Cioks Power supplies in SA

matta

Hi Guys,

There has been alot of talk on the Forum RE Cioks power supplies, in particular the new DC10, which in my honest opinion is HANDS DOWN the best power supply on the market. Cioks make nothing but effects power supplies and as a company have over 20 years in the power supply business.

For example the new DC10 puts out 1.6amps of power, features 8 isolated sections, offering 9V, 12V and 15V DC, and with the additional of the optional stack flex cable, 18 and 24V DC. It is capable of powering up to 3 Eventide pedals and still have room for additional 9V pedals. It will also comfortably power a TC Electronics Nova pedal as well.

Speaking of which, if you own a couple TC pedals, then the TC10 is up your street as it will power up to 4 of these Danish made pedals as well as ample supply left for any other 9 volters you may have and the ONLY supply approved by TC Electronics.

These supplies, unlike many of the cheap options are linear supplies (as opposed to switch mode) with custom toroidal power transformers, shielded with a mu metal screen for low EMF radiation and have heavy power filtering with low ESR caps for the lowest possible noise.

Unlike units from Voodoo Labs et al these have selectable primaries so you can easily switch from 115 to 230VAC.

Now they are not cheap, but quite honestly I couldn't make a supply this good, for anywhere near what they are asking for them.

Currently there is not agent or dealer in Africa, or infact outside of mainland Europe, that will ship to SA and the going on-line price is around R2200 ex VAT, shipping and duties to SA, so taking all that into account, even buying on-line the DC landed, will prob be around R2600.

I've been in touch with Cioks directly, through Ashton Audio as I have a client who wants 2 DC10's and I want one myself to see if we could buy direct, they are not willing to do so and in order to buy direct I need to take 10 supplies at a time.

Having chatted to Alan I'm going to propose a group buy here for them, I know that the market is small, and alot of you will turn your nose up at paying that much for a power supply, but for some of you with alot of pedals, professional gigging musos and session cats this is a small price to pay for reliability and confidence (all power supplies come with a 5 year warranty).

And for those of you who DON'T need all that power, they offer a great option called the Schizophrenic, which has 6 isolated outputs and selectable 9V, 12V and 18V DC options, the 18V option also has a variable SAG to dial in the exact DC voltage you need.

If we can get 10 supplies I can get the supplies for the following prices:

DC10 = R2,200

TC10 = R2,200

Schizophrenic = R1,200

The caveat is that the supplies will need to paid for up front, as I need to pay the order in FULL before shipment, much like we did on the Mojo order (but thankfully Cioks seem VERY jacked and have already worked out the shipping costs with FedEx for me and can turn the order around in 2+ weeks).

Anyone interested in going in on the deal? As shared I'm already in for 3, so we just need 7 more people.

Cheers

Matt

AlanRatcliffe

Brilliant! Sign me up for a TC-10.

There's nothing else on the market that comes close to these supplies. ?

kayDUB

Is that the total cost Matt? And when do you want to place the order?

matta

Yip,

That will be the total cost if you live in the CPT, if you live outside of CPT then I will just charge you the postage to get it to you. RE a timeline, I'd like to keep it open till Friday 16th July, so 2 weeks, by then we can assess if there is a demand to go through with the order. I'd need money then as well as I will have to arrange a bank transfer to them and then they said 2 weeks to ship them out, so should have em first week August if all goes well.

Cheers

Matt

kayDUB wrote: Is that the total cost Matt? And when do you want to place the order?

matta

Ok, while I'm at it... here is the justification as well...

I'm not anti switch mode supplies, but some of them are just plain noisy, and a well regulated and filtered linear design will ALWAYS be a better/safer option, plus being linear it is MUCH easier to repair fix if there is a problem, most SMPS are self sacrificing and the switching noise is quite noticeable.

I believe the One Spot is the best SMPS for guitar pedals, but they are still around $20-$30 each and if you have power hungry pedals like Eventide's or T.C it is recommended that you use one for each pedal, so we are back up to 3 separate supplies, which I am at least trying to get away from, and there is a still a fair bit of noise in them, sadly I can't find a comparison between a well filtered linear supply and one spot, but I'm pretty sure it will be noticeable, more so as you add up more pedals in the chain.

So,yes, there are cheaper alternatives in the Chinese budget range, but if you play a bunch of pedals and really want to improve your tone, a good, solid, dependable linear supply is the way to go.

Cheers

Matt

[deleted]

Argh!!! I bought a Voodoo Labs ISO about a month ago!

I was looking at the Cioks after Alan put me on to them, I searched found none available and a pain to bring in myself...

Now you come with this... :'(

I would love to have one... maybe next time

Very happy with the VL ISO however...

.... but still ☹

MIKA-the-better-one

@matta....... so you would say these are better than any voodoo labs power supplies? I would trust your judgemnt on this.... They look very similar to the Carl martin power supply I use now, the big john. I even think they havea power supply called the big john.........

I am looking to get a better power supply..... and this seems like a good deal. I run seven pedals though so the schizofrenic 6 output one wont do it.......... and I guess the 10 will.

matta

Mika,

Yes they are better, in many ways, from the overload circuits, the isolated ground planes, switchable primaries and current draw, the transformer is also a customer toroidal, which costs more to make than a cheaper ecore open frame that others use, and emits a VERY low radiation field.

And yes, you are right the Carl Martin Big John is made by Cioks, Carl Martin outsourced the design and construction to Cioks, another Danish company.

Yes, the Schizofrenic would do it and more, the difference being that the Schizofrenic has isolated outputs, the Big John shares a regulator between all it's outputs, outputs 1-5 on the Schizo has individual regulators capable of powering up to 75mA from each socket, the benefit is that should one die the PSU will still keep going, the disadvantage is if you use high current consumption pedals, you won't be able to power them off those rails.

To put it in perspective a Big Muff Pi only draws +- 3.95mA of current, so you could in effect power 18 Big Muff's off ONE of the 5 x 9V/12V sockets in a similar vain a TS808 is around 8mA, a Crybaby is around 0.43mA etc. Digital FX by comparison draw ALOT more for example the EHX Holy Grail is 500mA, which not even the biggest DC10 PSU would do, and do well. So it all depends on WHAT you want to power?

If you need more in the way of total current draw your current Big John is the better bet, but by comparison the new DC has DOUBLE the juice of the Big John and the advance of having isolated rails (remember the Big John has a single regulator), but the Schizofrenic has more flexibility RE various voltages etc.

Hope that give you a better understanding?

Cheers

Matt

MIKA the better one wrote: @matta....... so you would say these are better than any voodoo labs power supplies? I would trust your judgemnt on this.... They look very similar to the Carl martin power supply I use now, the big john. I even think they havea power supply called the big john.........

I am looking to get a better power supply..... and this seems like a good deal. I run seven pedals though so the schizofrenic 6 output one wont do it.......... and I guess the 10 will.

MIKA-the-better-one

it does ... you exlained it very well....... I will be using a earthquaker devices ghost echo, which I am told by the maker uses 100ma of power.... so The Dc 10 would be the right way to go........ as from what i saw some of the outputs put out to 200ma... which is enough.........

Does the cioks power cable detach much like a kettle cord, I couldnt find many pictures of it.......

matta

Hi Mika,

Yes, the DC10 uses an IEC (Kettle Plug as you call it) connector, which is inserted and recessed into the case, so little chance of it accidentally being unplugged, unlike some of the competition.

RE the power, actually their 8 sections on the DC10, 4 of which will supply up to 400mA per section, Outputs 7-10 have 400mA EACH and Output 5+6 have 200mA each, but can be merged into a single 400mA section, it is HUGE supply, and truelly the only DC supply you will ever need.

Cheers

Matt

MIKA the better one wrote: it does ... you exlained it very well....... I will be using a earthquaker devices ghost echo, which I am told by the maker uses 100ma of power.... so The Dc 10 would be the right way to go........ as from what i saw some of the outputs put out to 200ma... which is enough.........

Does the cioks power cable detach much like a kettle cord, I couldnt find many pictures of it.......

AlanRatcliffe

Yeah, it's a kettle plug, and very nicely done too, the plug is hidden and protected by the casing. The dip switch and voltage selection are also hidden behind the plug (making sure you disconnect it from the mains before making any changes). Like such:

MIKA-the-better-one

ah you have really sold this to me......... darn............ I wanted to buy a new ring mod............... but now this seems a bit more essential to a good sound........
I just need to see if i can scrape the cash together.......... so I will conform if i am on........... you say you are looking at ordering in 2 weeks, at R2200.........

That dc 10 will cover everything except my frequency analyzer......... and then with a new ring mod I can have it all off ONE power supply..... oh the dreams

matta

MIKA the better one wrote:you say you are looking at ordering in 2 weeks, at R2200.........

Correct, the order will close 16th July, I'll need money around the same time as well so that I can place the electronic funds order on the following Monday. And yes, at this point the pricing looks set at R2,200 per DC10/AC10/TC10, and then prob an extra R50 to mail it to you in Joburg.

Cheers

Matt

MIKA-the-better-one

Cool I shall push very hard to be part of the order....... Ile confirm this week with you..... Great

aja

Might I suggest waiting until the end of the month? Reason being the arrival of payday might secure you more orders

shadow1

if my 7 string gets sold i could potentially be ordering one of these. Altho it doesnt have the ability to power my digitech whammy. It does power all my 9V and nova delay (which actually produces a fair amount of hum with its own power supply?) or I might just use the cash to get some decent patch cables made up

TomCat

shadow1 wrote: nova delay (which actually produces a fair amount of hum with its own power supply?

I've also noticed that. I suspect the PSU being the culprit as it is being used along with my other Pedalboard PSU.

AlanRatcliffe

TomCat wrote:
shadow1 wrote: nova delay (which actually produces a fair amount of hum with its own power supply?
I've also noticed that. I suspect the PSU being the culprit as it is being used along with my other Pedalboard PSU.

I don't pick up any noise with mine, even though I'm running two Nova pedals and a third supply for other pedals.

MIKA-the-better-one

Its between this and the bbe supa charger!!! This is obviously better BUT is more $$$

Either way with my new Reverb, my pedal power is not happy, its gotten very buzzy... (is this normal?)

Is this being ordered then end of month?

or sooner?

JoeyBones

I don't know enough about this, but my R100 meanwell power supply is doing the job just fine powering my 11 x 9V pedals and my 12V Nova Delay. I don't get any unecessary noise. I use my ISP Decimator for when I layer two or more drives (Very seldom). I only have 9V and the one 12V pedal, so I can't speak for guys who are using 18V and 24V stuff.

I like the idea of having Isolated power outlets, but I can't justify paying that much for a power supply at the moment.