Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Guitars, Amps and Effects => Topic started by: HTH AMPS on July 31, 2011, 05:18:01 PM
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I've had some problems with hum through my amp in quite a few venues (pubs) recently and started looking into power conditioning units (Furman mostly). As Furman didn't have the decency to even get back to me, I went ahead and bought a Tacima CS929 power-conditioned 6-way strip for £18.00 off ebay (used) as a total punt (usually £25.99 brand new on ebay in P&P).
I'm happy to report that not only is the hum almost zero in my amp now, but the tone has also improved - it's tighter and punchier in the bass, mids are more focused and growly and the treble is crisp and clear.
I'm totally sold on these power conditioning units - for £25.99 its worth a try and even if you don't get as much of an improvement as me, at least your gear is protected from spikes and surges.
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Nice!
I use Tripp Lite in my rack, and a Richard Gray RGPC 400Pro for my amp heads:
http://www.richardgrayspowercompany.com/products.aspx?type=parallel
Unfortunately, the Tacima is not available in the US, but Monster Cable makes something similar, as does Panamax.
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weirdly been using one for ages for my computer
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the beauty of the Tacima CS929 is it's price - its worth a punt at £25.99 on ebay.
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Those look great i shall have a look at them also they sell them in maplins which is a bonus as theres one close to my house
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Is there a EU-compatible version ?
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maplins have em for £40 though
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maplins have em for £40 though
yeah i just noticed that sucks. Ebay it is
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gonna try mine with amp didnt make much dif to recording stuff so try with amp...prob more sensitive to noise
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I'm going to try one - I am having problems with mains and RF (that I think is mains related).
Andy
Ps. They're cheaper on Amazon...
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interesting, thanks for the info. might be worth a look, i get hum too at times.
do they do any with rcd as well? i'm paranoid :lol:
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HTH, are these kinds of devices doing a similar job to your strip?
I've seen them used in Diezel's but I don't know of too many builders using them. I guess mains grounding is the normal problem that causes hum, but then if that was true, a filter wouldn't really work, right?
I'd be into trying one of these in a build but I'd have to find a building with bad mains to test the benefit.
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Good choice, there. I've been using an APC brand unit with similar results. I'm not convinced any of us need to spend the big money on the rack units.
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I've had a couple of power conditioners and.. without success.. these cheap strips are only to give you a better manual accessibility in your rig, so that everything is lined up in a decent way but it does not solve the hum/undervoltage issue, so, if someone noticed that their sound is tighter with a 20GBP strip, it's all in their heads :) these are more like surge protection units which have a fuse that kicks out once there's too much juice in the socket..
good units with hum filters that have AC voltage stabilizers that really work are really slightly more expensive..
i stopped using these power strips cause it was no good and was really pointless except the fact you can power up your rack units and I bought one thing that looks like a transformer that I have to carry around, but it works very well and i dont care :) ... it was one of the cheapest i could find and it cost 160e :)
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I'm guessing your talking about a UPS. which i think is the same thing Jackson RR is on about if it's APC branded. uninterruptible power supply.
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Nay, no UPS. Mine's this unit. I picked it up for $30 during a Christmas sale. Isolated grounds and filters. :D
http://www.google.com/products/catalog?hl=en&safe=off&client=firefox-a&hs=smt&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&q=upc+power+filter&biw=1680&bih=937&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=shop&cid=12456666941084694813&sa=X&ei=Vq42Tu6nCNTAgQfchKjFDg&ved=0CEMQ8wIwBA
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Nay, no UPS. Mine's this unit. I picked it up for $30 during a Christmas sale. Isolated grounds and filters. :D
http://www.google.com/products/catalog?hl=en&safe=off&client=firefox-a&hs=smt&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&q=upc+power+filter&biw=1680&bih=937&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=shop&cid=12456666941084694813&sa=X&ei=Vq42Tu6nCNTAgQfchKjFDg&ved=0CEMQ8wIwBA
aah nice!
used to have a few APC UPS in work. They do pretty small ones but they are still heavy. I guess the same technology is used in the UPS somewhere. I had a friend who used an APC UPS with his TSL because his TSL kept having issues due to the power.
what do you think about those RC filtering IEC's?
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I've just ordered one on HTH recommendation to see if it will clear up the intermittent noise issues I've been having with a P90 guitar at the rehearsal rooms. Fingers crossed this helps a little.
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Nay, no UPS. Mine's this unit. I picked it up for $30 during a Christmas sale. Isolated grounds and filters. :D
http://www.google.com/products/catalog?hl=en&safe=off&client=firefox-a&hs=smt&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&q=upc+power+filter&biw=1680&bih=937&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=shop&cid=12456666941084694813&sa=X&ei=Vq42Tu6nCNTAgQfchKjFDg&ved=0CEMQ8wIwBA
aah nice!
used to have a few APC UPS in work. They do pretty small ones but they are still heavy. I guess the same technology is used in the UPS somewhere. I had a friend who used an APC UPS with his TSL because his TSL kept having issues due to the power.
what do you think about those RC filtering IEC's?
Hmmm. If you're referencing your post just before my first in the thread, then I can't see the link. :(
I assumed you were talking about the small power filters I've seen for sale SOMEWHERE, made it a point to research and then totally forgot about them. Seemed the perfect thing to shoehorn into a chassis. They were cheap, too. Like $30 or something. As far as I know, they are mostly capacitor banks.
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thats thats probably it. they look a little interesting, maybe not 100% essential.
(http://www.icoste.com/gimg/images/p/1799/37895918-icoste.jpg)
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Oh yeah! That's it! Cheap enough to give it a go, anyways. Can you link the specs?
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there are a few on here
http://www.rapidonline.com/Electronic-Components/Filters-Suppression/IEC-Filters
let me know if that doesn't work.
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I'd say any of them with an earth choke then! That would probably end up being the best. Not a lot of power filtering happening in those little guys, but ground isolation in a neat little package that can't be left behind is something I can get behind. Ebtech sells the HumX for about $60 USD, can't imagine it's doing too much extra! HTH, any thoughts?
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the earth choke was the bit that caught my eye. I haven't researched what that actually means but that looks like an interesting feature.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground_loop_%28electricity%29
Knowledge! :D The part concerning us is the third paragraph under Description.
After reading that more carefully it makes me curious about the ferrite rings some manufacturers use at the input instead of a resistor for RF reasons.
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thats thats probably it. they look a little interesting, maybe not 100% essential.
(http://www.icoste.com/gimg/images/p/1799/37895918-icoste.jpg)
I've tried these and don't feel they give any improvement.
The Tacima CS929 I did feel gave an improvement though, very noticeable. It can only be the earth choke that is the improvement.
Like I said, I can only speak of my success with this item, ymmv.
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Mine arrived today, i'll report back on if I have similar success. :)