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Power Supply for Pedals - Differences?


Linus27

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10 minutes ago, Doddy said:

Most of the time, I just use a Diego power supply and daisy chain everything from that. I honestly can't say that I've ever found it any noisier than using a dedicated power supply. If you're only using 4 or 5 standard pedals, a daisy chain from a decent power supply like the Diego or One Spot should be fine. 

 

I think it depends more on which pedals you use than how many you use. Some are much more sensitive than others. Big Muffs can get really noisy without a decent power supply. I used to need a noise suppressor with a daisy chain on just four pedals.

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5 minutes ago, SteveXFR said:

 

I think it depends more on which pedals you use than how many you use. Some are much more sensitive than others. Big Muffs can get really noisy without a decent power supply. I used to need a noise suppressor with a daisy chain on just four pedals.

I haven't had any problems with a Big Muff. The only time I've noticed an issue with a daisy chain is with certain digital pedals that have a higher power draw. Standard 9v analogue pedals have always been fine.

I've never had the need to put a noise suppressor in my chain, no matter how many pedals I use. In fact, it's one of the few types of pedals that I don't own.

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I'm really really tempted by the Hardly Bent Powerplant Powerbank, the lightweight rechargeable thingy. It'd fit beautifully on my board and would supply all the power I need and more. @roceci seemed to be very pleased with it in this thread, is it still going strong 3 years down the line?

 

Edited by Rich
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I've found it to be very pedal dependant.

 

  • Daisy-chain power seems to works fine with many pedals, but some don't like it.
  • Certain cheap power bricks aren't advertised as isolated, they are a bit of a false economy as they are basically daisy-chains in a box. 
  • Even with some power bricks that are advertised as 'isolated' I've been told by a pedal manufacturer that "while some power supplies advertised 'isolated'  they only have separate regulators, filters and over current protection for each of the DC output positive terminals but the output negative (ground) terminals are still bonded together - which is not a true isolated supply......Sometimes in a pedal board there are ground currents that cause the sensitive threshold detector circuits in the compressor to trigger without any audio signal.  This issue is almost always power ground loop currents between the pedals with a power supply that has a common ground like a daisy-chain or power brick with the grounds bonded together."
  • So that leaves the high-end fully isolated (and fully-expensive!) power bricks.

 

.........or , go full circle. I don't use many pedals at the moment so I've  gone back to using individual power supplies which isn't actually all that much bulkier and I guess in some ways is a better guarentee for them each being fully isolated and each getting the correct volts & current, and not having all eggs in one basket if a power supply breaks.  So if just powering a four pedals perhaps just buying four individual power supplies @£10 each (or fewer if you can daisy-chain some pedals that don't mind being daisy-chained) plus a 4 gang 5m long extension lead @£10 (longer, and tougher than most leads that come with power bricks)  is cheaper and in some ways better even than even the vey high-end fully isolated bricks. 

 

 

 

Edited by SumOne
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6 hours ago, SteveXFR said:

 

It comes with a euro plug and adapter to suit her majesty's British standard 3 pin plug sockets. 

 

@Linus27

 

^ What Steve said 😃

 

It works perfectly fine, but it is a bit bulky. I've been toying with the idea of using a different mains power cable, but laziness combined with the fact that it works well as is has kept me using the one it came with 

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I have a Strymon Zuma on one board and a Cioks DC7 on a small board. There were a number of considerations for me:

 

• Voltage requirements for 9, 12 and 18V

• Isolated outputs

• Spare 13A to IEC cables are easy to find in an emergency

• Plug in transformers (specifically the cable) can be damaged by repeated plugging and unplugging, plus storage etc

 

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So I have just ordered a Harley Benton PowerPlant ISO 5 Pro so I'll keep you all posted. As I say I only run a TC Electronic Tuner, a Behringer Compressor (Soon to be a TC Spectracomp), a Boss OC-5 Octave and a Behringer Chorus (soon to be a TC Corona) so not too taking.

 

Thank you all again for the help and advice.

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What is clear is that  in general it's not that a supply is itself inherently 'noisy' (although there are varying levels of noise on the voltage rails).

The real issue is what pedals are powered and how they are connected. The 'safe' bet is properly (galvanically) isolated outputs (or separate supplies).

The 'not really isolated' multiple output types can still offer an advantage over a 'daisy chain' as they can feed pedals from separate connectors so reducing 'shared cable'' (common impedance).

With a 'daisy chain' the order of pedals has an effect - basically a digital pedal that is putting clock noise onto the 0V line will cause more noise if it is toward the end of the chain because its return current modulates the reference of the pedals between it and the supply.

Linear vs Switching supplies is an 'interesting' area - In some cases a switching supply can result inn a better result. But personally I feel more confident with a linear supply.

 

A non-noise related benefit of isolated (floating) supplies is that you can stack them to give a larger voltage eg 18V from 2x9V outputs - I do this to get approx 18V for a couple of Trace Elliot pedals.

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On 31/03/2022 at 10:04, Rich said:

I'm really really tempted by the Hardly Bent Powerplant Powerbank, the lightweight rechargeable thingy. It'd fit beautifully on my board and would supply all the power I need and more. @roceci seemed to be very pleased with it in this thread, is it still going strong 3 years down the line?

 

Feel free to keep an eye on the classifieds this weekend... 

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