Why does my sound keep going in and out?

[Guithartic]

I’ll be playing, and then without me even touching any pedal or amp, the volume fades out to zero. The fade takes a couple seconds, it’s not just on and off abruptly. Then, I keep playing anyway and the volume comes back. Then it can go out again. I tried different guitars and a different amplifier, and the same thing happens, so it’s not that. If I wiggle the connection cables that connect the pedals, the sound sometimes sputters in and out, but I can’t seem to find one cable that is the culprit. Here are pictures of the setup. Guitar is plugged into Cry Baby Wah, which goes into compression, fuzz, distortion, blues driver, delay, loop station, then amp. It’s powered by a One Spot pro. Each pedal has a dedicated adapter cord going to the One Spot, except that the Blues Driver and Digital Delay share one of the One Spot ports via daisy chain. All of the pedals are linked with MXR connecting cables, except the crybaby going to the compression pedal which looks to be a pretty sturdy braided cable. Any ideas to fix the issue?

 

[Rocco Crocco]

Remove one pedal/cable at a time to see if the issue goes away.

 

[Dogbreath]

What happens when you plug straight in? Fading in and out sounds like an amp problem, but it does it with both amps. Maybe your power supply?

 

[Dogbreath]

With a pedalboard connection it’s either on or off. When I have a bad cable connection the sound abruptly stops.

 

[Overture]

Start with guitar straight into the amp, add one pedal back in at a time.

 

[rogue3]

Just to rule out...play for an extended period of time,plugged directly into your amp.If it doesn't happen,then somewhere between line in(wah pedal) to line out.
Then pedal by pedal,out of circuit,as has been suggested.I would hit the wah pedal first...just suspicious,lol.I've had wah pedals do strange stuff to me in the past.

edit:...Overture has got it right.

 

[GitFiddle]

You said you think the patch cables are good. Don't overlook a connector on one of the pedals. Sometimes the locking nut comes loose and the connector may twist around and compromise your connection. As Overture said, you just need to isolate the problem. I would plug my guitar straight into the last pedal of the chain, then keep moving back one pedal, until you find the issue. You have seven pedals and eight cords. You also have up to seven power connectors. Just a process of elimination.

 

[edro]

Fading tells me temperature related....

If you have a Fluke meter, take an extra output off the power supply, WITH ALL THE PEDALS HOOKED UP and measure the output voltage and watch it for a bit while playing with several pedals on to load it down.... Hell, turn em all on... You are trying to load the supply down to see if it can maintain or blow up....

If the supply can handle the aggregate current reqs, then it is time for the pedal dance.... Not fun but gotta be done to find the problem....




Regardless of above, get a can of D5 and QTips. Spray a QTip and run it in every hole in your pedals and spin it... When it gets dirty get another.... I would also suggest spray some on a rag and clean every jumper with it....

Best rag for general cleaning is an old pair of Levi's... I cut the front and back of each leg at seams... Lotta damn rag...
Cut to size as needed, rollup the rest.... Best rag for cleaning cable ends, strings, etc.... Not abrasive as such but enough 'roughage' to get 'er done... Good for cleaning finished neck back too....

 

[Uncle Vinnie]

Do you have any kind of noise gait in your pedal board or on your amp?