Does anybody know whether the various FX pedal power supply units (T-red, voodoo, dunlop) are more than "just" a bunch of wall warts combined into one, i.e. are they merely space savers? In particular, I'm curious if they have any effect on hum (eg My chorus pedal hums unless I use a battery). Some say they have a "power conditioner", others "Isolated, regulated, filtered outputs". Do these features really mean anything concrete when it comes to noise?
Anybody have experience/opinions on these and their various features?
-- Paul K
http://www.youtube.com/user/fibrationboy http://www.soundclick.com/paulkirk http://mypage.iu.edu/~pkirk/
the voodoo lab is the best, but there are some others that are similar. Some units are just a single wall wart "daisy chained". you do not want one these- in some instances they are fine but in many they can cause extra noise and hum, etc.... This is because the pedals are connected by audio cables so they share an audio ground. When you also connect them to a daisy chained power supply you have now connected them together with the power ground.
The voodoo lab (and a few others I cannot remember by name) use a good internal power supply and isolate the ground for each individual output. What this means to you is that, as far as power is concerned, your pedals are not connected to each other. This simplifies things as now the only "common ground" your pedals have is the audio.
As far as your chorus pedal humming, an isolated power supply may or may not fix it. There is a possibility there is a loose solder joint on the power connection on your pedal causing the wall wart to make it hum. This would be a non issue with a battery, since the connection is in a different place. That said, an isolated supply MAY fix the problem if the problem is related to grounding as stated above.
> the voodoo lab is the best, but there are some others that are similar. Some units are just a single wall wart "daisy chained". you do not want one these- in some instances they are fine but in many they can cause extra noise and hum, etc.... This is because the pedals are connected by audio cables so they share an audio ground. When you also connect them to a daisy chained power supply you have now connected them together with the power ground.
> The voodoo lab (and a few others I cannot remember by name) use a good internal power supply and isolate the ground for each individual output. What this means to you is that, as far as power is concerned, your pedals are not connected to each other. This simplifies things as now the only "common ground" your pedals have is the audio.
> As far as your chorus pedal humming, an isolated power supply may or may not fix it. There is a possibility there is a loose solder joint on the power connection on your pedal causing the wall wart to make it hum. This would be a non issue with a battery, since the connection is in a different place. That said, an isolated supply MAY fix the problem if the problem is related to grounding as stated above.
> hope this helps.
> N
Thanks Nate: this does help. I am also looking for something that organizes powering the 5 or so pedals I have, but the 150$-200$ that these things cost seems pricy to me, but if I could expect it to also deal with hum to some extent, it might be worth it. I'll see if the hum in the Chorus pedal is "mechanical" in the meantime.
> Thanks Nate: this does help. I am also looking for something that > organizes powering the 5 or so pedals I have, but the 150$-200$ that these > things cost seems pricy to me, but if I could expect it to also deal with > hum to some extent, it might be worth it. I'll see if the hum in the > Chorus pedal is "mechanical" in the meantime.
I use a 9v 3A SMPSU the size of 2 cigarette packs. It was sold by a pedal PSU specialist recommended to stay below the full current limit to avoid any clock noise. He now supplies the Gator Bus 8 1.7A unit so presumably can't get the previous 3A unit at a competive price.
Looks like the Gator is a SMPSU with a breakout box for 8x9v plus 3x18v outputs but you'd still need to check the total load was less than 1.7A, probably much less for reverb/delay units which seem to consume most current and are most prone to hum, clock noise and erratic switching if the supply is insufficient or insufficiently smooth.
Some PSUs which are ok with OD units, or some older high current pedals, don't work well with reverb/delays, irrespective of current ratings.
>> Thanks Nate: this does help. I am also looking for something that
>> organizes powering the 5 or so pedals I have, but the 150$-200$ that these
>> things cost seems pricy to me, but if I could expect it to also deal with
>> hum to some extent, it might be worth it. I'll see if the hum in the
>> Chorus pedal is "mechanical" in the meantime.
> I use a 9v 3A SMPSU the size of 2 cigarette packs. It was sold by a pedal
> PSU specialist recommended to stay below the full current limit to avoid any
> clock noise. He now supplies the Gator Bus 8 1.7A unit so presumably can't
> get the previous 3A unit at a competive price.
> Looks like the Gator is a SMPSU with a breakout box for 8x9v plus 3x18v
> outputs but you'd still need to check the total load was less than 1.7A,
> probably much less for reverb/delay units which seem to consume most current
> and are most prone to hum, clock noise and erratic switching if the supply
> is insufficient or insufficiently smooth.
> Some PSUs which are ok with OD units, or some older high current pedals,
> don't work well with reverb/delays, irrespective of current ratings.
one of the pedals I use is the EHX superego: their instructions say " The Superego requires 140mA at 9VDC with a center negative plug."
If I'm reading your message correctly, one needs to leave some "headroom" to make sure certain pedals perform well? So the PSU unit you link to says "maximum current on any one socket is 250mA". This is enough, right?
not hype. There are dipswitches on the bottom to adjust the outputs to different settings. they are all isolated, that's why it is a good unit.
the dunlop dc brick, for example, is basically a splitter for power. There isn't even a power supply inside, but instead it uses a wall wart power supply. So the mA you draw from ALL your pedals matters, depending on what the supply (wall wart) can tolerate. sometimes this is only 250, for the whole thing. Some power hungry pedals may crap out on you or not be happy depending on what else you have in the chain.
the Voodoo, and similar units to it will really give you full power at each output.
On Monday, November 12, 2012 5:33:27 PM UTC-5, Nate Najar wrote:
> On Monday, November 12, 2012 5:00:56 PM UTC-5, Paul K wrote: > On 11/12/12 2:40 PM, ic wrote: > > > "Paul K" <n...@none.edu> wrote in message > > > news:k7rdoa$keb$1@news.albasani.net... > > > > > >> Thanks Nate: this does help. I am also looking for something that > > >> organizes powering the 5 or so pedals I have, but the 150$-200$ that these > > >> things cost seems pricy to me, but if I could expect it to also deal with > > >> hum to some extent, it might be worth it. I'll see if the hum in the > > >> Chorus pedal is "mechanical" in the meantime. > > > > > > I use a 9v 3A SMPSU the size of 2 cigarette packs. It was sold by a pedal > > > PSU specialist recommended to stay below the full current limit to avoid any > > > clock noise. He now supplies the Gator Bus 8 1.7A unit so presumably can't > > > get the previous 3A unit at a competive price. > > > > > > Looks like the Gator is a SMPSU with a breakout box for 8x9v plus 3x18v > > > outputs but you'd still need to check the total load was less than 1.7A, > > > probably much less for reverb/delay units which seem to consume most current > > > and are most prone to hum, clock noise and erratic switching if the supply > > > is insufficient or insufficiently smooth. > > > > > > Some PSUs which are ok with OD units, or some older high current pedals, > > > don't work well with reverb/delays, irrespective of current ratings. > > > > > > http://www.johnnyshredfreak.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_inf... > > > -- > > > > > > icarusi > > > > > > > > one of the pedals I use is the EHX superego: their instructions say " > > The Superego requires 140mA at 9VDC with a center negative plug." > > > > If I'm reading your message correctly, one needs to leave some > > "headroom" to make sure certain pedals perform well? So the PSU unit you > > link to says "maximum current on any one socket is 250mA". This is > > enough, right? > > > > The Voodoo unit (http://www.voodoolab.com/pedalpower_2.htm) has some > > outputs at 100mA max and others at 250mA max. > > > > But it also says "isolated output sections". Is this hype? > > > > -- > > Paul K > > http://www.youtube.com/user/fibrationboy > > http://www.soundclick.com/paulkirk > > http://mypage.iu.edu/~pkirk/ not hype. There are dipswitches on the bottom to adjust the outputs to different settings. they are all isolated, that's why it is a good unit. the dunlop dc brick, for example, is basically a splitter for power. There isn't even a power supply inside, but instead it uses a wall wart power supply. So the mA you draw from ALL your pedals matters, depending on what the supply (wall wart) can tolerate. sometimes this is only 250, for the whole thing. Some power hungry pedals may crap out on you or not be happy depending on what else you have in the chain. the Voodoo, and similar units to it will really give you full power at each output.
Speaking of MilliAmps, what's the rule on adaptors and mA.
I was doing a show today, and the 600mA adaptor for my Korg PitchBlack Plus Tuner went out on me. I went to Radio Shack, and all they had was a 500mA and a 700mA. Which one would be better?
> If I'm reading your message correctly, one needs to leave some "headroom" > to make sure certain pedals perform well? So the PSU unit you link to says > "maximum current on any one socket is 250mA". This is enough, right?
Yes. Obviously at 1.7A you'll get 6x250mA max despite the 13x sockets available.
> But it also says "isolated output sections". Is this hype?
Can be handy to have isolation on some sections to prevent clock noise transferring from delay/reverb units to high gain pedals etc. Always best to try a PSU with all the pedals you intend to use if possible and at gig levels so you can hear any hum or noise especially with pedals in combination.
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>>Speaking of MilliAmps, what's the rule on adaptors and mA.
I was doing a show today, and the 600mA adaptor for my Korg PitchBlack Plus Tuner went out on me. I went to Radio Shack, and all they had was a 500mA and a 700mA. Which one would be better?
The same or bigger is good. Lower is bad. Will likely fail quickly and could take out your pedal if it fails badly enough. Sometimes the pedal will work with less current than the supplied PSU, if the pedal has a lower current rating shown on the casing. Usually pedals supplied with PSUs are matched so replace with equivalent.
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