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Re: Pedal power supply help
Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2018 6:12 am
by rfurtkamp
Get a basic el-cheap One Spot daisychain. $20-30. If it sounds good to you and works...stop there.
I have a metric ton of stuff hooked to one, absolutely zero issues - but the two biggest power draws on it are the Boss ES-8 and a RE-20.
Still, it's a case of "if you add a pedal and noise ensues"...look into other options.
If it works, though, it works.
Re: Pedal power supply help
Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2018 6:26 am
by VREEEEVROOOOOW
D.o.S. wrote:Are you in the US? I could send you my Voodoo Labs PPD if so -- It's US voltage only so using it over here is a pain.
Unfortunately not!
hbombgraphics wrote:Without knowing what pedals you are running now it's not super easy to answer the question
-BOSS DD-3
-Danelectro Fab Tone
-Digitech Death Metal Distortion
-Digitech Digiverb
-DOD FX91
-MXR Distortion+
Will get:
-a volume pedal (basically any kind, whatever's cheap and doesn't feel horrible)
-a BOSS tu
-some ps-delay, like a BOSS PS
And then I'd like to have room for one more.
Thanks a lot for the tips & advice! I didn't find any of those over here (Norway), and shipping and sales tax + import fees + customs fees + blah blah make stuff like this way too expensive to import. I'll look more closely for Donner when I get home.
bennroe wrote:Most volume pedals are passive, so you probably won't need to save a spot for that. I've been using a Strymon Zuma/Ojai. It wasn't cheap, but it's reliable, keeps my pedals quiet, and it's expandable (to help feed the habit).
I did not know that. All the ones I've seen go on the national used site here have required a power supply of some sort. I will look for passive ones. Thanks for the info!
Bassist_Diver wrote:Cioks DC-10
/thread
I found a couple of sites that sold this. It's fairly expensive, but looks very good. Thank you for the suggestion!
crochambeau wrote:It means separate. Some power distribution modules have separately rectified and regulated outputs that share NOTHING which prevents some issues from cropping up. You can think of them as being multiple power supplies in a single box.
In an unisolated string you are essentially connecting all of the pedals together at the power supply. Some pedals are bullies, some are pacifists, others get along quite alright. I like having multiple PSUs on hand so if one pedal gets uppity you can put it in solitary confinement. I know some of my builds lean toward being a pacifist (minimal or simple regulation and practically no common mode rejection due to my preferred topologies), I had a Zoom H4 recorder sharing a string and holy shit it was terrible.
Placing the Zoom on its own power supply alleviated the issue. So my low brow advice is to just collect everything you can and live in a mountain of useful junk.
Okay, I know how that works. Thank you for clarifying. (I'm not used to the terminology, especially not in English).
actual wrote:fwiw I use [XVive V19 Micro Power], works great and pretty lights
This looks nice. Can I safely use ten pedals though? How does it work when you have an 18v out, can you use that with a 9v pedal (or several)? I have no idea how this stuff works, so sorry if that's a stupid question.
rfurtkamp wrote:Get a basic el-cheap One Spot daisychain. $20-30. If it sounds good to you and works...stop there.
I have a metric ton of stuff hooked to one, absolutely zero issues - but the two biggest power draws on it are the Boss ES-8 and a RE-20.
Still, it's a case of "if you add a pedal and noise ensues"...look into other options.
If it works, though, it works.
I have looked at those. They look very convenient, and they're cheap. A bit too convenient and cheap. So I'm a bit suspicious about just buying one and hoping for the best; it's nice to hear someone's personal experience with it.
Re: Pedal power supply help
Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2018 9:18 am
by hbombgraphics
Don't be afraid of convenient and cheap
based on the pedals you have a one-spot daisy would probably work just fine
if it doesn't you can always isolate the 1 pedal that is making noise with a 2nd cheap power supply
Re: Pedal power supply help
Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2018 10:25 am
by Pepe
hbombgraphics wrote:if it doesn't you can always isolate the 1 pedal that is making noise with a 2nd cheap power supply
In my case I use a battery for the
one pedal that is making noise: the Marshall SV-1 SuperVibe Chorus. Cool unit, perfect for non-chorussy dimensional sounds (that's how I use it when recording), but whatever power supply I tried with it, it's only noise-free with a (rechargeable) battery.
Re: Pedal power supply help
Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2018 11:27 am
by VREEEEVROOOOOW
It says the 1Spot does max 1700mA. That might be enough. I'm not sure. The DD-3 draws 35mA, the Distortion+ 2.4mA, and the Digiverb recommends 300mA. The other three I have no clue about. The BOSS TUs are at about 30, and the PSs about 40.
I'd like to make sure I can get away with a single power-supply, max two.
Another dumb question: if I daisy chain too much stuff (& get a too high draw), what happens with e.g. the 1Spot? I'm assuming it won't blow up or anything, but IDK this stuff.
Re: Pedal power supply help
Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2018 11:38 am
by ibarakishi
crochambeau wrote:VREEEEVROOOOOW wrote:I don't know what "isolated" means in this context.
my low brow advice is to just collect everything you can and live in a mountain of useful junk.
truth.
i currently use a BBE supa charger. hasn't ever given me issues and i wouldn't hesitate to buy one again.
Re: Pedal power supply help
Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2018 12:15 pm
by rfurtkamp
VREEEEVROOOOOW wrote:It says the 1Spot does max 1700mA. That might be enough. I'm not sure. The DD-3 draws 35mA, the Distortion+ 2.4mA, and the Digiverb recommends 300mA. The other three I have no clue about. The BOSS TUs are at about 30, and the PSs about 40.
I'd like to make sure I can get away with a single power-supply, max two.
Another dumb question: if I daisy chain too much stuff (& get a too high draw), what happens with e.g. the 1Spot? I'm assuming it won't blow up or anything, but IDK this stuff.
You won't get the max draw of the One Spot with what you're running.
All on a One Spot, plus a DB11 4-loop switcher, a Source Audio Kingmaker, a Boss HM-2, a Fender Blender, a custom 3-in-1 stutter trem/delay with warp/fuzz....and it has ZERO issues. Nada. None. And I've hooked up other stuff drawing 250-300 real-world to update firmware on a spot on the chain...again...no issue.

Re: Pedal power supply help
Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2018 3:29 pm
by aens_wife
We have run our boards off 1Spots for so many years. Also, not for nothing, Nick Reinhart uses 1Spots for touring bc he found them to be quieter and more reliable than bricks, all while being cheaper. Even if you have to run 4 of them for your board, it is still cheaper than buying most bricks and they will run more pedals.
Whoever dreamed up the marketing plan for the pp2 deserves an award bc it is a POS and makes a zillion dollars a year based on bs.
Re: Pedal power supply help
Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2018 4:36 pm
by hbombgraphics
aens_wife wrote:We have run our boards off 1Spots for so many years. Also, not for nothing, Nick Reinhart uses 1Spots for touring bc he found them to be quieter and more reliable than bricks, all while being cheaper. Even if you have to run 4 of them for your board, it is still cheaper than buying most bricks and they will run more pedals.
Whoever dreamed up the marketing plan for the pp2 deserves an award bc it is a POS and makes a zillion dollars a year based on bs.
I have sold every Voodoo Lab piece I owned and I run a few onespots for bigger boards
I don't daisy my pitchfactor but it also runs on a onespot
The only thing I didn't like about the one spot was the massive pile of extra power cable you can have if you put 2 or 3 on a board and then plug them all into a power strip
I started chopping the 9 feet I didn't need off and re-soldering them into stubby one spots a while back and am very happy!
Re: Pedal power supply help
Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2018 6:27 pm
by zoooombiex
aens_wife wrote:For what its worth, I hate the pp2. We have had a friend that was the stage manager on 2 big tours and they had 4 pp2 fail totally in one tour.
I have also had them create more noise than a 1spot. We also tested their voltage output and found it varied by 2-4 volts sometimes (we didn't have the equipment to test why it was happening).
That said, we have had really good luck with the 1spot brand brick and have heard really good things about the strymon one.
Interesting, this is the first negative I've seen about the PP2's. I have a bunch of them, been using them for years, and they all work flawlessly and are dead quiet. And I've seen countless people weighing in on threads like this with their experience that the PP2's are rock solid, pretty much industry standard for quiet, dependable power.
Not doubting your experience, but it's very different from mine and many others.
Also FWIW, I recently switched some of my boards over to the VL 4x4 because I needed more current. They are also dead quiet and work perfectly every time.

Re: Pedal power supply help
Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2018 6:44 pm
by actual
VREEEEVROOOOOW wrote:
actual wrote:fwiw I use [XVive V19 Micro Power], works great and pretty lights
This looks nice. Can I safely use ten pedals though? How does it work when you have an 18v out, can you use that with a 9v pedal (or several)? I have no idea how this stuff works, so sorry if that's a stupid question.
You should be able to run the lower draw pedals on a daisy chain from on of the outputs, then the Digidelay on a single output. The 9v outs are 300ma and the 18v is 150ma.
It's not a stupid question, we're here to help, but no, unless there's some sort of resistor built into the cable.
Re: Pedal power supply help
Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2018 8:09 pm
by nogodsnobedtimes
hbombgraphics wrote:aens_wife wrote:We have run our boards off 1Spots for so many years. Also, not for nothing, Nick Reinhart uses 1Spots for touring bc he found them to be quieter and more reliable than bricks, all while being cheaper. Even if you have to run 4 of them for your board, it is still cheaper than buying most bricks and they will run more pedals.
Whoever dreamed up the marketing plan for the pp2 deserves an award bc it is a POS and makes a zillion dollars a year based on bs.
I have sold every Voodoo Lab piece I owned and I run a few onespots for bigger boards
I don't daisy my pitchfactor but it also runs on a onespot
The only thing I didn't like about the one spot was the massive pile of extra power cable you can have if you put 2 or 3 on a board and then plug them all into a power strip
I started chopping the 9 feet I didn't need off and re-soldering them into stubby one spots a while back and am very happy!
Shit, I never thought about soldering daisy chains before...
Re: Pedal power supply help
Posted: Thu Feb 15, 2018 10:43 am
by Jwar
aens_wife wrote:We have run our boards off 1Spots for so many years. Also, not for nothing, Nick Reinhart uses 1Spots for touring bc he found them to be quieter and more reliable than bricks, all while being cheaper. Even if you have to run 4 of them for your board, it is still cheaper than buying most bricks and they will run more pedals.
Whoever dreamed up the marketing plan for the pp2 deserves an award bc it is a POS and makes a zillion dollars a year based on bs.
I don't tour but I've found the complete opposite. I've had like 3 One Spots just randomly burn up and I had one fry a pedal. I think the quality of them has changed over the years. Not sure what they are doing different, but the ones I've bought in recent years are pieces of fucking shit.
The biggest reason to get a regulated supply is because some builders simply do not know how or won't put in protection diodes (zener) for overloads. Also, there's excessive noise sometimes because of lack of filtering or regulators, which I've never understood as it's cheap and easy.
A lot of folks have started doing this and protecting their circuits but there's still some that don't for some reason. Dunwhich for instance makes damn sure his are protected so they don't accidentally burn up with one whoops plug in (which happens).
One Spots in my experience suck. PP+ has been the gold standard for me. They work better than the Strymon crap too. My Strymon supply, even though it brags about having extra power, lacks the character of my PP+ in my higher voltage pedals. It's extremely noticeable in 18v pedals especially.
I'm no electrical engineer. Just a nerd who has had lots of problems he's overcame.
Re: Pedal power supply help
Posted: Thu Feb 15, 2018 2:09 pm
by VREEEEVROOOOOW
Well as long as there is a consensus on which power supplies are trustworthy… Oh, wait.
Re: Pedal power supply help
Posted: Thu Feb 15, 2018 2:41 pm
by Chankgeez
Jesus Was a Robot wrote: My Strymon supply, even though it brags about having extra power, lacks the character of my PP+ in my higher voltage pedals.
Toanz is in the power supplies?
Jesus Was a Robot wrote: overcame
boner?
VREEEEVROOOOOW wrote:Well as long as there is a consensus on which power supplies are trustworthy… Oh, wait.
I used to run my pedals off a daisy-chain'd 1 Spot. Then I moved into a place with some dirty power. So, I got a PP2+ in an attempt to minimize extraneous noise. It was definitely a little quieter, but not by that much. They've both been reliable for me. If I hadn't encountered noise problems, I probably never would've changed supplies.
It really just depends on what you need for the job. 1 Spot is cheaper to start with.
