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Bad things happening on my board...help

Posted: Fri Apr 15, 2016 8:41 am
by plaidbeer
I don't know if these things are related, but I have 11 pedals connected by a PowerAll (similar to a OneSpot). When I was trying to put the plug from the PowerAll into the jack of the Super Spring Theory, I literally saw a flash of sparks. Twice. Is this a fault of the PowerAll or the pedal somehow, as it didn't happen with any of the other pedals? The SST functioned as normal when everything was powered up. The PowerAll is going through a Furman power conditioner and I've never seen this happen before.

Secondly, there's a very noticeable hum/buzzing no matter which pedals are bypassed. It just changes in tone/pitch depending on which pedal is activated. I'm on phones most of the time when I play so it's very pronounced. However, it's not always been like this.

The signal path is as follows: Jaguar into Polytune 2-----BF-2----Super Spring Theory-----DOD 250----Rat clone----LSTR----Mini----Alter Ego 2----DD-500----Meteore----RV-6 into a Vox Pathfinder 15r.

Too many gain pedals? Do I need to buy an isolated power supply?

Re: Bad things happening on my board...help

Posted: Fri Apr 15, 2016 8:57 am
by HighDeaf1080p
Could the sparks have been static electricity discharging, and not related to either the power supply or pedal? Is your setup on carpet or hard flooring?

Jaguar is single coils only? Not sure about your set up, but when I switch my coil tapped Les Paul to single coil, I get hum unless I turn 90 degrees to the way I normally sit in my music room. As soon as I turn 90 degees all gets silent. Try moving around and changing orientation with the guitar and see if there's a noticeable difference

Re: Bad things happening on my board...help

Posted: Fri Apr 15, 2016 9:01 am
by echoraven
Isolated power supplies are awesome! My dirty board has a voodoo lab pp2, at one point I had 14 pedals powered off it. Now about 6.
For my post board, didn't want to spend that kind of scratch again, so I picked up a much cheaper $40 one from Amazon that was rated well. My post board was MUCH quieter afterwards.

Re: Bad things happening on my board...help

Posted: Fri Apr 15, 2016 9:06 am
by Jero
Only time I've seen sparks like that was with those 1/8th" adapters for dod/rats/etc. Good rule of thumb, plug in pedals with the power supply off/unplugged. As for the noise you're getting now...IDK.

Re: Bad things happening on my board...help

Posted: Fri Apr 15, 2016 10:14 am
by rfurtkamp
Yea, spark isn't a good thing.

I'd eliminate the pedals.

Step 1: does it hum without *any* pedals plugged in?

Step 2: does it hum as you add each pedal?

Step 3: note when hum increases/things are added.

Profit!

Re: Bad things happening on my board...help

Posted: Fri Apr 15, 2016 10:15 am
by lost in music
Those sparks are your board's way of saying "this power supply ain't big enough for the both of us".

Re: Bad things happening on my board...help

Posted: Fri Apr 15, 2016 11:16 am
by crochambeau
What's the required polarity at the DC power inlet? Sounds like it might be a case of ~one of these things is not like the others~.