Phil O'Keefe Posted December 22, 2014 Share Posted December 22, 2014 I thought this might be an interesting subject for discussion. So... power supplies. What's out there? What are you using? What do you like about it? What feature(s) would you like to have added to it? Anything about your current power supply that annoys you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members finboy Posted December 22, 2014 Members Share Posted December 22, 2014 I need to buy some power supplies, I have been using 1-spots to build out chains for making noise around the house, but now that I am putting some boards together, that solution just wont cut it any more. I am taking the approach of building things in a modular way, putting together several boards that can plug into eachother, and compliment eachother well. essentially instead of moving pedals on and off boards over and over, I am putting pedals that work well together on smaller boards, then putting the boards together like lego. right now I am focused on 4 boards, and am probably going to have to get 3 power supplies. two are pedaltrain nano's, and with the issues I have heard with the volto power supplies, I will likely go for the Cioks Adam for both. One is direct off the guitar, and has a comp, wah, volume, tuner, and dirt pedal, so an adam *should* be able to handle this. the other i might have to get a bit more tricky with, it has a tap tempo analog delay, an strymon pedal, and another reverb, which might mean more power than the adapter can put out. I am going to have to do some more reading into power output, and power requirements of the pedals before I get into anything too extreme, it might be worth running a volto for one of the three pedals, and the adam for the other two. then there is my EHX big box boards I am building, the one has a hog and a H&K rotosphere, both of which require their own wall warts, so I might just run a power bar on that one. the other has 6 pedals, and a tb looper, so I am guessing that will need a pedal power 2 to power everything properly. with a modular apporach, if i don't have an overdrive or wah on my EHX board, I can put the lead nano on the front of the train, and have all those basic effects. If i don't feel like carrying around the ehx boards, I can build a smaller modulation board instead, and place that between the two nano boards. needless to say, now that I am working again, the prospect of spending 4-500 on power supplies is a bit annoying, but you have to pay the $ to get the toys to work together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members k tone Posted December 22, 2014 Members Share Posted December 22, 2014 I use One Spots as well but my bigger board has the T-Rex Fuel Tank Jr powering 8 pedals. The T Rex works really well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members IRG Posted December 22, 2014 Members Share Posted December 22, 2014 Well for a while, I had a number of fairly big power hog pedals, at 9v. So I bought a VL 4x4. I like it, because it has 4 outputs of 400mA, two of those can do 12v too. Problem is, there aren't many pedals that need 12v, and there's a few that could use 18v or even 24v (I'm looking at you, DMM). One of the benefits with this power supply, because it has so much juice, is that I can daisy chain like every analog pedal I own on one of the 400mA tap, and still have 7 other outlets for digital and power hungry pedals. No noise, works great. Having an AC outlet like the PP2+ would be nice to have too, but I live fine without it. I also have a SupaCharger for my secondary board, had it probably 6-7 years now, works great. And I keep a 1Spot around too, when I move things around and just need to power up a few pedals quickly without revamping the 4x4. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WRGKMC Posted December 22, 2014 Members Share Posted December 22, 2014 I use a combination of a spot one and individual Zero Hum adaptors like Dan electro and Boss. Boss pedals especially have to have zero hum adaptors or they will hum badly. I have a few other pedals that need independent power supplies or they worn work properly. I have Boss Noise eliminator which is basically a loop/gate combination. I tried it on the spot one and it made the sound all grainy. I keep my Morely Wah/Volume and Leslie emulator I built on separate supplies too. Everything else can be chained on the spot one without any ill effects. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Fender&EHX4ever Posted December 23, 2014 Members Share Posted December 23, 2014 I have way more pedals that require proprietary wall warts or have built-in transformers than pedals that can run off of a 9v daisy chain. So naturally, my power supply situation is quite cumbersome. But since my gigging days are super-rare now, convenience and portability are not really priorities for me. So I use a lot surge protectors and extenders. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted December 23, 2014 Author Share Posted December 23, 2014 I use a lot surge protectors and extenders. Brilliant! Where did you find those? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Fender&EHX4ever Posted December 23, 2014 Members Share Posted December 23, 2014 Brilliant! Where did you find those? eBay. They are called power strip "liberators"! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Trick Fall Posted December 25, 2014 Members Share Posted December 25, 2014 Those power strip liberators are awesome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members eflatminor Posted December 25, 2014 Members Share Posted December 25, 2014 I settled on the CAE/MXR power system. Seems very well built, plenty of outlets, including 18v and variable taps. I did it. By the way, here's a link to a whole slew of power supplies: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members 1001gear Posted December 25, 2014 Members Share Posted December 25, 2014 Supacharger no board. Noise is so low I was able to zero in on single coil hum and tweak that out. No more warts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted December 26, 2014 Author Share Posted December 26, 2014 I settled on the CAE/MXR power system. Seems very well built, plenty of outlets, including 18v and variable taps. I did it. By the way, here's a link to a whole slew of power supplies: Thanks for the link. I'm a big fan of Andreas. He posts here occasionally, and he's one of the most knowledgeable and helpful guys around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted December 26, 2014 Author Share Posted December 26, 2014 eBay. They are called power strip "liberators"! Thanks! They're awesome, as Trick Fall already mentioned. I need about four dozen of those things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members PKTrono Posted December 26, 2014 Members Share Posted December 26, 2014 ciokolate or death. some day Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SonicMayhem42 Posted December 27, 2014 Members Share Posted December 27, 2014 I am have my own demo studio but no band and no gigs. Right now I am using one spots for all my dirt and single pedals. I have a time line, möbius, lex, and el capistan that run off the power supplies that came with them. I am looking for a power supply that can run 4-5 pedals plus 2 of the big strymon units. Preferably with out breaking the bank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted December 27, 2014 Author Share Posted December 27, 2014 Anybody using something other than a Strymon supply with one of their pedals? I've always been of the opinion that if a company includes a power supply with a pedal that's automatically the preferred powering option, unless and until I can confirm all the details and decide whether or not it's safe to use an alternative. Fortunately Strymon tells you exactly what you need to know on their site - For the El Cap, it's 9VDC (no higher!), center-negative, 250mA minimum. Lots of power supplies can provide that. Ideally you'd want it isolated. I'm pretty sure the larger Strymons like the TimeLine and Mobius need a bit more current (300mA minimum), but all the other requirements are the same. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Strat87 Posted December 27, 2014 Members Share Posted December 27, 2014 I've been running two 1 spots with daisy chains mounted under my pedaltrain 2 with no issues. I'm sure a real power supply has its benefits but it was way cheaper to go this route Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted December 31, 2014 Author Share Posted December 31, 2014 ciokolate or death. some day Those look REALLY cool, but they are pretty expensive. Still, if you needed a ton of outlets and tons of voltage options, it looks like a really good power supply. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted December 31, 2014 Author Share Posted December 31, 2014 I am have my own demo studio but no band and no gigs. Right now I am using one spots for all my dirt and single pedals. I have a time line' date=' möbius, lex, and el capistan that run off the power supplies that came with them. I am looking for a power supply that can run 4-5 pedals plus 2 of the big strymon units. Preferably with out breaking the bank.[/quote'] Me too.... but I'd need something that could power 10 pedals or so, plus a couple of Strymons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members AJ6stringsting Posted January 1, 2015 Members Share Posted January 1, 2015 I use a ETA power conditioner, a 2500 Monster power conditioner and couple of VHT ( now called Freyette) Valvulator II's with three 9v and one 12v. No hiss, hum or ohm's issues .... just pure natural tone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members AJ6stringsting Posted January 1, 2015 Members Share Posted January 1, 2015 I have way more pedals that require proprietary wall warts or have built-in transformers than pedals that can run off of a 9v daisy chain. So naturally, my power supply situation is quite cumbersome. But since my gigging days are super-rare now, convenience and portability are not really priorities for me. So I use a lot surge protectors and extenders. where did you get these problem solvers ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wilsoneffectsll Posted January 1, 2015 Members Share Posted January 1, 2015 Voodoo Labs Mondo is the ticket. All the outputs are isolated so no worries about positive ground pedals ect... Best one I've owned. I also use the PP2 for other things. Seems like Voodoo Labs has always been outstanding for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members papaschtroumpf Posted January 2, 2015 Members Share Posted January 2, 2015 I use one of those "universal" power adapter where you pick a voltage between 1.5 and 12V and switch tips, chose polarity, etc... I need it back for it original (nom-guitar) purpose though, so I just ordered the monoprice supply for $6.50. Friend of mine swears by it and I only have a few pedals so 500mA is enough. http://www.monoprice.com/Product?p_id=611690 I already own a daisy chain adapter, otherwise they have a cheap one too:http://www.monoprice.com/Product?c_id=115&cp_id=11501&cs_id=1150103&p_id=611698&seq=1&format=2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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