Incompatibility with Radial Twinline?

Hey, guys.

Just got the PBC today and love it. I do have one issue I haven’t been able to resolve however, and am hoping someone can point me in the right direction. Forgive the length of the post but I wanted to offer all relevant info.

I have a two amp setup (EVH lunchbox, Tubemiester 18). I run TC reverb, chorus, delay and flange in the effects loop. However, since it’s two different amps, I needed a way to toggle the effects loop pedals between the two amps. My solution was the Radial Twinline - http://www.radialeng.com/r2011/twinline.php - which did exactly that. Like all Radial products, it works great.

However, the Timeline doesn’t seem to play nice with the PBC. When I connect the send / return connections from the Twinline to 5-6 Out / 7-10 In per the manual, I get what sounds like a high pitched feedback loop. It’s not a 60 cycle ground hum, it’s some sort of generated frequency.

I’m using the A/B outs on the PBC going to the inputs of the two amps, with ISO B engaged. That also works fine, I can turn them on / off per preset so that I’m using only one amp at a time, and the Twinline is routing to the same amp.

It doesn’t matter if any pedals are connected to the PBC, or if they’re in a loop and the loop is either on or off. It also doesn’t matter which of the two amps the Twinline is routing to. I’ve also tried reversing the cables in case I was just too stupid to read the manual (not completely out of the question), tried different cables, flipped grounding switches and in general exhausted all scenarios that I could think of.

The results are consistent. The PBC works just fine in all other regards, but doesn’t seem to get along with the Twinline.

Worst case scenario I can remove the Twinline and just use all my effects in front of the amp, but I’m hoping there’s a solution to this that will allow me to continue routing my time based effects in the loop and my overdrives, etc. in front of the amp.

I’d be grateful for any insights you might offer.

Thanks!

Chris
 
I don't have any ready answers, I didn't even know that product existed until now. Have you tried these things? (They're not solutions, but might help to determine the cause of the problem):

- Turn off buffer 2 and/or buffer 3 in the PBC
- Start removing cables from the amps. Unplug the cable from one amp's return, then unplug the cable from the same amp's send, then unplug the cable from the other amp's return, then the other amp's send. See how many cables need to be unplugged in order for the noise to go away.
 
Thanks, I appreciate the ideas and will give them a try. I did a lot of cable swapping but I didn't think to try turning off the buffers.
 
Do you use the same power supply for the timeline and the Twinline?
No, I was using the dedicated wall wart for the Twinline since it sat back with the amps.

That said, I've taken the Twinline out of the mix. Running the effects in PBC loops gives me the ability to biamp if I want to, an option I don't have if I use the Twinline to toggle the amp effects loops. Also, fewer moving parts.

I do appreciate the thought, though.
 
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