playingdead wrote:Waldo, how can the wiring work if the pickup volumes are before the buffer and the loop? The effects would not always see the full signal from the pickups, which defeats the primary purpose of the loop. Unless there's a master volume in there, as well, which does not work well, as it causes a pretty significant output drop having two volume pots in series. We tried that in a Scott Walker guitar and it needed a booster to push the output back up, which increased the noise.
playingdead makes a good point. If it's as it looks, you have an OBEL in name only- it doesn't do (electronically) what an OBEL is built for. It will work just the same as if you had your effects between your guitar and amp (single cord out of the guitar), like with a "regular" guitar. The only advantage you have is that you can turn the effects on or bypass them with the toggle switch, but they're not "seeing" the pickups directly- the signal is going through (at least) your pots first.
Jer devised the OBEL so he could have that stability with his effects- so they always responded the same no matter what. I think he said that he could get that with a regular setup in the controlled conditions of a studio, but when they were out in the real world, big stadiums, varying voltages, etc. he lost that repeatability. But frankly, do us mortals really care? But for most of us in "our world"- can we hear the difference? Maybe only for the envelope filter?
Just one other thing to check- you do have the correct cable set- right? The OBEL cables have three-connection plugs- tip, ring, shaft. The out-to-amp plugs are regular 1/4" two connector plugs. And they have to be plugged into their matching jacks. Just trying to figure out why it seemed to work at the shop but not when you got it home....
