After years of loyal service, my trusty Fulltone Supa-Trem wigged out on me at my gig Friday night. Before the set, I noticed that the pulsating LED for the speed switch wasn't blinking. I stomped the 'on' switch & there was no sound, so I figured there was switch failure. But then, the LED started blinking very slowly, not in accordance with the rate of speed that I'd set. Then it just returned to normal & all was cool. I removed it from the chain & just played the show without it.

Since then, I've not been able to get the Supa-Trem to freak out again at home. I've plugged it into the same Voodoo Lab PPI-powered board that it was on, into a different PPI, into a PPII, & into a wall outlet, via a wall wart - no problems. The board that the Supa is on contains only garden variety 9V boxes, nothing weird, & a few of the PPI's power outlets were not even used. So I'd say that max current capacity was not being pushed at all. I've used that exact same board in that club before with no problems, & I'll be working there again.

So is this a voltage issue? Is the Supa-Trem more voltage-sensitive than 9V gainers or delays? The only voltage-related issue I've ever had at a show was with the Line 6 DL-4, as powered by PPII. Would some sort of power conditioner eliminate this sort of thing in the future? Any thoughts?

bumpsies...

stumpsies

I think maybe folks are stumped... I know I am....

Me too... at least I'm in good company!

I would contact Fulltone for some of their legendary customer service if you're really worried, however IMHO a power conditioner would be overkill (especially since you use a PP2 - the regulated outputs are already "conditioned", so to speak).

The only thing I can think of (going by the problme you described) is when you plugged everything in, the oscillator did not start up (for whatever reason). I don't know whether the Supa-Trem is op-amp or transistor based (how many chips are inside?) but with an oscillator, it needs a kickstart to get a positive feedback loop going. This oscillator is what controls the volume of the circuit, when the oscillator wave is low = no volume, when it's high = full volume. Anyway, enough about how trems work. So if the oscillator was not running, that would explain why the pulsating LED was not pulsating (it's synced to the oscillator). Once you stomped it on, that triggered something inside which got the oscillator going - it takes a split second for the oscillator to "start up", which would explain the slow blinking.

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Originally posted by davei:
I would contact Fulltone for some of their legendary customer service if you're really worried

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LOL, i'm waiting right now for my supratrem to come back from repairs...it's been many weeks.

i sent mine to fulltone for repair and got it back after about a month (the mix knob had crapped out).

Yeah, I wanted to get a handle on what the possible culprit might be before contacting Mr. Fuller. I'm not sure it will come to that though, as I've still not been able to get the unit to freak out again. I'm wondering if what I encountered at the club was just a bizarre fluke that won't happen again.

davei, all I really know about the Supa is that it's photo cell based. What you are saying makes sense... I guess the question is what caused the oscillator not to fire up. The reason I haven't totally dismissed the possibility of voltage issues is because of my experience with the Line 6 delay & the PPII - supposedly that unit was properly conditioned as well, but others besides myself have experienced voltage problems there. Anyway, I'm way out of my league on this, just wondering out loud.

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Originally posted by Corleone:
The reason I haven't totally dismissed the possibility of voltage issues is because of my experience with the Line 6 delay & the PPII - supposedly that unit was properly conditioned as well, but others besides myself have experienced voltage problems there. Anyway, I'm way out of my league on this, just wondering out loud.

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IIRC doesn't the Line6 use a 9V *AC* power supply? If so, it will work with DC but that may account for the weirdness. The Supa is designed for 9VDC (don't try putting AC into a pedal that only takes DC) so who knows...!

If you have been turning the "speed" knob with your foot, there's a real good chance, the speed pot is coming "apart".
Open it up, and push on the backside of the speed pot, if it comes to life, replace it with a full size, dual, 1ML pot.

Ed R.