Powered Pedal Board - what are you guys using?

[Skol303]

I'm in the market for a powered pedalboard. Something that:

• Includes its own built-in power adaptor
• Is capable of holding at least 6 pedals
• Is quick and easy to set up and pack away (i.e. comes in its own carry case)

I'm currently weighing up the BOSS BCB-60 which gets good reviews across the board. Seems like a robust a reliable product, if a little pricey for what it is.

Are there any other options I should be considering?

Thought I'd ask here, as I know there are some serious pedal fiends in our midst

Cheers.

Edited April 6, 2018 by Skol303

[radiophonic]

A lot of folks use pedal train boards with a PSU bolted or velcro-ed to the base. This is fine for all but the smallest PT boards and even then there are solutions that fit the Nano / Nano+. I have a Novo 18 with a One Spot CS7 and I can easily power 9 pedals with current to spare. You probably need to consider the balance of analog and digital pedals before deciding too. Daisy chaining analog is usually fine - so you can have a fairly small/simple PSU - but a lot of digital pedals need an isolated supply or they get noisy, hence the plethora of 6 - 10 channel supplies with  higher voltage and current options.

[Skol303]

^ That's good advice, thanks 

In fact a standard pedalboard with a separate power brick looks like a good solution; and potentially a better solution that an "all in one" like the BOSS BCB-60.

Also good call re. daisy-chaining analogue and digital pedals. I hadn't considered the potential issues around that.

The One Spot CS7 sounds very reliable based on reviews. Now on my wishlist to consider.

[T-Bay]

I use a Mosky power supply on a Chinese made board, works a treat and still have spare outputs but no space on the board for more pedals.

[Skol303]

^ Cheers for the input T-Bay.

I'm now definitely veering towards a separate board and power supply; seems to be the most flexible solution.

[Twigman]

I use a PT nano+ with T-Rex Chamelon PS velcroed underneath.

I drilled off the original pathetic feet on the nano+ and replaced with tall rubber feet so that there was enough space under for the power supply.

Can use 9V and 12V pedals at the same time.

 

[jposega]

Voodoo Lab has a new series of boards called the Dingbat, and you can buy them with or without a PSU pre-installed. Pretty handy. Then again, installed a PSU on almost any board isn't difficult.

[xgsjx]

I'm not sure about digital being more fussy than analogue.  The Moog LPF was analogue & it wouldn't share.  My current filter is a BEF Pro, which is digital & it has no probs sharing with 4 other pedals on a Godlike Powerall (similar to the oneSpot).

A brick does look more professional & if you need to power more than 6 pedals, then it makes sense to do that as opposed to 2 daisy warts.  But a daisy is a good bit cheaper & you can run a noisy pedal on it's own PSU.

Old board had a 2 gang extension run to it, one wart for the LPF, one for everything else.

 

Now just the daisy...

 

 

[Skol303]

Thanks for all the input guys.

Having shopped around I'm now thinking of pulling the trigger on a Truetone 1 Spot CS7, which has the following outputs:

• 1 x 18V 100mA
• 4 x 9V/12V 200mA
• 2 x 9V 500mA

This will cater for all my current needs and also accommodate any juicier pedals I may acquire in future (like Moogfoogers, which I've been eyeying for sometime... and gratuitously displayed by xgsjx above!).

Quick question: the Truetone 1 Spot is listed as having a regulated power output, so am I right in assuming that I can plug any 9V pedals into either the 200mA or the 500mA sockets without risk of damaging the pedals?

[xgsjx]

25 minutes ago, Skol303 said:

Thanks for all the input guys.

Having shopped around I'm now thinking of pulling the trigger on a Truetone 1 Spot CS7, which has the following outputs:

• 1 x 18V 100mA
• 4 x 9V/12V 200mA
• 2 x 9V 500mA

This will cater for all my current needs and also accommodate any juicier pedals I may acquire in future (like Moogfoogers, which I've been eyeying for sometime... and gratuitously displayed by xgsjx above!).

Quick question: the Truetone 1 Spot is listed as having a regulated power output, so am I right in assuming that I can plug any 9V pedals into either the 200mA or the 500mA sockets without risk of damaging the pedals?

The pedal will draw as many mA as it needs, so a 150mA pedal can go on either the 200 or 500mA feed, but don't put a 300mA pedal on the 200mA feed.  Same goes for that 18v, don't put a pedal that needs more than 100mA on it.
So technically, you could put a daisy on one of the 500mA feeds & run 3-4 100mA pedals from it.

I'd love to get those 2 Moogs back sometime.  The sound they made was immense.

If you've got a spare 15 mins, here's my old board with a full run through. 

 

[Skol303]

20 minutes ago, xgsjx said:

The pedal will draw as many mA as it needs, so a 150mA pedal can go on either the 200 or 500mA feed, but don't put a 300mA pedal on the 200mA feed.  Same goes for that 18v, don't put a pedal that needs more than 100mA on it.
So technically, you could put a daisy on one of the 500mA feeds & run 3-4 100mA pedals from it.

Thanks G. Nice video too...albeit GAS inducing!

Just to clarify the above: mA aren't an issue providing the PSU has a regulated power supply - otherwise the Voltage will vary and may rise above what the pedal is designed for (e.g. it may increase from 9V to say 12V or more if running a 80mA pedal from a 500mA unregulated PSU). Do I have that correct?

[xgsjx]

Most pedals that say 9v are usually 10v (or so I’ve been told) & will usually run on anything from 7-12v (the Moogs are fine on anything from 7-15v).  As long as there’s enough mA for the pedal, don’t worry too much about volts.

Having a pedal that wants 80mA won’t change the voltage.  A 9v psu will provide 9v regardless of whether you’re drawing 80mA or 480mA.

Its quite common for guitarists to use a lower powered psu on dirt pedals or even make a voltage reducer so it sounds like the batteries are going flat. It causes the signal to break up more & gives a very lo-fi sound. 

[dannybuoy]

About the Truetone power supplies...

Only the CS-6 will fit under a Pedaltrain Nano or Metro. If you're going up to the CS-7 it will have to go on top unless you fit bigger feet on the board.

Secondly, unlike most isolated power supplies that use transformers, you can ignore the mA labels on the individual outputs as long as you don't exceed the amount for the entire supply. This gives you more flexibility than the CS-6's only real competitor (when it comes to fitting under the smaller Pedaltrains), the Cioks DC-5. Actually saying that, there is also now the Strymon Zuma R300 which also uses switching technology like the Truetone CS-6, so that's worth investigating also!

[Skol303]

4 hours ago, xgsjx said:

Having a pedal that wants 80mA won’t change the voltage.  A 9v psu will provide 9v regardless of whether you’re drawing 80mA or 480mA.

I know that's true for a regulated PSU, but for unregulated power supplies I *think* the Voltage is capable of varying depending on the current drawn - so for instance if you connect a pedal that requires, say, 80mA to a 9V/500mA unregulated PSU, the Voltage would increase. But then I know very little about electronics and may have that completely wrong

I'm going to opt for a regulated PSU anyway, so I suppose it's moot point.

3 hours ago, dannybuoy said:

About the Truetone power supplies...

Only the CS-6 will fit under a Pedaltrain Nano or Metro. If you're going up to the CS-7 it will have to go on top unless you fit bigger feet on the board.

Secondly, unlike most isolated power supplies that use transformers, you can ignore the mA labels on the individual outputs as long as you don't exceed the amount for the entire supply. This gives you more flexibility than the CS-6's only real competitor (when it comes to fitting under the smaller Pedaltrains), the Cioks DC-5. Actually saying that, there is also now the Strymon Zuma R300 which also uses switching technology like the Truetone CS-6, so that's worth investigating also!

That's useful to know.

I'm going to be mostly using the power supply for studio work - in fact, for running pedals for the purpose of reamping, more than as a traditional live gig pedalboard. So it's no problem for me to opt for the slightly bulkier CS-7 and that extra output would be useful

From what you're saying, I'm guessing I could therefore daisy-chain several pedals off the CS-7's higher current outputs (500mA) - providing that the total current drawn doesn't exceed the maximum for the PSU (in this case 1900mA)?

Think I'm starting to get my head around this now. Thanks guys!

[dannybuoy]

Yep, should be doable. I daisy chain off my Cioks DC5 300mA output, you'd have even more leeway with the Truetone.

[jposega]

4 hours ago, Skol303 said:

From what you're saying, I'm guessing I could therefore daisy-chain several pedals off the CS-7's higher current outputs (500mA) - providing that the total current drawn doesn't exceed the maximum for the PSU (in this case 1900mA)?

Think I'm starting to get my head around this now. Thanks guys!

2

Yes, there are videos on YouTube of a guy at Truetone powering a Line 6 HX Effects with each of their power supplies. The individual jack mA ratings mean almost nothing: you could daisy chain 500mA worth of pedals off of a "100mA" jack, as long as you stay under the PSU's total rating of 1900mA.

[Skol303]

10 hours ago, jposega said:

The individual jack mA ratings mean almost nothing: you could daisy chain 500mA worth of pedals off of a "100mA" jack, as long as you stay under the PSU's total rating of 1900mA.

Perfect! That's great to know.

Truetone 1Spot CS7 and a daisy chain cable now incoming... 

Thank again folks.

EDIT to say I've just discovered the majority of my pedals draw less than 5mA (the most being a Behringer BSY600 at 30mA), so I could potentially run loads of pedals without the Truetone PSU even breaking a sweat.

That's not going to help my pedal GAS. It's really not.

Edited April 9, 2018 by Skol303

[xgsjx]

Wait until you get things like Moogers, the MF-101 took about 180-200mA (can’t recall exactly, but it was greedy).  The MF-105b took about 80mA. 

[Skol303]

1 hour ago, xgsjx said:

Wait until you get things like Moogers, the MF-101 took about 180-200mA (can’t recall exactly, but it was greedy).  The MF-105b took about 80mA. 

There you go, feeding my GAS again!

Thanks mate

[nickmew]

A little late to the conversation but if you want to go plug free and save a little, I use a multi purpose power brick for my board - a Poweradd Pilot Pro 2 that can be had for £75 on amazon. As long as you don't need multiple voltages it'll supply dozens on a single daisy, is v low profile and lasts a good few sessions between charges. Powers this for me

Can also power your laptop to noodle about on in the green room 😁

IMPORTANT NOTE Also before you try your pedals you do need an inverter adaptor to get the polarity right using this brick

Edited May 20, 2018 by nickmew
Note

[nickmew]

20 minutes ago, nickmew said:

Powers this for me

I will add this is actually the latest incarnation of my guitar pedalboard (Heresy!), my bass one is smaller but I use the same brick when I switch bands & instruments