Why do so many floor-based tuners have DC-Out?

[TimmyPage]

Is there a reason for it, historically or otherwise? Is there some benefit to daisy chaining from my tuner as opposed to straight from my DC brick?

 

[Oinkus]

Re: Why do so many floor-based tuners have DC-Out?

I have been using a tuner as my power supply for a long time , and yes it removes the brick from your board. Can't power 18v or 12v pedals is the downside.

 

[dystrust]

Re: Why do so many floor-based tuners have DC-Out?

I have been using a tuner as my power supply for a long time , and yes it removes the brick from your board. Can't power 18v or 12v pedals is the downside.

Ground loops are another potential downside. Any decent power supply will have isolated outs, whereas everything on a daisy chain shares a common ground.

 

[trevorus]

Re: Why do so many floor-based tuners have DC-Out?

Ground loops are another potential downside. Any decent power supply will have isolated outs, whereas everything on a daisy chain shares a common ground.

Unless they pedals have isolated jacks and likely isolation circuitry, they do through the signal chain as it is. It's more a ground loop issue.

I think the power out jack was brought into pedal parlance for the daisy chain, before power bricks and the like were in common use.

 

[dystrust]

Re: Why do so many floor-based tuners have DC-Out?

Unless they pedals have isolated jacks and likely isolation circuitry, they do through the signal chain as it is. It's more a ground loop issue.

I think the power out jack was brought into pedal parlance for the daisy chain, before power bricks and the like were in common use.

That's essentially what I was getting at. A nice power supply (Pedal Power 2 for example) has completely isolated outputs, so there is no possibility of ground loops forming as long as you run only one pedal off of each power jack. A daisy chain (like a One Spot) has common ground, so ground loops are quite likely. Whether or not this will cause problems depends on the specific pedals you're using. Some pedals won't care, while others very likely will.

Agreed re: reason for the power out. I don't know how long isolated supplies have been available, but the Boss PSM-5 (daisy chain power supply & master switch) has been available since 1983.

 

[GuitarDoc]

Re: Why do so many floor-based tuners have DC-Out?

I've used a Pedal Power and a One Spot for many years now. Never had a problem with ground loops.