1176]

And Bjorn did respond to me already. He did mention the possible clashing of frequencies & vibrations. Also more than happy to have himself of Don take a look at it.
At this point I wouldn't waste their time. Not until I've done all the proper diagnostics on my end. I need to take the pedal to some other gear as I said...other guitars & amps. Always rule out everything. Believe me I already went thru everything on my end; cables, pedals, tuning, intonation, ect... I work at studio & have pretty damn good ears & have become very good at diagnostics.
Everyone's been really helpful and it's much appreciated. I think it speaks to how great these pedals are. As I had mentioned, this thing I hear is annoying but I still can't get enough of the PGC. It sounds that good! Holds true to all I've read or heard. Stacking it is just awesome. Playing clean using finger picking or hybrid picking (still improving on my skills w/ that) sounds equally amazing.
What's crazy is for me, when I get a BJFe pedal I love, there's no substitute for them. They are original & unique. What I've got so far are all permanent stays on my board.

[rasputin1176]

Update: so after yet more playing, it's looking to be guitar not pedal.
As Cajone5 said I checked intervals for difference in speed of this "tremolo" style effect I'm hearing. Sure enough the farther you get from a 1/2 step the speed decreases until a perfect fith or octave where the vibration isn't doing anything nasty. Also this points more at guitar because although I said I only hear it with pedal, I can hear slow pulse on a minor seventh without pedal on. It's just most of what I hear with pedal is much faster and sounds different. Once I went sequentially I can hear the progression in speed and change in sound of this wobble.
The PGC is obviously enhancing this issue. I don't have time to do a real nice setup on my Strat but I certainly will. I will say I did a couple checks and it seems fine but a fresh set up is never a bad thing. I even keep the case pretty constant humidity all year, so neck is right where it should be. (I'll check more carefully with feeler gauge, obviously something seems off). And if I find the exact issue or at least get problem fixed I'll be sure to post info.
Thanks again to forum members

[cajone5]

It won't necessarily go away with a setup because what you're hearing is dissonance which naturally occurs at different intervals. Try playing around on this site to hear it for all different kinds of intervals. It's most apparent when you have certain intervals but it's always there to some degree. The top section illustrates dissonance quite well again (play the 200 Hz loop and then add in the 210, or 230, etc.)

http://www.mindspring.com/~scottr/zmusic/

[rasputin1176]

no definitely can't get rid of it but what i'm hearing is much much more extreme than those examples, granted thats just pure tones unaltered.
It's still odd to me that just the PGC makes it so enhanced that it sounds like i'm using a tremolo. Strumming a G major chord will produce it very well as far as what i'm hearing. I'll have to try and get a good recording of what i'm hearing soon. My home equipment for recording isn't set up right this second. I won't have time to do anything at the studio either this weekend too busy tracking drums.
I tried my Analogman Bi-comp at all possible settings and not getting the effect, maybe very slightly but not near the PGC. I hoping something can be done if it is my guitar. If this was just normal guitar dissonance i think others would surely hear this as well. Without the pedal on I can hear some of this tremolo like pulse on certain intervals but need a little amp gain to bring it out more. Clean the guitar sound pretty normal. Will be still trying gear other than my own very shortly to narrow this down further.

[cajone5]

You're probably right. Maybe worth trying tuning your guitar then playing a G and picking each note individually and verifying it is still in tune (or that it needs to be intonated)... so yea, intonation could definitely be it then.

Best of luck!

[rasputin1176]

I also did intervals by letting a root note ring out, then hitting any close interval in next string while slowly rotating tuning knob to cycle smoothly through intervals all the way to octave. Makes it real easy to hear the speed come to a hault.
What threw me initially was that the very fast almost throbbing sound I heard using PGC sounded very different to me than the slower "beats" you hear between strings say when tuning or playing complex chords. But the connection is much more apparent now, I can tell that's what it is. Just have to see if I can make it little less noticable.
No fault of the mighty PGC. Should be noted that the effect is most prominent when using neck pickup & max compressor setting. So right away there's ways to decrease it some. I like it set subtle. I have to say though even maxed it's great just depends what I'm playing.
Saturday & Sunday studio days, & may hit local music store tomorrow so anther place to diagnose.

[rasputin1176]

I did a private audio sample....

[rockeroo]

Here is a link of what is going on for a YouTube demo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6E1pQnpl_8&sns=em

Hmm... NEVER heard that with either of my PGCs. Very peculiar issue.

Glad to see you also have a Randy's Revenge video on UTube. I LOVE that ring mod. It is the best there is in pedal form.

Cheers and best of luck solving your vexing problem.

[rasputin1176]

Yeah I figure the clip would show how odd this is.
I know a guitar will get some "beating" on certain intervals but I always find it to be minor. So it seems my guitar is beating because u hear speed change in the tremolo type sound with increased note separation... BUT, for the PGC to enhance it to sound like that even on major chords is strange to me. The guitar seems ok on it's own. I'm not a luthier but I've been working in my own guitars a while. It's all copper shielded, star grounding method, measured all pot values to my choosing, ect. Checked intonation, neck relief, bridge, pickup heights (tried min & max, then back to normal). No change.
I don't claim to have an answer yet so I do not want to blame pedal. With the track record on BJFe pedals being stellar, it's obviously highly unlikely. And even if there's an issue would affect my opinion anyway. Things happen that's life. I bought it used, and I can't point fingers at the precious owner either cause there's just no way to know if they messed with it, they'd never admit it anyway.
Still for other style playing more single note runs i'm in love with this pedal even though this odd noise bothers me. So that says it all, still can't stop playing the PGC!
Thanks again to all responses