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I need a rackmount power conditioner. Just wondering what you guys use. The cheaper the better.

Google really is getting better at anticipating my searches.

Depending on where you are plugging in, you may see a drastic reduction in noise and hum, or no difference whatsoever. You also have to make sure you are not buying a glorified power strip.
My home has the old "knob and tube" style wiring and the power here would be considered "dirty" (incosistant voltage) so for me they made a huge difference. when I was researching what to get, the furman pl8c seemed to be the cheapest that actually did what they are supposed to do. That one has power filtering, and isolated banks to prevent ground looping hum as well as the normal surge protecting and all that.

Achtane wrote:Google really is getting better at anticipating my searches.

I just want surge protection.

Surge protection is easy and cheap. Dealing with low, high, and/or unstable voltage is trickier and costs. I used to have an old-school fuse box in the house along with high average votages close to 130v. I got a mid priced Furmam thing that was not quite a complete fix but it helped. Installed a breaker box in the house and the average voltage came down to about 123 (no idea if the breaker box had anything to do with this) and the gear that was having issues is happier now.

If you gig in a lot of places with shitty power and have touchy gear, something that'll give you a clean 120v out of any shitty source may be worth the investment, but it is an investment. To play at home, if you own the place, fixing the whole house system might be a better and cheaper route.

Achtane wrote:Google really is getting better at anticipating my searches.

Haha, that's hilarious.

As for power conditioners, I've never used one. I'd be interested if I played a buncha shows with nice gear at small shitty clubs with negligable power tho. Might make sense in that situation.

EDIT: What Gone Fission said.

They can be helpful if they have RFI/EMI filtering since lots of clubs like to run the lights and the FOH gear on the same power.

Rackmount powerstrips (that's all they are) are pretty useful for protecting against a surge and turning everything on/off quickly. Actual power conditioners are pretty expensive. This is a really good thread to read through on the topic: http://www.gearslutz.com/board/so-much- ... -back.html

I use big ass Triplites like these, and like 'em...

I use an APC voltage regulator (1200W forget the model) into a Furman PL PLUS DMC. The Furman made a difference by itself, but with the regulator it was a game changer.
I live close to NYC and before the regulator, I could watch voltage fluctuations from high 90s to high 120s, which are brutal on computers and amps with tube rectifiers.
Now I run about 108-110V and everything sounds better, no lie. The lowest I hit now is about 105.
The most noticeable change is in the articulation of the bottom end. Whatever 60hz noise was there is greatly reduced.

The regulator became a necessity when I got the Selmer amp, which is setup to run 220-230, which I use a voltage doubler to achieve...so for every 1V difference on the input produces a 2V difference on the output.

I was able to score all 3, for under $330...new via feebay/Amazon. Probably the most underrated pieces of gear you can buy...but YMMV

Read this as ULTRA BONG THREAD and now I'm a little disappointed