Members Cosmic_Osmo Posted September 29, 2006 Members Share Posted September 29, 2006 I'm just getting into rack gear -- really new to the whole thing -- and I'm seeing that almost everyone has a furman power conditioner in their rack. Is this pretty much standard/required equipment? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tats_dragon Posted September 29, 2006 Members Share Posted September 29, 2006 The cheap Furmans and others are just rack mounted power strips. Your gonna have to spend quite a bit to get any kind of conditioning. Jun Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Cosmic_Osmo Posted September 29, 2006 Author Members Share Posted September 29, 2006 Gotcha. What exactly does a conditioner do? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Stonedtone Posted September 29, 2006 Members Share Posted September 29, 2006 Originally posted by tats_dragon The cheap Furmans and others are just rack mounted power strips. Your gonna have to spend quite a bit to get any kind of conditioning.Jun i've never heard of a cheap power strip Furman. There are conditioning properties in all their units Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tats_dragon Posted September 29, 2006 Members Share Posted September 29, 2006 i've never heard of a cheap power strip Furman. There are conditioning properties in all their units Please enlighten me what those under $150 Furman units condition. Jun Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members starsnuffer Posted September 29, 2006 Members Share Posted September 29, 2006 The PL series offers some conditioning, and will generally get rid of most AC related noise. The merit series are just rackmounted powerstrips, although they do a bit of RF filtering. -W Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Stonedtone Posted September 29, 2006 Members Share Posted September 29, 2006 Originally posted by starsnuffer The PL series offers some conditioning, and will generally get rid of most AC related noise. The merit series are just rackmounted powerstrips, although they do a bit of RF filtering. -W Please work with Mr know tats_dragon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tats_dragon Posted September 30, 2006 Members Share Posted September 30, 2006 Please work with Mr know tats_dragon Stonedtone must be too stoned to read.Cheapest PL series furman:http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Furman-PL8-II-Power-Conditioner?sku=181301$159. That would be almost a dimebag more than $150. Never heard of a cheap furman?http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Furman-M10-10-Space-AC-Outlet?sku=181118 Jun Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Boltino Posted October 2, 2006 Members Share Posted October 2, 2006 Stonedtone is right. Even the M series has more filtering than a power strip. Do some research before making claims that you don't know anything about. Check out this link: http://www.furmansound.com/products/tech_corner/faq_powerconditioner.php Wes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tats_dragon Posted October 2, 2006 Members Share Posted October 2, 2006 Wes,Oh good since the cheap Furmans work so much better than a power strip, they can stop manufacturing http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/IT20/ Jun Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Boltino Posted October 2, 2006 Members Share Posted October 2, 2006 Not really sure what you mean. There are varying levels of protection/filtration needed. Someone who owns 200,000 worth of recording gear would do well to have one of those. In a guitar rig, it would be overkill. The original poster asked about Furman power supplies and you told him they were just "rackmounted power strips." That is not the case. Even the cheap ones (Merit Series) have levels of filtering and protection not found in $15 power strips. The next step up (PL series) has more filtering and protection. After that, comes filtering and protection combined with conditioning (receiving a varying voltage and providing your equipment with a constant safe voltage). Untrue blanket statements about something you don't think is necessary are pointless. I was just backing up someone who decided to add some "facts" to this topic. Wes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kurtisqpublic Posted October 3, 2006 Members Share Posted October 3, 2006 Conditioning will actually protect you from low voltage as well as spikes. Most units that truly do that have built in capacitors that will keep you regulated fairly close to line voltage. Most of furman's lower/mid priced lines will not offer under current protection which is actually worse for gear (especially digital stuff) than spikes are. True under current protection usually comes with a pretty hefty price tag but probably is unneccessary for a guitar rig.~Kurt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Badside Posted October 31, 2006 Members Share Posted October 31, 2006 I bought a power strip for my computer which claims to have filtering, just like the Furman M-8, for 10$ (it was on special). Plus it has 3 outlets with more distance between them for wall-warts. When I bought the M-8 for my rack, I thought... this is just a glorified power strip...Still, it's easier to set in a rack and gives me a nice power switch on the front with an additionnel outlet, and it's fused (my power bar isn't). Sure you can get a power bar and velcro it to a shelf or screw it on the side of the rack, but I think the M-8 is less hassle and really not that much more expensive. However, I'm not sure what to do with the huge wall-wart for my Intellifex... will probably velcro it to the shelf with a small extension cord... any better idea? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members starsnuffer Posted October 31, 2006 Members Share Posted October 31, 2006 Originally posted by Hardtailed I bought a power strip for my computer which claims to have filtering, just like the Furman M-8, for 10$ (it was on special). Plus it has 3 outlets with more distance between them for wall-warts.When I bought the M-8 for my rack, I thought... this is just a glorified power strip...Still, it's easier to set in a rack and gives me a nice power switch on the front with an additionnel outlet, and it's fused (my power bar isn't).Sure you can get a power bar and velcro it to a shelf or screw it on the side of the rack, but I think the M-8 is less hassle and really not that much more expensive.However, I'm not sure what to do with the huge wall-wart for my Intellifex... will probably velcro it to the shelf with a small extension cord... any better idea? I have an SKB rack case, the older type I guess and it's pretty deep. My bottom two spaces are taken up by a shelf for things like my amp gizmo, GRX4, a few pedals, and a DC power brick. I have a good 6 inches of unused space behind this shelf, so I velcroed in a normal power strip and then shortened and routed the cable up the inside to my furman. I use this for two wall warts (one for the ISP prorackG and the other that phantom powers my FCB1010). By putting the strip on the bottom I don't have to worry about the warts falling out, even though they're tie strapped anyway. I still think the PL-8 is worth the money over the merit series stuff. -W Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Airea 5150 Posted November 4, 2006 Members Share Posted November 4, 2006 Originally posted by Cosmic_Osmo I'm just getting into rack gear -- really new to the whole thing -- and I'm seeing that almost everyone has a furman power conditioner in their rack. Is this pretty much standard/required equipment? Buy a good Furman PL Plus or Pro Touring Edition Power Conditioner for your rack power needs.Its a wise and usefull investment.Cheaper units will suffice,but they wont do the job you need when it counts(like protecting your gear in sub-standard voltage situations). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Terri Posted November 4, 2006 Members Share Posted November 4, 2006 Old story.... Every notice times when your amp or guitar sounds better or worse than the day. week or month before? Well. it's probably attributed to voltage sag or over-voltage. US line voltage is rated at 120V but over the years have crept up from 110 and 115V. Older gear (Old Marshalls, Fenders and the like) are now being saturated with minimum of 9 percent increase in voltage. In some cases they are seeing 12-15 percent over their rated voltages. Technically you should step down these voltages but not many do. Now here comes the kicker. The Furman regulators convert the analog sine wave (50/60hz) into a digital equivalent to regulate voltage. Some engineers swear they heard the difference. I don't know, but most modern FX processors and boxes will tolerate 10-15 percent variance in power sources without flipping out (good regulation), but it's the tube units that will change their sound and work harder no less. Remember the days of the variac. Maybe not. Many people used to use a variable transformer to alter the voltage of their amps by as much as 20-25 percent. One guitarist was known to drive his Marshalls at 90 volts AC using a Variac for his "brown" sound. Duh...(brownout...low voltage...) Unless your house, apt, studio whatever has dicey power issues, a conditioner will suffice. A regulator is not necessary unless your in a situation I mentioned above. Cheers and hope this helps. T. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Boltino Posted November 4, 2006 Members Share Posted November 4, 2006 Originally posted by Terri Old story.... Every notice times when your amp or guitar sounds better or worse than the day. week or month before? Well. it's probably attributed to voltage sag or over-voltage. US line voltage is rated at 120V but over the years have crept up from 110 and 115V. Older gear (Old Marshalls, Fenders and the like) are now being saturated with minimum of 9 percent increase in voltage. In some cases they are seeing 12-15 percent over their rated voltages. Technically you should step down these voltages but not many do. Now here comes the kicker. The Furman regulators convert the analog sine wave (50/60hz) into a digital equivalent to regulate voltage. Some engineers swear they heard the difference. I don't know, but most modern FX processors and boxes will tolerate 10-15 percent variance in power sources without flipping out (good regulation), but it's the tube units that will change their sound and work harder no less. Remember the days of the variac. Maybe not. Many people used to use a variable transformer to alter the voltage of their amps by as much as 20-25 percent. One guitarist was known to drive his Marshalls at 90 volts AC using a Variac for his "brown" sound. Duh...(brownout...low voltage...) Unless your house, apt, studio whatever has dicey power issues, a conditioner will suffice. A regulator is not necessary unless your in a situation I mentioned above. Cheers and hope this helps. T. Great Response and Cool Pic! :thu: Wes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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