Pharaoh Supreme noise

[CyaNitrate]

Are some pedals inherently noisy? I get a really loud hum/buzz when I turn it on, just sitting at idle, whereas my other fuzzes are pretty dead silent. I used to chock it up to the shit practice amp I was playing, cause that thing was noisy regardless, but my vibrolux is dead silent and I get a buzz, just with that pedal.

I've tried different power sources, so I don't think that's it.

Just noisy, or is something wrong with it?

[wdinc01]

I noticed that my regular Pharaoh tends to be on the noisy side as well. It might be a design with the pedal. I don't know how similar the Pharaoh Supreme is to mine, which is an older one that has the germanium and silicon switch as a custom option, but I'd imagine they're not too far off.

[CyaNitrate]

That was actually super helpful. That trex was aweful!

And by different power sources, really I only tried one wall wart against another...I think ultimately I need to break down and get a really good power supply.

[CyaNitrate]

It's also interesting that everything else likes the t-rex, because that's the same situation I'm in..I can daisy chain everything off a wall wart and everything is happy but the pharaoh.

[aens_wife]

Some pedals just make a little noise, but a decent power supply will make a HUGE difference. We have found that a 1Spot does the trick 99.9% of the time, though.

Good luck.

[goroth]

The 1spot is very well designed though. Being a switching power supply it can create noise with certain pedals but for the most part it is dead quiet. Love it.

T-Rex stuff is total crap. Even their isolated power supplies have sub standard filtering. I don't get it either why they're popular.

Cioks ftw! And 1spots!

[CyaNitrate]

Thanks guys! I've been eying the Walrus Audio Aetos for ever. Torn between that and the voodoo labs pp2. Not too familiar with Cioks.

[goroth]

If you've got a shop that carries the power supplies you are interested in there is a really good way to test their filtering. Plug in 1 or more stupidly high gain pedals. Max the gain. Turn the volume off on the guitar. Any noise the power supply makes will be amplified by all the gain in the pedals.

If you want to check how well isolated the outputs are just get a put a poorly filtered digital pedal (eg the EHX freeze) on one of the outputs. Or put a few of them. And some high gain stuff. And just see what noise turns up.

Work out what your current supply needs are, how many pedals you want to have isolated from each other (you can still daisy chain even from a pp2 or something), and then double check how the outputs are isolated, and how they are sectioned off. For example, you might have 2 isolated outputs but that share a common max of 400mA.

edit: make sure the dimensions fit under/on your board!

[aens_wife]

Thanks guys! I've been eying the Walrus Audio Aetos for ever. Torn between that and the voodoo labs pp2. Not too familiar with Cioks.

I wouldn't suggest the PP2. We have a friend who techs for a big touring band and they had several die on the first leg of their tour. Replaced them with 1Spots and have had no issues since.

I know they are popular, but they aren't the best option out there, in my experience.

[CyaNitrate]

Thanks guys! I've been eying the Walrus Audio Aetos for ever. Torn between that and the voodoo labs pp2. Not too familiar with Cioks.

I wouldn't suggest the PP2. We have a friend who techs for a big touring band and they had several die on the first leg of their tour. Replaced them with 1Spots and have had no issues since.

I know they are popular, but they aren't the best option out there, in my experience.

That's interesting, and the first bad thing I've heard about them. Good thing I'm a sucker for sweet graphics I suppose. Last time I checked the Aetos is in the same ballpark price range.

And unfortunately out here in the desert, all I've got locally is a mom'n'pop shop who gets most of their income through lessons and repairs over gear sales. Great for buying strings, but pedals and power supplies, not so much.

[KaosCill8r]

I found some pedals have more or less noise depending on where they are in the signal chain. I try put my noisiest pedals as early in the chain as I can. Though sometimes it doesn't matter, and they are just noisy wherever they are located. If the sound of the pedal is good then I just embrace the noise and only use it where there is enough sounds going on in the background to mask it.