Author Topic: Power supply for pedals? (Read 6873 times)

math2014 · « **on:** December 06, 2005, 07:46:23 AM »

Hi all,

I ve been wondering about "what power supply?" for my pedals (2 at the moment about to grow rapidly.).

I got a BigD and a Fulltone Soulbender, hence 1 daisy chain wont work, since the Fulltone has reverse polarity etc. Options? 2 supplies (1 for pos tip, 1 for neg), or one with isolated outputs.

1. 2x Godlyke Powerall daisy chains. 60-70GBP for both
2. Morley power supply? (very cheap!) 40GBP for both.
3. Pedal power2+ is it worth it? 8 isolated outputs but.... 150GBP...

Any suggestions?

Yannis

tewboss · « **Reply #1 on:** December 06, 2005, 08:44:58 AM »

I'd say PedalPower 2 or the Rothwell one (which I have). Rothwell is for straight 9v pedals but the PedalPower can do more.

Gary · « **Reply #2 on:** December 06, 2005, 08:49:28 AM »

I use a Dunlop Brick which has seven 9v outlets and three 18v outlets. It comes with various connectors for different types of pedal and it's about the size of a normal stomp box. I've had no problems with noise which I'm told can happen with power supplies. I've had it for quite a while and I can't remember exactly how much I paid but I think it was about £120. I've probably saved at least that in batteries over the years.

Floyd Pepper · « **Reply #3 on:** December 06, 2005, 10:46:19 AM »

If you've already got a 9v power supply then you could try this...

I've got a wire with 5 male 9v connectors and 1 female 9v connector. I plug my 9v power supply into the female and the males into the pedals. Maplin sell the wires and they're on eBay too.

If you have reverse polarity you could rewire the connections on one of the males.

Skybone · « **Reply #4 on:** December 06, 2005, 04:37:52 PM »

I have a "Power Bank" DC-9 power supply. Basically, it's a cheap 9v PSU that can run up to 5 individual pedals with the "standard" connector (found on BOSS/Ibanez/Marshall/etc/etc). It's pretty reliable, and at about £30 it's pretty good value too (mine was less, but I bought it years ago). I've modded 3 of the leads to 3.5mm mini jack's to power 2 EH and a ProCo RAT pedals, so I'm running one of those 5 output leads (which is running 3 pedals on top of the other 4 on my board) without any problems.

If you want to run pedals of different voltages, then the Voodoo Labs PSU and the Dunlop Power Brick are the one's to go for, as they can do up to 18v (good for Line6's *M4 pedals). You might be lucky and find one going 2nd hand somewhere which'll make it a bit cheaper.

Edit: http://www.hotroxuk.com are selling the Dunlop DC Brick for £99.00 + p&p.

math2014 · « **Reply #5 on:** December 06, 2005, 05:47:04 PM »

I just want 2 power supply chains, one to power -9dcv and one to power +9dcv. at the moment i dont care for different voltages as the pedals i intend to get are:

1. Morley Pro2 Wah
2. Some sort of delay (Dano or Boss)
3. Other boosters (treblebooster etc) (HBE)
4. Chorus/flanger etc (Dano or Boss)

So basically 2 powerbanks from maplin?

Powerbank= 450mAh 30GBP
Morley 9dcv = 300mAh 20GBP
Godlyke =1700mAh. 35GBP.

Any ideas?

HJM · « **Reply #6 on:** December 06, 2005, 06:50:30 PM »

Most important thing is to isolate the grounds on all of the powersupply feeds. The pedal power, brick, Rothwell and Big John all do this, the power bank doesn't, neither do daisy chain cables. Sometimes you get lucky, but if you hear a low faint hum, you've got a loop (or a big loud hum!!)

math2014 · « **Reply #7 on:** December 06, 2005, 07:18:09 PM »

Quote from: HJM

Most important thing is to isolate the grounds on all of the powersupply feeds. The pedal power, brick, Rothwell and Big John all do this, the power bank doesn't, neither do daisy chain cables. Sometimes you get lucky, but if you hear a low faint hum, you've got a loop (or a big loud hum!!)

so chains are problematic and i should go pedalpower2+?

Bainzy · « **Reply #8 on:** December 06, 2005, 08:11:33 PM »

I use a daisy chain for my adaptor from Maplin - £2.99 and works fine with no problems whatsoever!

As long as whatever you use is grounded properly, theres no reason why you should worry about how it sounds - its just electricity powering your pedals and shouldnt affect tone at all

math2014 · « **Reply #9 on:** December 07, 2005, 12:55:30 AM »

So when you say to ground them properly... what do you exactly mean? (excuse my ignorance)

HJM · « **Reply #10 on:** December 07, 2005, 10:14:55 AM »

There are two grounds in the system, power supply and signal. When you use a daisy chain cable each pedal has a ground on the signal and the powersupply, so you get lots of little ground loops which can induce 50hz hum in your sound.

Even if the whole system plugs into the same socket at the wall you still have all of these little loops going on between the pedals.

Some pedals have good PSU inputs and are less affected by the problem, others hum like mad!

People like Bradshaw and Cornish know about this and avoid daisy chain power supplies.

But like I said earlier, you might not have a problem!