NickD Posted March 6, 2018 Share Posted March 6, 2018 Forever, I've been a fan of plug in and play. I know how I want to sound, know how to get that out of my gear, and the world is all at peace. Recently I've embarked upon a project that requires a little more, a stripped down originals 3 piece that seems to pull me towards a few effects. I started using my B3, with an expression pedal, but having got close to what I want I've also picked up a few dedicated effects to do a more refined job in some cases. I still intend to keep the Zoom, for the tuner, looper and for a patch of backup effects in case anything fails live, as it's easily good enough in most cases, but I currently have 3 additional pedals. So... Total noob question. Assuming I've got a big enough pedalboard/case ('cos I have), is there any advantage to me getting a proper pedalboard power supply, as opposed to my current (and free) plan to just velcro a 4 way plug adaptor on there behind the pedals? If it's definitely the way to go, any advice on pitfalls and how to do it without spending a fortune would be most welcome. Thanks in advance! Nick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jposega Posted March 6, 2018 Share Posted March 6, 2018 46 minutes ago, NickD said: Forever, I've been a fan of plug in and play. I know how I want to sound, know how to get that out of my gear, and the world is all at peace. Recently I've embarked upon a project that requires a little more, a stripped down originals 3 piece that seems to pull me towards a few effects. I started using my B3, with an expression pedal, but having got close to what I want I've also picked up a few dedicated effects to do a more refined job in some cases. I still intend to keep the Zoom, for the tuner, looper and for a patch of backup effects in case anything fails live, as it's easily good enough in most cases, but I currently have 3 additional pedals. So... Total noob question. Assuming I've got a big enough pedalboard/case ('cos I have), is there any advantage to me getting a proper pedalboard power supply, as opposed to my current (and free) plan to just velcro a 4 way plug adaptor on there behind the pedals? If it's definitely the way to go, any advice on pitfalls and how to do it without spending a fortune would be most welcome. Thanks in advance! Nick Well, with a dedicated power supply you get the benefit of less devices to go bad. Most PSU’s also have a removable (and therefore replaceable) IEC cord. Most venues would probably have an extra if you forget it or it dies (same kind of cable used for most amps and sound gear in general). A dedicated PSU also would be less bulky than a power strip and individual power bricks for each pedal. Finally, a PSU would give the opportunity for expansion in the future. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dannybuoy Posted March 6, 2018 Share Posted March 6, 2018 Some pedals, mainly digital ones, leak noise back into the shared power rail which then gets picked up by other pedals. Pretty sure I had this problem with the B3 too. You don't necessarily need an expensive isolated power supply, just run a separate wall wart for the Zoom! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickD Posted March 6, 2018 Author Share Posted March 6, 2018 18 minutes ago, jposega said: Well, with a dedicated power supply you get the benefit of less devices to go bad. Most PSU’s also have a removable (and therefore replaceable) IEC cord. Most venues would probably have an extra if you forget it or it dies (same kind of cable used for most amps and sound gear in general). A dedicated PSU also would be less bulky than a power strip and individual power bricks for each pedal. Finally, a PSU would give the opportunity for expansion in the future. Thanks! The expansion part is a given, and it all makes sense, but I guess I'd been looking at it in reverse, in that introducing a power supply would be introducing a single point of failure, and that it would be wise to carry the individual PSUs anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickD Posted March 6, 2018 Author Share Posted March 6, 2018 2 minutes ago, dannybuoy said: Some pedals, mainly digital ones, leak noise back into the shared power rail which then gets picked up by other pedals. Pretty sure I had this problem with the B3 too. You don't necessarily need an expensive isolated power supply, just run a separate wall wart for the Zoom! Great stuff, thanks for the warning! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xgsjx Posted March 12, 2018 Share Posted March 12, 2018 I have a Godlyke 1.7a wart with a daisy. Runs all my pedals without issue. I used to have a Moog LPF that hated sharing power, so it got its own wart. I don’t think the Godlyke warts are available any more, but the OneSpot is very similar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jposega Posted March 13, 2018 Share Posted March 13, 2018 2 hours ago, xgsjx said: I have a Godlyke 1.7a wart with a daisy. Runs all my pedals without issue. I used to have a Moog LPF that hated sharing power, so it got its own wart. I don’t think the Godlyke warts are available any more, but the OneSpot is very similar. I also use the Godlyke PowerAll, but even with only four low-mA, analog pedals on a daisy chain I get a very noticeable buzz/hum, and I've quadruple checked that it is not a faulty patch cable or instrument cable. Too bad isolated power supplies are expensive. I guess you could carry all the power bricks for the pedals on your board as backups in case the PSU on your board craps out on a gig, but given the hassle of getting everything unplugged and replugged with the bricks, I think I'd rather just go without my pedals for the night. I'm also not the kind of person that brings backups of everything and backups for my backups (but I'm neurotic about digital file backups). I've owned PSUs from T-Rex, MXR, and Truetone and the only one that had any problem was the MXR (it just died at home one day); and if it hadn't've been for their atrocious customer service, I would have gladly replaced it with the replacement they eventually sent me after 2 months... after a week without my pedalboard I bought a used Truetone CS12 and had no issues. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dannybuoy Posted March 13, 2018 Share Posted March 13, 2018 (edited) 4 hours ago, jposega said: I also use the Godlyke PowerAll, but even with only four low-mA, analog pedals on a daisy chain I get a very noticeable buzz/hum, and I've quadruple checked that it is not a faulty patch cable or instrument cable. What are those 4 pedals? It might only be one of them that doesn't like sharing power. If they're all analog, perhaps one of them has a built in 9v-18v doubler inside causing all the noise. E.g. the RMI Basswitch pedals suffer from this. Edited March 13, 2018 by dannybuoy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xgsjx Posted March 13, 2018 Share Posted March 13, 2018 6 hours ago, jposega said: I also use the Godlyke PowerAll, but even with only four low-mA, analog pedals on a daisy chain I get a very noticeable buzz/hum, and I've quadruple checked that it is not a faulty patch cable or instrument cable. Too bad isolated power supplies are expensive. The Moog LPF buzzed & hummed like a beach with even just one other pedal on the Godlyke. Putting it on a separate PSU, the other 5 pedals all powered from the Godlyke without any hum at all. I've got another board now (though I still have 2 of the original pedals) & all the pedals run with no noise. So like dannybuoy says, it could just be one of those pedals causing the noise. You might be the lucky one & all 4 of your pedals don't like being on a daisy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave_bass5 Posted March 13, 2018 Share Posted March 13, 2018 On 06/03/2018 at 14:44, dannybuoy said: Some pedals, mainly digital ones, leak noise back into the shared power rail which then gets picked up by other pedals. Pretty sure I had this problem with the B3 too. You don't necessarily need an expensive isolated power supply, just run a separate wall wart for the Zoom! Yes, i had this issue when trying to rum my B3n off my 1Spot PSU with another pedal, either my BDDI, or just line6 receiver. I got a high pitched whine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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