AJ567

There's a note on the Thomann product page saying that the total load cannot exceed 18W. So you can exceed neither the stated 300/500mA from any single output, nor 2000mA in total (assuming you are running only 9v pedals - less if you are using higher voltages on the switchable outputs). But they are all isolated outs!

Updated with details of Joyo ZGP, thanks to @Al Krow

The batpack 8000 certainly looks like a great product, definitley one of the best of its type out there. Battery life on a small board like yours ought to be enough that it's not a concern at all. Nice!

Ah gotcha. I think it's fair to calculate 100ma @ 18V as equivalent to 200ma @ 9V for these purposes. I already assumed some loss in the Joyo JP05 estimate I have in the table above.

Yes that's right, but you would also need to assume some loss due to battery ineffiency (maybe 15%) and possibly some additional loss when you convert from 9v to 18v for pedal 2, depending on how you are doing it. I assume you are using some sort of adapter to achieve the 18V step up. Not sure what loss that adapter introduces... in the end your battery life would probably be more like 6 - 6.5 hrs. If you are able to measure the input and output current of your 18V adapter that could be very handy for future readers!

Rechargeable Power Supplies & Battery Life: A Buyer’s Guide Rechargeable power supplies can offer superior noise performance and great convenience. A key concern for anyone considering this type of power supply is battery life… and on this issue, unfortunately, there’s a lot of misinformation and marketing nonsense out there. I’ve recently been down a rabbit hole trying to understand the complexities of rechargeable battery capacity so I thought I’d share some learnings. I don’t claim to be an expert, just an interested consumer. Very happy for anyone reading this to correct me if necessary! Capacity ratings… often not what they seem Most brands state battery capacity in mAh, leading consumers to think (quite understandably) that they can divide the stated capacity by their current needs to get expected battery life, i.e. 20,000 mAh = 20 hours play time at 1A. This is not the case. The stated mAh capacity is usually in reference to the internal cell voltage, which is a lot lower than the 9v output voltage you will be using. So it’s a bit of a marketing trick to make capacity look bigger. Confounding the issue, the internal cell voltage varies by manufacturer. This is normally 3.7 or 7.4V; a minority of brands appear to state mAh capacity at 9v output, to be helpful to musicians… kudos. Additionally, you will never see the full capacity discharged due to inefficiencies (heat etc.) Good quality lithium batteries appear to have efficiency of about 85% overall. TLDR: below are estimates for the battery life you can expect for various products. The figures stated are the number of hours run time for a current draw of 1A @9v. To get estimated battery life for your setup, divide the 1A estimate by the total current draw of your pedals in Amps (i.e. using a Volto 3 to power 450ma worth of pedals, I would expect to get 2.2 / 0.450 = 4.8 hrs) NB not all of these supplies can actually supply a full 1A. If anyone is actually interested in the details behind these estimates, let me know and I can fill you in on the research and calcs I have applied. If you need isolated outputs, here are some options 1. Use a mission 529i or 529 and whatever USB battery pack you want. Great solution, not cheap though. 2. Use any standard USB battery pack, plus as many Joyo ZGP-W adapters as you need. Potentially a good, cost effective way of doing things. The Joyo ZGP-Ws are nifty devices that boost 5V USB voltage to 9V, as well as providing isolation and filtering. However, you need to bear in mind the current ratings. Each Joyo can supply a max of 400mA at 9V. The Joyo’s themselves are pretty inefficient (c.59%) and of course you need to draw more current at 5V than is supplied at 9V – the current load at the USB port will be roughly triple what your pedals draw at 9v. So, a standard 2.4A USB port can support 2 Joyo ZGP-Ws at full load. 3. Use any of the single output products on the list above (e.g. Volto 3, Rockboard, Palmer) and add isolation adapters as necessary. GigRig Isolators work well in this context. Each Isolator provides 4 isolated outs with 135mA capacity each. Joyo ZGP-W (400mA capacity) or ZGP (800mA capacity, operates only at 9V) will also work. However, bear in mind that the circuitry needed to provide isolation will also drain some current, and therefore reduce battery life: GigRig Isolators draw about 100mA by themselves Joyo ZGP-W has c.59% efficiency, so using one fully loaded at 400mA will cost you almost 300mA (at 9V). Joyo ZGP uses between c.50ma and c.200ma depending on the overall load (very small draw from pedals will cost you an additional 50mA, close to 800mA draw will cost you 200ma) 4. Wait for the Harley Benton Powerbank+ and use it to power a multi-output Harley Benton or Strymon power supply. The Powerbank+ appears to be an interesting forthcoming product. Massive battery capacity, and selectable output voltage at 9, 12, 18 or 24V. So, you can use it as a regular 9v power bank, or you can use it at 12V to power a Harley Benton ISO-1, ISO-2, or ISO-5. This would give you whole lot of isolated, mutli-voltage options. You could also use the Powerbank+ to power one of the Strymon power supplies at 24V. Hope this is all useful info to somebody!

This is a pretty easy build if anyone fancies having a go. It's more complicated than a regular tap switch, but only slightly. Turned out great!

Sounds like it's doing its job! Do you (or anybody reading this) know if it provides true 'isolation' or just noise filtering? There seems to be conflicting information out there.

Well that's very generous...! I'll send you a DM

Has any body encountered this before? The descriptions isn't all that clear, but if I understand it correctly, it's a power supply isolator with 800ma capacity. Could be an extremely handy problem solver! Much like a GigRig Timelord, but smaller, with more current capacity, and at a fraction of the price... All most people would need to power their boards is a one spot, a daisy chain, and a couple of these for problem pedals! https://www.joyoaudio.co.uk/joyo-zgp-guitar-effect-pedal-filter-isolated-output-power Would be very interested to hear if anyone has any real world experience!

That makes sense. As a side thought, I wonder how many users are getting busy making their own sounds vs. using presets already made by the community vs. just sticking to what comes pre-loaded on the pedal. I'm having loads of fun with the editor but that kind of deep exploration probably isn't for everyone. And that's just the Spectrum, I image in the C4 is even more of a rabbit hole!

Yeah that's true. The limitations never actually occurred to me though because the available options are still mind-blowingly plentiful for me personally!

Well, I bought one too. I was initially very hesitant because I've been a long time subscriber to the "analog is better" orthodoxy. But I took the plunge and... ...wow. This thing delivers just as much slam and squelch as any analog pedal, and then some. The real eye opener is the tweakability. It has 29 filter types, and you can trigger them with 11 envelope response profiles. And every parameter within those options is tweakable. And it has two discrete filter engines which you can combine as you wish. And you can EQ every preset independently. That's before getting into the distortion, octave and LFO capabilities... I think having all this at your fingertips is especially relevant for a filter pedal, because filters are so subjective and one man's gold is another man's garbage. Basically, whatever the sound in your head may be, you can get it with this pedal... and then a hundred more sounds that you never knew you wanted. The only downside I have found is that it is prone to environmental noise. But no more so than other high quality pedals I have, I guess the room I'm in is a pretty challenging environment in terms of noise and it seems to be a crapshoot as to which pedals do ok and which do badly. Bottom line... if anyone is looking for a filter pedal, I don't see how you could reccomend anything else!

My guess is that the problem isnt actually the zoom. Tracing noise issues like this to one particular pedal can be very misleading. It may look like the zoom is the cause, but it's actually (e.g.) the digitech introducing the whine but only under certain random conditions, like when the zoom plus another pedal is engaged (I'm making it up but you get the point). So a head scratcher like this is probably not any one pedal, but a combination. Had my fingers burned on this more than once! One sure fire way to solve it is to isolate each and every pedal...!

If you don't need a device which can adjust the levels of the two signals, then the JHS Summing Amp may also work. Bright Onion could probably make you the same thing for cheaper though.

You could add one of the gigrig isolation adapters and carry on using your one spot. Not cheap but a very neat solution.