What power supplies you guys using on your boards?

[Darg1911]

Re: What power supplies you guys using on your boards?

I have always used cheap power supplies and they worked absolutely wonderfully. Please correct me if I say anything false, but I don't really understand the point in getting an expensive power supply. My Vitoos PS1 cost me about $20 and has 1 18V output, 1 12V output, 1 9V 500mA output, and 7 9V 100mA outputs. No background noise whatsoever, always worked perfect. Changed it very recently just because I needed 2 9V 500mA outputs, but swapped it for another cheap power supply (Donner Dp-2, $11 on sale!!!) and it also works perfectly with no hum at all.

Highly recommend both of these!!

Because your power supply is basically a fancy daisy chain in a box. Nothing wrong with that if it works for you but some pedals don't play well with others on a daisy chain. Some pedals need their own, isolated ground. There are other factors such as current capacity (real world, not inflated "specs") that the more expensive supplies almost always have an advantage. But again, it doesn't really matter if a cheap box or a daisy chain works for you.

[contiContiCONTI]

Re: What power supplies you guys using on your boards?

Because your power supply is basically a fancy daisy chain in a box. Nothing wrong with that if it works for you but some pedals don't play well with others on a daisy chain. Some pedals need their own, isolated ground. There are other factors such as current capacity (real world, not inflated "specs") that the more expensive supplies almost always have an advantage. But again, it doesn't really matter if a cheap box or a daisy chain works for you.

Ahhh right, that makes sense. Are there any other disadvantages to this type of daisy-chain power supply other than risk of hum? Like loss of tone or pedal potential etc..?

[Gtrjunior]

Re: What power supplies you guys using on your boards?

Because your power supply is basically a fancy daisy chain in a box. Nothing wrong with that if it works for you but some pedals don't play well with others on a daisy chain. Some pedals need their own, isolated ground. There are other factors such as current capacity (real world, not inflated "specs") that the more expensive supplies almost always have an advantage. But again, it doesn't really matter if a cheap box or a daisy chain works for you.

Not sure which Donner you’re using but I also have a Donner power supply which is an isolated unit. I cost about $40 which is still pretty inexpensive.
But to Darg1911’s point, that’s absolutely correct about non-isolated power units. I have had a few in the past and have experienced certain pedals that need to be on their own isolated circuit. You get lots of noise and interference.
It’s also important to try to keep the power brick as far away from your wah as possible. That’s a source of noise/interference too.

[Darg1911]

Re: What power supplies you guys using on your boards?

Ahhh right, that makes sense. Are there any other disadvantages to this type of daisy-chain power supply other than risk of hum? Like loss of tone or pedal potential etc..?

The supply is limited by the current capacity of the wall wart that powers it. But it's also limited by the components inside the box. In other words, you cant swap to a higher current wall wart and expect the 500ma outlet to be able to safely deliver more current (if it even will deliver 500ma as it is). Aside from the potential for noise due to the shared ground, the power filtering in general is not as good as the brand name, isolated supplies. But again, that doesnt matter if it works quietly in your system. So, assuming it's quiet, the biggest issue is the possibility that it's just overrated. If it is, then it can starve the pedals of power. But that's probably not a problem unless you are using digital pedals that draw a lot of current (relatively speaking). Not all digital pedals draw a ton of power. For example, an Earthquaker Devices Dispath Master (a small digital reverb and delay pedal) draws 60ma while their Avalanche Run draws 425ma. Then there is the overall quality. Logically, a $200 brand name box is probably going to use higher quality components than a $20 box and the internal power supply itself is undoubtedly going to be better and more robust compared to the wall wart that supplies the cheaper units. Bottom line for me is that if someone is going to spend the money on a board full of $150 or $200 pedals, it's probably worth spending the $150 or $200 for a good, brand name isolated supply to power them. But again, if it aint broke, don't fix it.

[PFDarkside]

Re: What power supplies you guys using on your boards?

I didn’t think I had a noise issue until I switched to an isolated supply. If you have a couple of analog drive pedals it’s usually fine. The more you add and once digital pedals are involved, you get into potential for noise.

The best test is to load all your pedals with batteries, play the rig with the daisy chain/non-isolated supply plugged in, then pull the power plugs on all the pedals. If there’s no difference or you don’t care about the difference you’re good. A lot of the times it will be just a few of the pedals interacting causing noise.

Buying a power supply kind of sucks, it’s a pedal or pickup you can’t buy. They last forever though, I’ve had my Voodoo Lab for years and I don’t ever think twice about it.

[contiContiCONTI]

Re: What power supplies you guys using on your boards?

I didn’t think I had a noise issue until I switched to an isolated supply. If you have a couple of analog drive pedals it’s usually fine. The more you add and once digital pedals are involved, you get into potential for noise.

The best test is to load all your pedals with batteries, play the rig with the daisy chain/non-isolated supply plugged in, then pull the power plugs on all the pedals. If there’s no difference or you don’t care about the difference you’re good. A lot of the times it will be just a few of the pedals interacting causing noise.

Buying a power supply kind of sucks, it’s a pedal or pickup you can’t buy. They last forever though, I’ve had my Voodoo Lab for years and I don’t ever think twice about it.

Hmm that's strange. My board consists of a donner tuner, cry baby wah, bad monkey overdrive, boss distortion, boss looper, Flashback x4 (digital 350mA draw) and a Strymon Blue Sky (250mA draw). When I plug strsaight guitar to amp I get the same amount of noise as when I go through my board (almost zero). I wonder why. Should probably get a more expensive supply anyways so that it'll stay consistent though.

[PFDarkside]

Re: What power supplies you guys using on your boards?

Hmm that's strange. My board consists of a donner tuner, cry baby wah, bad monkey overdrive, boss distortion, boss looper, Flashback x4 (digital 350mA draw) and a Strymon Blue Sky (250mA draw). When I plug strsaight guitar to amp I get the same amount of noise as when I go through my board (almost zero). I wonder why. Should probably get a more expensive supply anyways so that it'll stay consistent though.

Based on what Gtrjunior mentions, your Donner may be an isolated supply, which makes sense. When you daisy chain Strymon pedals to a drive pedal they can make a racket that you’d definitely notice.

Regarding an isolated Donner vs a Voodoo Lab, T-Rex, Truetone, etc. it’s probably a question of reliability, longevity, actual current capacity vs spec, etc. if it’s working right now, I’d stick with it until fails or you need more capacity.

[Darg1911]

Re: What power supplies you guys using on your boards?

The Donner DP-2 is not a true isolated supply (grounds are not isolated). Still, for whatever it's worth, it gets mostly good reviews on Amazon.

[Gtrjunior]

Re: What power supplies you guys using on your boards?

Based on what Gtrjunior mentions, your Donner may be an isolated supply, which makes sense. When you daisy chain Strymon pedals to a drive pedal they can make a racket that you’d definitely notice.

Regarding an isolated Donner vs a Voodoo Lab, T-Rex, Truetone, etc. it’s probably a question of reliability, longevity, actual current capacity vs spec, etc. if it’s working right now, I’d stick with it until fails or you need more capacity.

Funny you mention the Strymon pedals etc...
I’m using mynisolated Donner supply to power everything BUT my digital pedals.
1) the digitalnpedals draw too much current
2) they introduce too much unwanted noise.
So my digital pedals all are on their own individual power supply. Which I then have plugged into a Furman MX-8

[Gtrjunior]

Re: What power supplies you guys using on your boards?

The Donner DP-2 is not a true isolated supply (grounds are not isolated). Still, for whatever it's worth, it gets mostly good reviews on Amazon.

Your right...,I just looked at it again online. Looks like the outputs are isolated but share a ground. Go figure.
Right now it’s working as I wanted so I won’t mess with it but when needed I’ll upgrade to a true isolated unit.

[Darg1911]

Re: What power supplies you guys using on your boards?

Your right...,I just looked at it again online. Looks like the outputs are isolated but share a ground. Go figure.
Right now it’s working as I wanted so I won’t mess with it but when needed I’ll upgrade to a true isolated unit.

Yeah. I think the outlets are individually regulated with some filtering. If one goes down, the others keep working. I think that's how they get away with claiming "isolated". It's misleading (intentionally) but probably not a lie since they dont specifically claim that the grounds are isolated.

[Progbusters]

Re: What power supplies you guys using on your boards?

i'm back to a onespot. i don't have much pedals and the other systems have too much damn cables wires all over the place

[80's_Metal]

Re: What power supplies you guys using on your boards?

Onespot for me too.

[Vasshu the humanoid typhoon]

Re: What power supplies you guys using on your boards?

I like the Clarkson supply!
What could possibly go wrong??

[Jacew]

Re: What power supplies you guys using on your boards?

I like the Clarkson supply!
What could possibly go wrong??

Just need a proper full stack or two with couple hundred watts from amps so they can hear you over that V8.