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Power issues (buzzing 1 Spot)

Posted: Thu Mar 24, 2011 5:14 pm
by snipelfritz
So I've been GASing a little bit lately and my pedal family has grown to 7, soon to be 8 pedals. Besides hardly being able to fit them(along with an amp footswitch) on my board I thought I'd approach the issue of power. I've been using a standard wallwart that is rated for 300mA, which I realize isn't all that much. I'm running that into the pedal board which then has six outputs. I thought to myself, "Hey self, go get one of those 1 Spots you've heard so many good things about," and that's what I did. So now I have a 1700mA 1 Spot along with the 8 output daisy chain I picked up too.

I think, "This'll be just dandy!" as I plug it in and hook up all but one pedal(6) which still has a relatively new 9V in it. It wasn't dandy. As soon as I start everything up, I get a nasty buzzing noise, like a bunch of bees are in my amp. I try everything I can think of and diagnose the problem is clearly the power supply. I think, "Hmm, maybe I'm just retarded for having my amp and pedal board on the same power strip and the outlet is getting pretty strained from the higher current draw :idk: " I get another power strip and plug that into another outlet across the room, and the 1 Spot on there. No dice. Still getting the same buzzing noise. I'm pretty sure the two outlets are on different fuses. I'm pretty bad with technical stuff like this, so I'm not sure what else I can do. Any ideas?

Here's what I am running now/plan to run with current draw, in order(but I'll probably be moving things around):
Dunlop Crybaby Wah (43mA)
*Russian Big Muff Pi (4.2mA) *This is the one on a battery for the time being
Ibanez Tubescreamer (7.5)
[DE Torn's Peaker (~10)] This is the one currently in transit
MXR Classic 108 Fuzz(2.2mA)
Ibanez DE7 (78mA)
Tokai Flanger (15mA)
Fender Pedal Tuner (35mA)

It totals 194.9mA, but 180.7mA if you count the things I'm running at the moment.

-Also, I thought I read something about issues daisy chaining a Sovtek Muff. Did I just imagine this? Will there be any issues? I already have a battery clip adapter.

Thanks!

Re: Power issues (buzzing 1 Spot)

Posted: Thu Mar 24, 2011 5:27 pm
by mathias
Unplug one thing at a time to see if the buzzing ever goes away. Also make sure none of those are postive-tip power jacks. They should all be negative tip power.

Re: Power issues (buzzing 1 Spot)

Posted: Thu Mar 24, 2011 10:54 pm
by The4455
I'd take the batteries out of your pedals. The rhythm guitarist in my band uses a Russian Big Muff (original sovteck) on a one spot adapter and it doesn't buzz, neither did his russian reissue (black box) when plugged in. In may just be the way teh outlets are wired in your house. You could always invest in a noise gate or Hum x adapter and just not have to deal with the problem.

Re: Power issues (buzzing 1 Spot)

Posted: Thu Mar 24, 2011 11:03 pm
by hbombgraphics
I have never had any problems with one spots, currently own 3 and they all sound good.

Looking at the setup nothing you have should be an issue but the extra plugs on the daisy chain could be, make sure they aren't touching anything.

Also: Mathias is correct that you should unplug one pedal at a time, the biggest problem is power filtering, since the outputs aren't isolated if you have one pedal with a bad power filter it can negatively impact everything.

The MA draw shouldn't be the issue, but some pedals do seem to like batteries better than wall power, if you got the combo pack with the onespot you can replace the plug with the batter clip and "trick" your pedals into thinking they are on the batteries.

A picture might help to diagnose,

Plus visual sound Customer service is awesome, if you send them your questions they will probably have an answer right away.

Re: Power issues (buzzing 1 Spot)

Posted: Fri Mar 25, 2011 1:53 am
by Jero
Both my 1spots work well, no noise. Sorry to hear, but there is some pretty solid advice ^ so I'd say try that stuff out.

Re: Power issues (buzzing 1 Spot)

Posted: Fri Mar 25, 2011 2:26 pm
by dubkitty
"Looking at the setup nothing you have should be an issue but the extra plugs on the daisy chain could be, make sure they aren't touching anything."

unused daisy-chain plugs should be insulated; bad short-circuit things could result otherwise. Godlyke sells little plastic caps for this purpose; i cut lengths of insulation off an old piece of cable and use them to cover the outside of the plug.

"I've been using a standard wallwart that is rated for 300mA, which I realize isn't all that much. I'm running that into the pedal board which then has six outputs. "

can you clarify what pedalboard you're using and how things are connected? it's unclear whether you have a board with some kind of integrated power supply and outputs, and whether the 1Spot is passing through some part of a board. if that's the case the board and the 1Spot may not be compatible.

Re: Power issues (buzzing 1 Spot)

Posted: Fri Mar 25, 2011 2:52 pm
by plhogan
If your house has oldish wiring like mine youll have to live with it or get hum eliminators, my stupid 70s 2-prong outlets make everything buzz

Re: Power issues (buzzing 1 Spot)

Posted: Sat Mar 26, 2011 4:37 am
by snipelfritz
dubkitty wrote:can you clarify what pedalboard you're using and how things are connected? it's unclear whether you have a board with some kind of integrated power supply and outputs, and whether the 1Spot is passing through some part of a board. if that's the case the board and the 1Spot may not be compatible.

Yeah, it's just a board with what is basically a daisy-chain cable built in.

comme ca: http://guitars.musiciansfriend.com/prod ... sku=158336

Re: Power issues (buzzing 1 Spot)

Posted: Sat Mar 26, 2011 10:52 am
by hbombgraphics
are you plugging the one spot into the power port on the back of the SKB or daisy chaining it through all the pedals?

Re: Power issues (buzzing 1 Spot)

Posted: Sat Mar 26, 2011 11:49 am
by mathias
Skip the pedalboard's built-in power distributor, just use a OneSpot daisychain. You may be getting a ground loop or something weird with that builtin strip.