Best way to power pedals?

[Taz Rules]

Obviously in a perfect world, I'd have the funds to buy a cool pedal board with built in power supply. But it's not and I don't.

I've got 4 pedals total...an overdrive, a distortion, and two delays. All are 9v, negative tip. Usually I only use 1 delay and either the od or distortion at a time. I play at home in my living room. Or in my buddy's rec room.

Buying batteries seems a bad idea over the long term.

I've looked at power bricks, but they seem pricey. I've found some cheaper ($50) on ebay and Amazon.

2 individual power supplies cost about the same, but no expandability.

Or I could get one of those daisy chain power cords and a single adapter. But I'm not sure how well that option works. Is there an issue with power drop or spike? How about ground noise?

My question is which of these is the best budget option? I don't mind doing the hunting to find prices, but I'd like to narrow my search to just one of the options.

Thanks

[Kamanda~SD]

Re: Best way to power pedals?

Personally I wouldn't cheap out on a power supply. However, my friend uses a 1Spot and its worked well for him for years. It uses the daisy chain concept

EDIT: Why wouldn't I cheap out on a power supply? Because 2 things happen when they break. Either A) the PS breaks and you have to buy a new one (buy a few and your up to the price of a good one). or B) it fries one or more pedals.

[SlyFoxx]

Re: Best way to power pedals?

Four pedals..home use. I'd go for a Boss "wall wart" type power supply and a daisy chain cable. Should set you back 30-40 bucks. Check the current draw of each pedal add them up and make sure the power supply can provide enough. Keep in mind that the supply can greatly exceed your needs. It will only deliver what the pedals draw. I think the basic Boss supply is in the 500mA range and should be more than enough for your needs but do the math anyway. Power supplies that have individual taps are great but they are expensive and in cases such as yours, rarely necessary.

[DeadandBuried]

Re: Best way to power pedals?

Depending how much money you have to spend the Diago Micropower could be your best option, it does involve daisy-chaining though and the connector around actual brick is a bit brittle (mine broke after several months) but it does a good job of holding clean consistent power. If you can afford a bit more the T-Rex Fuel Tank Junior is the best one for 5 or less pedals. Small and compact, and clean, reliable power. I've had mine for 5+ years now and never ever had any issues with it. Built like a brick and didn't cost me much. A good investment, as I only use 3 pedals (tuner, noisegate and overdrive) its perfect for what I need.

[Chickenwings]

Re: Best way to power pedals?

this:

http://www.bossus.com/products/psa_series/

and a daisy chain.
Works fine. Nice and quiet, unlike the cheaper generic units.

[dystrust]

Re: Best way to power pedals?

Personally I wouldn't cheap out on a power supply. However, my friend uses a 1Spot and its worked well for him for years. It uses the daisy chain concept

EDIT: Why wouldn't I cheap out on a power supply? Because 2 things happen when they break. Either A) the PS breaks and you have to buy a new one (buy a few and your up to the price of a good one). or B) it fries one or more pedals.

The 1Spot is a decent, cheap power supply. A daisy chain might be more prone to noise than something isolated, but it also costs about half as much.

[baritone]

Re: Best way to power pedals?

A 1Spot with a daisy chain is all I've ever needed- $20 total.

[VinceT]

Re: Best way to power pedals?

1Spot with daisy chain


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[Gainstage]

Re: Best way to power pedals?

Isolated filtered supply VoodooLab is usually the standard although there are many new ones. Daisy chained supplies are a recipe for ground loop hum, noise and switch popping. If you do not have a problem with them, at some point you will. There are actually some pedal makes that revolt with a daisy chained power feed.
There are very good isolated filtered port supply bricks around for nominal costs. I have two VoodooLab Power II Plus units which have been my workhorses for ages.
1 Spot now makes a isolated port supply brick to compete with more professional units. You can do what you like and go as cheap as you care but it is about like running your Corvette on Kerosene.

[NecroPolo]

Re: Best way to power pedals?

+1 to Boss PSA + daisy chain. Especially if a compact Furman power conditioner is added that kills hum and noise like there was no tomorrow - but it's a whole lotta different story.

[Gainstage]

Re: Best way to power pedals?

Might help if one knows the basic rules of mA (current) draw and the max output of the supply. The sum current draw of all pedals must not reach or exceed the supplies limit, that causes a whole lot of other problems, even a fire from the supply burning up from too much pull. The basic rule of electrical power and current is that voltage is a constant, a pedal must get what it is designed to function, mA (current) is a different animal. A pedal can have more current but not less in order to function. You can give a pedal needing 100mA a 1000mA feed and that is OK but you cannot starve it giving it less than 100mA it needs. It you give something more voltage than it is designed it will burn it up the components will fail. Most daisy chain things are like 9v 1000mA rated, you have to stay below 1000mA total current draw of all pedals. Some pedals will work being current starved but they will not work well some will not even turn on at all.

There are many advantages to a basic isolated power supply brick and they are really not that expensive. If you have thousands of dollars of pedals and you power them with a $30 wart then I wish you all the best.
I use a Furman master power on my entire rig. Some may use a daisy chain thing and never have a problem, if you start getting noise, hum or switch popping that is your cause.

Seems to be the thing with Boss chain users but once you start using higher end pedals it pays to have a nice power supply config. If you have ever gotten noise hiss, terrible ground loop hum or bad bypass switch popping it is not a cool thing. Running your power supplies to different wall sockets and sources is by definition multiple paths to ground or aka a ground loop.
I have actually gotten them using isolated bricks before with the Furman, had a VL on my front end and one for my loop effects, if I crossed those and mixed the feeds, noise and ground loop hum. Some pedals like Fulltone hate daisy chain, Fuller and many others recommend isolated filtered bricks. A master power conditioner like a Furman can be less than $100 and well worth it to clean up the power feeds to the whole rig. It makes no sense to have thousands invested in your pedals and power them in the cheapest means possible.

[Hank-]

Re: Best way to power pedals?

It won't be long till the 4 pedals double up & soon enough you have 8 pedals in front of you.

For cheap, if in Europe then thomman has a particular Harley Benton power supply model which is a clone of the Trex Fuel tank JR. Next there is a new joyo power supply available thats proper transformer ground isolated compared to their older stuff. Next step up from there would be the trex fuel tank jr & bbe supacharger, both used should be cheaper than new price. Up from there you have way many options to choose from but new prices would be $150+.

The 1spot works but sometimes the place your using it may have crappy wiring so it can get noisy otherwise as a spare or first psu it would work out fine.

[Kais]

Re: Best way to power pedals?

just get a onespot, its like $20 and it will power all your pedals and have slots left over

[jeremy]

Re: Best way to power pedals?

ive had 1spots and a boss psa. they work fine but all mine have died for one reason or another after a while. the pedal power 2 i bought years and years ago it still running strong

[Mincer]

Re: Best way to power pedals?

I've used a 1 spot on tons of gigs for like 10 years. No problems. I always check what kind of power the pedal needs. I have actually not bought certain pedals because of their funky power needs.

But really...4 pedals (even if you expand), home use...a 1 Spot. No need for any fancy isolated or regulated power supplies in that setup.