Weird noise issue with my pedal board what do you guys use for Power supplies?

[Ascension]

Putting together a new board for a gig this weekend and ran into a issue I have never noticed before. Got the time based stuff set up and running in the loop with no issue. However when I set the WAH and Compressor up for the front end I was getting a high pitched ring. Traced it back to the compressor so swapped cables and cleaned all the jacks but had no effect. I then just pulled the power supply on the true bypass compressor and the noise suddenly stopped hmm that's odd? Plugged the power back in and the ring comes back. Was running a Gator PS so swapped it for a one spot no ring but now have a bunch of white noise in everything! Tried another Power supply I had on hand and it was much better with no ring. Instantly showed me I need a cleaner and more stable power source and that some of my noise issues in my other boards are likely from dirty power.
Sorry for the long post but needed to drop you the back story on this. As a working player playing mostly modern worship in Churches I HAVE to have a quiet rig. Many times I will run a cab off stage and mic it to the FOH so any noise in my rig is a problem. Now that I have experienced just how much difference the PS on a board does make first hand I need to get some advice on what to go to for my 3 boards.

 

[jeremy]

i use a voodoo lab pp2 on my big board, ive had it forever and it works great. i have a boss psa120s and one spot that i keep in the bag and will use one of those on my smaller boards. the voodoo mondo is great too, ive wired that up on a few friends boards. does the gator have isolated outputs?

 

[Securb]

I use a Decibel Eleven Hot Stone Deluxe, which was designed and built by some guys from Voodoo Labs. It is feature full with two variable outputs for sagging pedals. You can also combine outputs for 18v or 24v

 

[devastone]

I've had issues with some amps in the past if pedals in front of the preamp and pedals in the loop shared the same power supply, since you have 2 supplies, try running them off different supplies. It's a quick and cheap check.

FWIW, I use a OneSpot when I'm using individual pedals. I've used nice isolated supplies in the past too, didn't really notice any noise difference between them (with the exception of the noted above) but I mostly use a multi-fx now so it's been a while.

 

[Mincer]

I am using a Gator Power 8, which works without any noise. Never had a problem with it in hundreds of sketchy venues.

 

[ErikH]

I use a One-spot on my board with zero noise issues. And it’s powering 9 devices.

Does the ring happen with the compressor off but powered from the supply as well?

 

[GuitarStv]

I've run into some weird issues with pedals and power supplies. Digital pedals often don't seem to play well with analog stuff - they'll add some ticking or whining sounds sometimes. Fuzz pedals can be picky about how much power they want to see - often it seems easier to power them with a 9V. A lot of it seems to be a matter of random luck. I've had 10 pedal boards that ran perfectly silent off of a single daisy chained 1-spot. I've also run into pedals that will introduce noise and hiss no matter what's powering them.

Generally speaking, I've had great luck with visual sound/truetone 1-spot wall warts. I was previously running all my digital pedals daisy chained on one 1-spot with all my analog stuff daisy chained on another. No noise/hiss or problems. A year or so ago I got a 1-spot pro brick that has simplified my setup/tear down a bit and seems just as good. Have never had problems with EHX, Fulltone, Boss, or digitech wall-warts that I've used for powering individual pedals, although I did have a really noisy/cheap no-name power supply a long time back.

Voodoo Labs ISO5 power supplies straight up suck. The inputs are not isolated from each other and the power supply itself introduces noise into the signal if it's placed within a foot of the pedals it's powering. Their "18 votl" outputs measure closer to 16 volts and will not work with 18v pedals. Voodoo Labs doesn't stand behind their product at all - telling me that I should expect their power supply to add noise that isn't present using the wall-warts or other PSUs and that 16V is close enough to 18V to be acceptable to them. Not sure how their other stuff is (I had heard plenty of good reviews - that's why I bought the two ISO5s that I had), but they make terrible products and have no interest at all in working with you or helping you when their products don't work correctly.

 

[NegativeEase]

I hate to say it, because Billie will see this as confirmation of Christ's GAS grace......:evil:

but Strymon Ojai/Zumas are the quietest Ive tested -and Ive tested a bunch of supplies -maybe 10 brands.

Praise be to Jah, Allah, and Jesus for this bountiful power supply harvest we have to select from

 

[eclecticsynergy]

I have a OneSpot Pro CS6 under the small board that has occasionally given me noise but works fine 95% of the time. I know Voodoo Labs doesn't have a great reputation with some here, but I haven't had any trouble at all with the VoodooLabs Power 2 Plus on the other.

 

[Dudeman7]

Voodoo Lab solved all of my pedal board noise issues. I had been using 1-Spots for years but I was getting a lot of noise from certain places we played.

I bought a couple Walrus Phoenix power supplies and they were even worse. So, I picked up a Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 3+ and an x4 for my big guitar board and it is dead silent in every room, every night.

Since then, I have assembled boards for other instruments and projects. I have two Pedal Power 3+s, four x4s and one x8. All of them have been 100% reliable and noise free. They are all super lightweight so none of my boards are very heavy, even the ones with 15 pedals on them.

 

[80's_Thrash_Metal]

I use a Furman and a Onespot. Both at home and at the practice pad.
I've never had any issues.

 

[Ascension]

I use a One-spot on my board with zero noise issues. And it’s powering 9 devices.

Does the ring happen with the compressor off but powered from the supply as well?

Yes and was very constant. Stopped as soon as I unplugged the Gator from the pedal. I'm running the wall wart type Power supplies as only run say from 3 to 6 pedals on my board off a daisy chain. When I found the ring it was a eye opener when I started swapping out different supplies and heard how just noisy some of them were. The One Spot in particular instantly picked up a very noticeable BUZZ from everywhere when I plugged in into the daisy chain. Found a PS in my box that really dropped the noise but is unfortunately unmarked with a brand. Made me rethink the need to buy one of the more expensive brick type supplies for my boards instantly. Wanted to get some insight into what some of you other guys are running on your boards.
This was also in both the loop and front of my little Boogie Subway Rocket which is my quietest amp by far in particular with effects in the loop. Was all a real eye opener on this that's for sure.

 

[Ascension]

Voodoo Lab solved all of my pedal board noise issues. I had been using 1-Spots for years but I was getting a lot of noise from certain places we played.

I bought a couple Walrus Phoenix power supplies and they were even worse. So, I picked up a Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 3+ and an x4 for my big guitar board and it is dead silent in every room, every night.

Since then, I have assembled boards for other instruments and projects. I have two Pedal Power 3+s, four x4s and one x8. All of them have been 100% reliable and noise free. They are all super lightweight so none of my boards are very heavy, even the ones with 15 pedals on them.

This sounds promising as it's very similar to what I have going on. Will look into the Voodoo labs stuff thanks!

 

[Ascension]

i use a voodoo lab pp2 on my big board, ive had it forever and it works great. i have a boss psa120s and one spot that i keep in the bag and will use one of those on my smaller boards. the voodoo mondo is great too, ive wired that up on a few friends boards. does the gator have isolated outputs?

The little Gator was a wall wart that came with a 8 pedal daisy chain I had on hand new in the box. Thinking maybe i need something with isolated inputs? This is the little Gator power supply that stared me looking into this by causing the ring with my compressor.
https://reverb.com/item/42157888-new...ll-wart-1700ma

 

[ErikH]

OK so now we know that about the supply with the compressor. What exactly are all of the pedals that you have on the daisy chain? Brand and model. A buddy of mine ran into the same problem and one of his digital pedals was causing this problem so he ended up using a dedicated power supply just for that one.

 

[Securb]

I ran out of spaces on my Decibel 11 and added this second power supply under my board. I have not had any problems with it so far, and they are budget priced.

Donner DP-1 Guitar Power Supply 10 Isolated DC Output for 9V/12V/18V Effect Pedal

https://www.amazon.com/Donner-Guita...=&sprefix=isolated+powe+supply,aps,105&sr=8-5

 

[Mikelamury]

I use a mxr iso brick and never had any problems. It seems quiet enough. I'm power 8 pedals with it. It's got 10 outlets a 2 of which are 18 volt and 2 of them can be set anywhere from 5-15 volts the rest are 9 volt.

 

[Hank-]

I ran out of spaces on my Decibel 11 and added this second power supply under my board. I have not had any problems with it so far, and they are budget priced.

Donner DP-1 Guitar Power Supply 10 Isolated DC Output for 9V/12V/18V Effect Pedal

https://www.amazon.com/Donner-Guita...=&sprefix=isolated+powe+supply,aps,105&sr=8-5

This one, the joyo variant, the caline variant & probably the mooer variant if they have one, along with a few other Chinese variants, are advertised as having isolated outputs but these aren't like the usual isolated supplies like the voodoo labs pp2 and stuff.

For cheap & reliable, I'd look at the Truetone cs pros models, Trex, voodoo labs stuff

If you can afford the pricier stuff then look into Zuma,cloicks, etc.

The higher end stuff probably has better transformers and layout to keep the noise low.

 

[Ascension]

OK so now we know that about the supply with the compressor. What exactly are all of the pedals that you have on the daisy chain? Brand and model. A buddy of mine ran into the same problem and one of his digital pedals was causing this problem so he ended up using a dedicated power supply just for that one.

In the loop I'm running a Rocktron Deep Blue Chorus,a Boss DD 3 delay and a Newnaber Wet V5 Verb. Front of amp a Vox Wah and a SP compressor. This particular board is set up for my Mesa Boogie Subway Rocket small gig grab and go rig. I ran the One Spot wall wart into the board and it got rid of the ring but was hella noisy with a big buzz. Buzz with the One Spot was worse than the ring with the Gator and that surprised me. This was what made me post this thread as was a real eye opener.

 

[Aceman]

Truetone