Which Power Supply?

singemonkey

I just got a new Boss FRV1 reverb pedal. A tremolo pedal and, I guess, a pedal tuner, and I'll have my whole set up. But it just emphasised the urgency of getting a power supply and jumper leads so that I can actually use them all simultaneously :?

I have the following now:

The FRV1
A TS9
An Ibanez AD9 Analogue Delay
A Fuzz Face (battery only)
A Vox Wah (battery only)

In addition to the fact that I want something that can hook up to the battery connectors in the Fuzz Face and the Wah, I just might go for the MXR Tremolo, which is 12V. I want the smallest, lightest power supply I can get. What about the 1-spots and Godlyke power systems? What else should I be thinking about?

nick

There have been a few posts about a Meanwell 9v 2a 18w power supply you can buy from Mantech here in CPT for R140 odd rand.

2amps is plenty, powers my TS9, CS9, Crunchbox, Wah, Tuner, Fuzz without batting an eyelid.

mattyd

Voodoo Labs Pedal Power ISO-5... All your power needs ?

AlanRatcliffe

+1 on the Voodoo Labs. The ISO 5 and Pedal Power 2 both look good. If you're going to use a PSU, do it properly.

I'm almost at the point where a PSU will be neccessary, so have been looking lately. Unfortunately I have two TC Nova pedals and there is nothing that can power both ...yet (although the Cioks TC10 is coming out soon.

singemonkey

Cool. Where would I get? Marshall? Bothners? What kind of money?

I'm thinking that the better designed power supplies will get the best results out of those pedals like the wah and the tubescreamer that are very sensitive to the power. I presume I can get adapters with the Voodoo Labs power supplies for connecting to the battery connectors of the two pedals without an AC in?

AlanRatcliffe

Marshall's usually have. The PP2 comes with a variety of plugs.

singemonkey

Thanks all.

JoeyBones

I've read on a few forums that running 9V pedals, especially drives, on a 12V power supply can give you better tone (More headroom).

I was messing around with a 12V alarm battery that I have last night. My brother said it would be safer to test this theory with a battery than a power supply. I ran my TS-808 reissue, Dasmusikding Tube Screamer, EHX Double muff, BOSS DM-2 and DasMusikding Tremolo and they all seem to work fine of the 12v 2.3A battery. This would be great for my TREX Replica and Nova delay since they are both 12V pedals that I'm running of a 9V power supply

So what are the real dangers of running pedals like these of a 12V DC power supply ?

AlanRatcliffe

Some pedals can be very fussy about supply, but that's down to the individual pedals. Check with the manufacturer when in doubt.

I think the biggest problem with running all 12V is that those that only need 9V will have to dissipate the 25% excess voltage (possibly as heat), which could lead to other problems down the line. Also, extra headroom in a drive pedal is not necessarily a good thing - extra headroom means less drive. There are even some folk that practice limiting voltage to +/-7V to mimic the sound of an old battery (some supplies like the PP2 even have voltage "sag" circuits so you can adjust).

Generally I think it's best to stick to manufacturers' recommendations and use a supply that caters for all the different voltages your pedals need. Also, when you have a board full of nice pedals, it's kind of silly to skimp on the power supply (or cables) to save a few bucks (not saying that's what you're doing here - just an additional point).

JoeyBones

Alan Ratcliffe wrote: I think the biggest problem with running all 12V is that those that only need 9V will have to dissipate the 25% excess voltage (possibly as heat), which could lead to other problems down the line.

I was thinking the same thing last night, but I'm no electronics expert. I only tested them for a few seconds to see if they would work.

Alan Ratcliffe wrote: Also, extra headroom in a drive pedal is not necessarily a good thing - extra headroom means less drive. There are even some folk that practice limiting voltage to +/-7V to mimic the sound of an old battery (some supplies like the PP2 even have voltage "sag" circuits so you can adjust).

I've heard about that. My brother said he could get me a charger board that has two regulated outputs for the battery so I can set one to 12V and the other to 9V. Gonna give that a try if he gets around to finding it. I think it'd be cool to be able to pick up my board and walk away without having to roll up cables after a set ?

Alan Ratcliffe wrote: Generally I think it's best to stick to manufacturers' recommendations and use a supply that caters for all the different voltages your pedals need. Also, when you have a board full of nice pedals, it's kind of silly to skimp on the power supply (or cables) to save a few bucks (not saying that's what you're doing here - just an additional point).

Too true. I got a response from John Cusack. His pedals are able to handle up to a maximum of 13V. He suggested sticking to 9V for the Tremolo though.

Thanks for the info Alan.

JoeyBones

I have a problem. I managed to work out a way of power all my pedals and controller and then something caught my eye.

I watched a demo of the new Digitech Whammy and I'm hooked. I was gonna look at the POG2, but the whammy is midi controllable as well.

Problem is the whammy requires 9VAC. Once again I'm a bit ignorant when it comes to anything to do with electricity, so I'll ask the question ? Is there a simple way to use a 9VDC supply to power a 9VAC pedal ?

Vick

....Also look at the t-rex jr. Feultank ? you get a larger variety of cables with it then with the iso5....but the voodoo PP2 is awesome.

And isint the mxr 18v man?
But the voodoo pp2 can switch from 9 to 12v on individual outputs..... ?

JoeyBones

I've been trying to avoid these big and expensive power supplies. The meanwell and 1 spot power supplies I'm using at the moment have been doing an awesome job.

Skywalker

Recently got my Cioks DC-10 from Matta and it's working great ?

Bit pricey but well worth it. I can power the damn starship enterprise with this thing 8)

JoeyBones

Skywalker wrote: Recently got my Cioks DC-10 from Matta and it's working great ?

Bit pricey but well worth it. I can power the damn starship enterprise with this thing 8)

Those are awesome power supplies, but the price tag is warding me off. I currently have the following:

2 x 1 spot - 1 each for the Timefactor and Modfactor
1.5A Meanwell 12vDC for my T-REX Replica and Musicom EFX MKII Controller
2A Meanwell 9vDC for the rest of my pedals

All of these have cost me +- R600 in total. The one thing I like about this is if one power supply goes, I'm not dead in the water.

Vick

Get a voodoo man.....realy....I think it might be the cheapist thing on your board.... ?
Thouse things are built like tanks....you could always have the onespots as backups...

JoeyBones

Skywalker wrote: Recently got my Cioks DC-10 from Matta and it's working great ?

Bit pricey but well worth it. I can power the damn starship enterprise with this thing 8)

Looks like the AC-10 would do the trick, but it costs about the same as the Whammy ... :-\

I might have to run the Whammy off it's own power supply for now, should I decide to get it.

matta

The problem with all cheap SMPS's like the One Spot, Godlyke and Meanwell is that they are self sacrificing, or should be, but I've seen several fail, just search the net and you will see and hear horror stories, inrush currents killing pedals, in fact I has a SMPS take out a R16,000 mic pre, thankfully the 10R resistors self sacrificed on 3 of the 4 pres, but the last require a R700 opamp to be replaced.

You have ore faith than I do in them, it was for this reason I ended up buying Cioks and bringing they other,s I own a Mod and Timefactor, those pedals are stupid expensive, and I'm not going to trust R100 supply on them... the risk is far to great... but to each his own.

This makes for interesting reading and the author seems to share my views: http://www.stinkfoot.se/andreas/diy/articles/trans.htm

Cheers

Matt

aja

Matta, speaking of cioks, when will you be bringing another order?

I am completely satisfied with mine BTW

matta

Hi Aja,

Glad to hear you are enjoying yours! RE bringing in another order, not anytime soon. Sadly Cioks requires me to buy a minimum of 10 supplies at a time, which is a substantial outlay for me, the only way it would be possible is, like last time, to sell 5 on indent, payment up front, and then I'll take the risk on the other 5, but 10 is just too big a risk.

Likewise the those sold in indent would be MUCH cheaper than those I'd have to sell myself as I'd need to increase the profit margins to offset my outlay, so it is a bit of a catch 22.

I've outlaid a fair bit in buying extra cables just in case on this last order, so should be able to provide existing Cioks owners with accessories for some time.

Cheers

Matt

aja wrote: Matta, speaking of cioks, when will you be bringing another order?

I am completely satisfied with mine BTW