radiophonic Posted July 31, 2017 Share Posted July 31, 2017 My pedalboard has grown quite a bit and I've ended up with several digital pedals, often in simultaneous use. However, the old Boss PSU I'm using has never been upgraded and (I only just noticed) is only rated at 200 mA. Everything does seem to work though, and I'm not hearing any obvious tone suck. I'd assumed that digital pedals will either work or not, but the current draw numbers don't really add up.I'd have thought that I'd be getting a voltage drop if the pedals were pulling too much current. Is this just a case of the usual engineering convention of doubling the rating for safety? Or am I just surfing a fine line of luck and it could all crap out on me at any moment? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheddatom Posted July 31, 2017 Share Posted July 31, 2017 some will work but with weird artefacts. My DD-20 seems to work fine but all the lights go off - if I don't have enough current on the daisy chain A lot of pedals are rated with a higher current than they really need If it sounds OK and works - who cares?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
radiophonic Posted July 31, 2017 Author Share Posted July 31, 2017 [quote name='cheddatom' timestamp='1501493213' post='3344942'] some will work but with weird artefacts. My DD-20 seems to work fine but all the lights go off - if I don't have enough current on the daisy chain A lot of pedals are rated with a higher current than they really need If it sounds OK and works - who cares?! [/quote] Well presumably, if I'm maxing out the current draw on the PSU, it may overheat? I'm guessing that the stated spec of the pedals may be upper estimates with a large safety margin. I [i]care [/i]because I don't know if I'm on the edge of it crapping out or within a fairly safe margin and I'd like to avoid shelling out on something more expensive if I can. OTOH, I don't want it failing in a gig situation and my band are taking August off, so I have 4 weeks to decide and sort it out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheddatom Posted July 31, 2017 Share Posted July 31, 2017 I wouldn't know if it'll overheat sorry. I've never had a problem and used to push the same (Boss) PSU to the max. It might be worth getting a better PSU anyway as you'll then be able to expand in the future Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cuzzie Posted July 31, 2017 Share Posted July 31, 2017 In my simplistic view, the pedal will only draw as much current as it needs, and i suppose you have to go with the quoted figures. If they do not get the draw they require,they will not work as effectively, although they should still work. One thing to NOT get wrong is Voltage, too much and it fries it and its good night pedal. Example - my 2 notes LeBass is 500mA, so i need to combine 2 ports on my power supply to drive it, when it was on one port for a small period, it worked, but no way near as good. Its one of those things about pedals, a lot of people are happy to buy them, but seem to not want to shell out an extra hundred quid on a decent power supply (not being judgemental here!). You may always get away with daisy chain, etc. BUT if you get a good power brick for your needs, you will never need to make do, you will have a happy long term board. Depending on board size, where you mount it etc. I have had a decibel Eleven Hotstone Deluxe - fantastic, and anything from the Cioks family has been good to me, currently a DC5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CameronJ Posted July 31, 2017 Share Posted July 31, 2017 Personally I wouldn't take big risks with pedalboard power. I'd always prefer to be safe in the knowledge that I have "headroom" as far as the current that my power supply can provide. The last thing I want is pedals shutting down of their own accord or behaving oddly in a live situation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redbandit599 Posted July 31, 2017 Share Posted July 31, 2017 (edited) I'm in the same situation - new board gradually filling with more pedals and also wanted to mount my Smoothhound wireless on it too. The Smoothhound didn't like being on a daisy chain - so I've decided to go down the power brick route. Until now I'd been using a One Spot (which I think could be an ideal easy/cheap upgrade from your Boss PSU) - it's basically a more powerful 'normal' PSU. I've bought a Harley Benton Junior (which is cheap and has five isolated outputs) but think the 600ma rating isn't enough to cover my board as some of the pedals lights won't come on, or they seem to fade/glitch a bit (might sell this soon) and so have just bitten the bullet and ordered a One Spot CS7 - which seems very flexible and powerful. Someone is selling a Trex Chameleon on here that looks pretty good too. Edited July 31, 2017 by redbandit599 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodinblack Posted July 31, 2017 Share Posted July 31, 2017 When you are pulling too much power from a power supply, and the supply can't supply the current, the voltage drops. Most pedals can cope with a bit less voltage, especially analogue ones designed to run from a PP3 as that would be considered normal behaviour. What happens depends on the pedal. Most analogue ones can go a long way down before it becomes an issue (i had a chorus pedal I deliberatly undervolted as it produced the nicest overdrive when it was low) as the supply rails go down and the amplifiers in them start clipping. Most digital ones will cut out. However the digital ones at the point of the headroom of the powersupply going down will start producing a lot more noise through the power supply, and that may be an issue long before any cut out happens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
radiophonic Posted August 1, 2017 Author Share Posted August 1, 2017 [quote name='Woodinblack' timestamp='1501504570' post='3345087'] When you are pulling too much power from a power supply, and the supply can't supply the current, the voltage drops. Most pedals can cope with a bit less voltage, especially analogue ones designed to run from a PP3 as that would be considered normal behaviour. What happens depends on the pedal. Most analogue ones can go a long way down before it becomes an issue (i had a chorus pedal I deliberatly undervolted as it produced the nicest overdrive when it was low) as the supply rails go down and the amplifiers in them start clipping. Most digital ones will cut out. However the digital ones at the point of the headroom of the powersupply going down will start producing a lot more noise through the power supply, and that may be an issue long before any cut out happens. [/quote] Thanks for that. Sounds like I'm fine then, despite the numbers. I'm getting no noise increase when running Comp, Looper and Delay. The max combination is Looper Delay, Comp and Chorus (Analog) and if the latter is starting to distort, that would only be a good thing and probably hard to discern anyway, over the intentional gunge of the simulated tape delay tails and as part of a volume pedal swell. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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