That Pedal Show - How To Power Your Pedals Properly & The Legend Of VCPI
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- Опубліковано 20 сер 2024
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In this episode Daniel and Mick explain how to power your pedals... properly. It’s really not that complicated to understand, though it’s nevertheless a confusing subject for many people, simply because there are so many different power supply options available.
As we explain in the video however, if you satisfy each of these four things, you’ll never be confused about power again! All hail the enlightenment of VCPI. Erm…
V. Voltage
C. Current
P. Polarity
I. Isolation
After the life-changing lesson of VCPI, we go on to talk about the effect of using different voltages in pedals that are designed to take it, for example an overdrive, chorus and compressor that can take anything from 9 to 18 volts. The tonal effect can be a big deal, as you’ll hear. And just what do we think of daisy chains? All will be revealed.
For a wide section of power supplies, please go here:
UK & Europe: bit.ly/2cMWE07
USA: bit.ly/3qSNrc9
Australia: bit.ly/38GYJXk
TheGigRig: www.thegigrig.c...
Pedals in this episode
Analog Man King Of Tone
www.analogman.c...
Analog Man-Bi Chorus
www.buyanalogm...
Origin Effects Cali76 Compact Deluxe
UK & Europe: bit.ly/2cbsLUm
USA: bit.ly/323rheM
Australia: bit.ly/2MCHxuu
As ever, all switching and routing is handled by TheGigRig G2. www.thegigrig.com
* Why do we have preferred retailer links? Find out here: www.thatpedalsh...
Guitars in this episode
• Gibson Custom 1958 Les Paul Standard c2002
• Fender American Vintage ’62 Stratocaster c2000
Amps this episode
• Mesa Lonestar head into 1x12 cab with Celestion G12-75 Creamback
• Victory The Sheriff 44 into V212VH cabinet
UK & Europe: bit.ly/2c34DXr
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![What Guitar Pedals Do I Get Next? [A Versatile Do-It-All Board]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/tzakYMEnBGI/mqdefault.jpg)
Probably the least sexy and most essential That Pedal Show video you've ever produced. Kudos, fellas.
Hey guys, no idea whether you will see comments on old episodes but had to say.....watched this last Friday, spent Saturday looking up the current draw of all my pedals and following all your advice. The results were just amazing. In particular, my overdrive and distortion pedals sound much much better. Thank you 😊🙏Loving your work. Mark 🎸💥😃
Amazing! Nice one Mark, and thanks for letting us know!
Mick, it’s 4-12-19 and your suggestion of this for customers at GC has already yielded me forcing 3 separate customers to pull it up before I go diving into their rats nest board or tearing off pedals they’ve said were noisy (ALL had daisy chains, the least was 5 pedals, the most 7 w/digital involved 🤦♂️). THANK YOU, I’m gonna email the link to the entire staff.
-Aaron
I upgraded from individual PSU units to a GigRig Modular system earlier this year. The difference to my noise level, and more importantly, my tone, was drastic. I'd been procrastinating about sorting out my power for years, and this video was the catalyst. Thanks guys!
+Alex Johnston Cheers Alex. It's hard to believe it makes that much difference.... until you do it. Mick here - I was astounded when i finally got it all sorted properly. Cheers!
That pedal show has become my "go to" for comprehensive gear knowledge. Nicely done !
Thanks for the great video!
BTW any KOT made in the last several years is fine at 18V continuously. Our Chorus pedals are perfect at 15V, 18V is a bit on the hairy edge.
mike, could you please confirm I can run my KoT at 12V for as long as needed no problem at all? I'm using a voodoolab 4x4 - I got it 1 month ago straight from you guys, first owner (and last owner unless robbed haha)
Yes no problem!
Mike , is there any option for doing a bu chorus in another colour say maybe in black?
Sooo much rudimentary information that's not commonly known (or understood) in this video!
I've watched the whole vid at least 2x all the way through, each time was over a year apart, and I still learned something.
Thanks Dan & Mick for putting this vid up and making this information so easily receivable! For that alone, y'all have earned your pence!
Peace. Light. Blessings. Bounty. Joy. Gratitude. Rock On.
not joking, needed this quite literally over a decade ago. currently in the process of rebuilding my board and this lesson is absolutely essential. thank you so much!
I’m too poor to afford a good power supply and the lady in the pound shop looks confused when I buy 2 packets of batteries every week and I just say VCPI
LOL unless you are fully joking and not only half jokingly speaking... It then makes even more sense to understand that you can literally troll a recycling depot and find yourself some power supplies. I mean reliability and sanitary considerations aside, if the specs are met and the unit works, plug her in and get her did.
Buy a donner dp-1 for $40. It has isolated jacks and 9V/12V/18V options
Be a true American and buy a used voodoo power pedal supply on a credit card
@@PageandPlant4Life 😂😁
You know.. It's the smoke that makes the pedal work.. The moment you release the smoke, it doesent work anymore.. :D
Yes, the smoke is its soul escaping.
Don't let out the magic smoke!
My cousin is an electrical engineer, and he makes these pedal adapters from 5v phone adapters that have soldered endings that hook onto the 9v battery ports in pedals. For the low voltage Big Muff sound, this is really cool, though a little bit noisy. Also, I encourage anyone to check out the Bookworm Effects Switters Boost. It's a clean boost that has an additional voltage control, which can yield a "low-fi" drive. It's a cool effect for some off-kilter sounds.
Dan’s little tidbit about the “noisy overdrive” that’s just amplifying noise coming from a different pedal is a really important thing to remember when reading reviews online.
This is probably the first video everyone should watch before that start building a board!
And anyone studying electronics would be better to not watch it as he appears to not know the difference between current and power, and does not use standard letters
@@johnmalcolm9980 uh oh
Great episode dudes, entertaining and informative!
Great post guys you have just saved me a explosion ..
Brilliant! I struggle with the noise at gigs, and skipped all the electronics classes in HS on purpose!
This has cleared the fog! "Watch this vid and learn to play just like Jimmy P in 15 minutes" type of vid, but this is the first I have seen that has worked.
VCPI... (suggested) VC(2)PI. Golden.
All pedals are powered by magic smoke. If you push a pedal past it's voltage limit, it allows the magic smoke to escape...
You can get magic smoke replacement kits
Here's a different twist on my annoying usual request. Similar to the Desert Island episode, you have been sentenced to perform one gig in a horrible place, a place you thought it only existed in nightmares… yes, THE SOLID STATE ISLAND! [woman screams, wolf howls, cat hisses, owl… do whatever an owl does… ok, maybe don't overdo the sound effects]
You can choose any solid state amp. What pedals would you use? Would you go with amp-in-a-box pedals? Would sensu stricto overdrive pedals, like a TS, still be a good a idea? Is the whole symmetric/asymmetric clipping thing be important?
(I'll shut up about this, I promise!)
+Rafael Andrade We have the first solid state amp video coming up in two weeks. It has been filmed. :0)
Does digital modelling count as solid state? Kemper, Helix, Fractal?
I'd take the challenge with one of those
+Christopher Adcock That's a separate video. They're great tools, and we'll explore that in time.
Jc-120. Or one of those Orange solid states.
Peavey Bandit 112 for the win!
After watching this I’ve realised I know nothing about pedals and I’ve been gigging for 15yrs
That was me before I met Dan. :0)
me too
I already understood about V-C-P, but only a little about isolation. Now I know even more about V-C-P and I really understand the importance of isolation. I'm about to add an MXR M300 Reverb (digital pedal) to my board and I'm glad that I got the information in this video first. Great stuff!
I have an Analogman BiChorus and I asked Mike if it was ok to use the Xotic Voltage Doubler which offers 15 or 18v.
Mike told me that 15v is the absolute perfect voltage for his chorus pedal. I've used it for a year with zero issues and the pedal is much improved. Love it.
If anyone is looking for a proper power supply to power their board, you should check out the 1spot pro (either CS7 or CS12).
I switched from a cheap ass power supply which was giving me nightmarish amounts of noise to the CS12 and it solved so many issues for me.
Can't recommend it enough.
I'm in no way shape or form affiliated with the manufacturer so I'm purely advertising this as a happy customer.
Who else is here for a 2nd viewing after the VCQ on 12-Apr-2019? If you are, here's a gift--Dan's face/reaction @ 26:13 .
I came to watch it again and realised I hadn't actually watched it!
Thanks for this vid. Added two new pedals to my rig last night and suddenly I had noise. This video really saved me a ton of time trouble shooting the issue.
Just as I add a new pedal and my pedal board gets super noisy and am all of a sudden looking for the best way to power it, you guys show up with this new show! You both make my Friday!!
I love the nerdy episodes!! Great show gentlemen!
Dan and Mick, always love the show. look forward to it every week.
Could you maybe do a show on how the volume knob's positions affect the tone on Les Paul and Strat -and feature some pedals that highlight those characteristics? Thanks in advance!
+Derek Parrott This is a FANTASTIC suggestion, thank you.
Yes. :0)
Thanks for clarification. On a side note, I now own a Fender Strat like Mick's, and a 'similar' Les Paul to Dan. Cost me a bomb, but so worth it. I'm 47 and you have finally taught me what my passion was. Thank You. ( Angry Charlie coming, and saving up for a Hamstead). Have to 'put up" with my Hot Rod Deluxe for now. Topic suggestion... sound like Band/Person "X" as we all like to emulate a certain sound, so a theme maybe. I vote Billy Gibbons first...
this is quite possibly the most informative video I have ever seen. All my noise, is a power issue. Godddddd!!!!!!!, i've spent years working on this. I'm fairly simple sometimes. This was church today. Thanks so much!
Hooray! There are people across the world resisting the fact that the best money that can be spent is not on the next pedal.... but on getting your power sorted. It’s number 1. Mick here. Cheers!
Oh praise Jesus it's Friday. Also, I love how you guys are doing vids about your guitars. Can't wait for Dan's SG Junior.
Learned some cool stuff. Including, "Chalk and cheese"! Like that...
Thank you for your work and sharing all this information, it's inspired me to go back to analog pedals, but that was not quite it... which inspired me further to build a pedal board, not quite the ticket yet... so I found a loop switcher, but it made some funny noises, so I built good cables for it, almost there, and finally the power supply arrived in the mail, so I installed it yesterday, and there is it... now it rocks. The loop switcher solved some problems (switching pops in some pedals and obviously the presets is what I wanted), the good cables too (noise and pops), and finally the power supply (I'll get to the point), well, it was worth it. Daniel, your saying it makes pedals "sound better", snicker, and I understand some people's reaction would be "give me a break", I was one of them. And you know money is not easy to get sometimes and I am always looking for ways to do it with less, so to speak, but I also save by building and fixing my equipment. I wanted to share my experience, a very good example, with the EHX LPB-1 booster in particular. I was concerned with this pedal, the way it was breaking up was harsh and unpleasant when picking too hard, and it behaved strangely. Now with a proper isolated power supply it breaks up beautifully, I can pick as hard as I want, the sound is greatly improved and it delivers nice gain, all because of the power supply. I purchased the 1 Spot Pro c12, great product, as I am sure I would have had great results with the G2 products, anyways, thanks guys and the internet people who share info. for being my companions on this journey.
You guys could talk about anything and I would watch. Mick makes the best faces and Dan just knows about everything. Thanks for the great Friday mornings
You guys should check out the Bondi effects sick as overdrive. Truly great OD that holds its own next to the analog man.
+jamrogers we have one on the way ;)
DEL MAR?
I plug straight into an amp which avoids all these problems. But I love this show and watch it anyways!
This show is the best classroom ever!
I thought this was going to be a boring one…remind me to never doubt Dan and Mick again. Great episode.
I expected this to be a 10 second video of the bumper graphic then Dan yelling "Carbon Zinc Batteries!"
So what have we learned? -Never share girlfriends, needles or power!
Cheers! Thank you so very much for the invaluable information. I'm venturing into putting together my first pedal board and I know that this video has saved me loads of guessing, headache, frustration, and money. Hands down this is the most helpful and informative video I have seen to date. I am a subscriber for life. Thanks again!
Sitting here shaking my head as I realize why my empress reverb and superdelay have always been so noisy, they've literally ruined studio sessions. Powering it with a voodoo labs pp 2plus. Expensive as all hell, well built power supply, but only two outputs power 250 mA (still 50 less than what the empress's require), and if one pedal is drawing that much your not meant to use the other output for a high current draw pedal. So effectively you can only power one highish current draw pedal, it will definitely not be enough for most strymon, empress, eventide style pedals. (obviously reading all this why I am watching). MXR Iso-brick is cheaper, fully isolated, has more inputs at high current draws to power my empress's and has better dimensions (for me at least). Thanks for explaining this, getting half cooked advice from forums for years clearly hasn't served me well. the only difference I can see between the two supplies is that the pedal power is powered directly by a AC power chord (jug plug) where as the iso brick is powered off another wallwart power adapter. Obviously the jug plug would be more sturdy but would this cause any significant difference sound wise?
You guys should do an episode where you put the Kemper up against some famous amps like on Rob Chapman's channel. I am extremely interested in what your ears pick up and also how the two would handle pedals differently.
+John Bradford Haven't Lee and Rob answered the question? Nobody can tell the difference?
Yeah.... I just really want them to be wrong.. I figured maybe just maybe you guys would have a different outcome. Or maybe the Kemper can't handle pedals.. I know, it's a long shot. Damn technology
+John Bradford They're not wrong. Nobody is wrong. Dan and I are going to spend some time. I had one a while ago, and Dan builds them into people's rigs (big people). So we're not entirely green to the Kemper world. :0)
Wrong wasn't the best word, just curious what you guys thought! As guitar players, there is something so romantic about valves. I just recently upgraded from a Line 6 POD to a real tube amp, it gave me a strange feeling to see chappers and capt lee unable to decipher between digital solid state and old school valves.
There is a huge difference from Line6 and valve amps and I am sure Lee and Chapman would be able hear it. Kemper and AxeFX is another story though...
A plural for kings of tone? A monarchy of tone?
thats a collective noun - plural would be Analogmen Kings of Tone
It becomes less fun when you give yourself no leeway to be creative, at least in my opinion.
Still I'll correct myself and go with what I _should've_ said, _Monarchs of Tone_
I disagree David M: there's only 1 Mike Piera, so it'll be Analogman Kings of Tone. :)
+Piplodocus I think it's King Ofs Tone.
If you had one King set for lower gain and the other for higher gain, wouldn't they be Kings of Tones?
Sorry to spam the comments on this video, but Mick if you're checking this you should show Dan the comment from Mike about running his KOT with 18v.
With regard to the question of the day, this is taken from TheGearPage,
AnalogMike said:
It depends on the filter capacitors we use, I think they are normally
about 15V, you may be able to read the #s on them, the large can caps in
the middle of the board above the DIP SWITCH. Sometimes we mount them
on the back of the board so you may not see them. It's so hard to find
good quality through-hole parts now, every time I order, the old parts
are discontinued and I need to find a replacement.
18V will be safe for a few hours but may blow up the caps after an
extended period. Everything else (chips, etc) can handle the voltage.
But I don't think the sound is improved with higher voltage so I do
recommend 9V, 12V is also fine.
Have fun!
I've done it, on a Fuzz Face Mini. Around new year it was, I learned an important lesson. Good thing the pedal was only £30. Make sure to check the voltage for the pedal before you kill it!
That Brunetti though on the right
can i get a V>C>P>I t-shirt please
I would seriously, without question, own that t-shirt! :D Nerdcore FTW! lol
I really like that the "-Hey guys, welcome to That Pedal Show. Dan here. -Mick here, hello!.." salute is pretty much established. Keep it up fellas, fantastic show!!
I only watch like 4 things on UA-cam Mick and Dan are one.... Bought my catalin echorec thanks to them! And now to power it properly.....
WHEN YOU SAY U ARE RUNNING THE PEDALS ISOLATED I SEE YOU ARE PLUGGING THEM INTO A SMALL "BOX" IS THAT A DEVICE TO ISOLATE THEM? OR IS IT A DEDICATED POWER UNIT JUST FOR THAT SINGLE PEDAL?
*cough cough* it's only an acronym is the initials used form a word you can pronounce otherwise it's just initialisation. That aside, a very useful video. Bravo Dan & Mick.
+-b0j- For fuck's sake. Really?
Haha. Sorry. Iso-lay-shan for the nay-shan! I can't tell you how much of a difference it made to my board isolating my pedals. Thanks to Dan & the Gigrig for those tasty morsels. Saying that, i've a large pile of empty, pristine Gigrig boxes now. Does Dan want them back for recycling purposes ... ?
+-b0j- ;0) Apols for the sense of humour failure. Mick needs more sleep and less video editing. Glad you're loving the stuff!
Hey no need to apologise. I thought it's Friday and i'd instill some of my own humour.
Vic Pee is a word!
Round of applause for Mike indeed! I have been a customer and a persistent nuisance to Mike asking him questions via email all the time, and you can't ask for a nicer and more talented guy. I have mentioned to you guys before (Mick? do you handle this channel?) his relationship with Trey Anastasio and the godly tone that man produces, the best of which came from using two of mike's ts9 silver mods into (before) a ross compressor, (now he's using Mike's compROSSor and an analogman-modded way huge supa-puss as well, im sure you guys would love these two pedals). As Dan mentioned he prefers comps after boost, this is what Trey does but to an extreme. You can dime out the tubescreamers (2 of them even) drive and level and control the overall volume with the compressor, not neccesarily compressing it down more but just capping the volume, the sustain is out of this world! One of you guys said a video about some of this is in the works, and I can't wait. If you chaps want to get your hands on a high end languedoc type instrument to show off how these small hollowbody archtops work with amps I may be willing to ship mine over.
Great video. Cheers and happy holidays from the US of A.
I must have been very lucky. I've been running 7 digital pedals and 8 analogue ones from a Mooer 2A PSU and a Stagg 1A wall-wart PSU, using daisy chain distribution. At any one time they could be running off either PSU, plugging stuff in and out trying different things.
No digital contamination. No Hum, No extraneous noise.
One or two pedals that I have can be fussy about what they're next to in the signal chain and that May be down to non-isolation or it may just be an impedance compatibility thing, I have yet to do that experiment.
A cheap way to isolate an individual unit that is giving a problem is to get another wall-wart PSU and run the offending unit form that.
A good old fashioned transformer fed PSU is best for this as many of the modern wall-warts are transformer-less and therefore are not truly isolated.
I fully agree with the advantages claimed for total isolation, In Theory, but I'm of the opinion that it's only needed when there's a problem.
That's in terms of sound quality.
When it comes to short circuit protection, isolation and separate fusing wins of course.
That would be a major consideration for reliability in a regularly gigged system, touring or otherwise.
Were I building custom boards for pro clients as Dan does then going for the best in everything is clearly a good strategy.
The GigRig G2 and it's associated power supply modules is the best pro switching and power option out there, hands down, no question.
Once cost becomes a significant factor then a lot of economies can be made and still yield a good result.
how do you make a whole 35:00 on power supply so helpful,interesting and fun LIKE THAT!
what is that isolator-adapter you unplug from the timeline?
Great video. One thing that could have been discussed is what truly constitute an isolated output. I think there is massive confusion on the fact that a lot of "cheap" power supply claim to be "isolated" which in fact they are not fully electrically isolated. The "marketing" aspect makes use of the term very loosely and people are confused by the difference in price of 2 power supplies that both claim to be isolated. I know I was until I started researching it. (and I'm sure I still get my terminology wrong!)
+Boy from the Crowd That's a very useful bit of info. I now know why Dan looks sad every time I mention a power supply that doesn't cost 8 million quid. I wish the looks were words on the show. :0)
Hi guys! Love the show! I have 23 pedals on my board with a Voodoo Labs pedal power 2. Two are 12v and the rest are 9v. Almost all of them are daisy chained! Three outputs connected 5-1 and three are 2-1. After testing there was noise so i switched 2 pedal connection and have no noise whatsoever! The problem was my digital reverb!
Did Dan get a Brunetti after hearing Dave Kilminster's?
You down with VCP? ,, yeah you know me.
This video has made me change my board and i've now got the best out of two of my pedals, what a huge difference.! cheers Mick and Dan.
+Mike Hull you're very welcome :)
a thing that came to mind on 9v vs 18v vs a sagging battery would be the headroom switch on the JHS Andy Timmons pedal. When you switch it, the sounds changes drastically, and the volume decreases quite a bit when dropping below the 100w setting.
You can also run that pedal on 9 or 18 volts! Not sure what i like better though.
Lithium Ion power supplies are the future! No hum and totally independent of the venue's power supply
Is this really a developing thing? So many things (tools) run on this very well. It could be a great option.
i used these for my last pedal board www.dv247.com/studio-equipment/sanyo-eneloop-pedal-juice--202027 and there is a pedaltrain one too www.pedaltrain.com/volto/
I was looking at ones that Palmer have on their website, they look good.
Of course...but I guess the issue is how many times can you charge them before they start crapping out...like an old cell phone!?
Until it sits on a hot stage and starts to burn...and kills 300 people when the venue burns down. Don't try it on an airplane...they've had some issues...! then there is the Samsung recall...and a few flaming hover boards.
VCPI....the worlds most nerdy "guitar " based T-shirt
It's surprisingly hard to find a reasonably priced power supply solution for pedals if you got more than like 5 of them. Without running daisy chains that is. The price really jumps up from there (around 5 outputs) and you might get more but you start getting AC and 12 V outputs which don't really help you when you just need more 9 V DC outputs. Of course you can daisy chain out of those isolated outputs but you're kind of losing the whole point of trying to get all isolated outputs.
Like you guys said that it's usually fine, it's almost obligatory to run all your gain pedals together and all your modulation pedals together from a single isolated output via daisy chain, then the few left-overs you can run from their own isolated outputs. Or pick a couple of specifically chosen must have pedals and switch them from time to time to your needs.
Thanks for explaining that the positive sleeve was just a design flaw that got carried forward. I always thought that it was an odd choice to have the "live" conductor exposed where it could touch something else that was grounded, possibly damaging the power supply. I always figured there was some actual reason for it.
Really curious to try my EP Boost at 18v now.
I run the ep boost with the voltage doubler and love it!
you're gonna love it. boosts need headroom, 18v delivers it.
13:00 *did someone's stomach go off?*
+Frank22 one day our stomachs will all harmonise together, it will be beautiful ;)
I got taught at school:
Left hand + right hand -
Hold out left hand make a C shape.
Hold out right hand make a fist.
Bring them together like a karate master greeting. Then reverse the hand shapes for AC.
I'm not sure what you're trying to say, but if that's how you tell the polarity of a barrel connector - it's wrong. Barrel connector polarity is entirely determined by whoever designed the circuit it's attached to. You have to have a drawing somewhere on the plug or the jack showing you the polarity they're using. Also, AC is a totally different beast from DC. It doesn't have polarity. It's sinusoidal with reference to a ground. Do not plug AC into your pedal unless it's specifically designed for it, or you almost certainly will blow it up.
Bravo guys! After watching the AC/DC Rig Rundown I made a comment has to why many bands don't have 110v-230v converters on tour. There is a huge difference between the two and AC/DC would sound like Backstreet Boys at 110v or they would need to double their Marshall stacks on stage. Not talking about the volume increase I'm talking about the Compression alone is drastic.
Hate to be that guy... But... Current != Power... Power is a function of voltage and current.
You're not alone - 1 amp of current says nothing about how much power is being used.
As an Engineer I completely agree, however, these pedals are supplied with a Fixed DC Voltage, so power only varies as current (as the voltage is fixed.and there is no phase difference between voltage and current). So Dan is kind of right.
You can loosely interchange "current" and "power" in this context, since for the most part the voltage is fixed so the relationship between the two is linear.
Thank you so much guys. This video popped up at EXACTLY the right time. I’ve never tried to power a pedalboard before and was really confused. Now it makes sense. Can’t thank you enough
Just a comment on the "design flaw" of center-negative. While inconvenient for safety reasons (the positive side is the source of electrical charge/voltage, so it would be safer not to expose that on the outer surface of the plug), center-negative is a necessary consequence of the pedal being powered interchangeably by batteries or external DC. To save the battery, the battery's connections are controlled by what you plug in.
The negative side is connected through the sleeve of a 1/4" plug; unplug the guitar or patch cable and no current can flow. However, external power will cause current leakage from the battery's positive terminal even if you disconnect the battery's negative, because there's still a ground for current to flow into. To avoid this drain without having you remove the battery to use external DC, the pedal has to disconnect the positive terminal of the battery when on DC power, and that happens with a shunt switch that changes contact from the battery's positive to the barrel plug's sleeve as the plug is inserted. That sleeve must therefore be positive to match the side of the circuit it's being connected to.
You could, in theory, have a shunt of opposite polarity, by insulating the "break" contact being opened from the "make" contact being connected. Such a switch would be more delicate, however, and "delicate" isn't a well-liked word among engineers designing devices that are supposed to be stepped on by their users. So, pedal DC is center-negative in pretty much every pedal with an internal battery, and most relatively new ones that don't.
Liko81DJ - I appreciate your technical explanation.
FANTASTIQ DUDES!!! All my noise problems... GONE after watching this 😁😁😁😁
I may have some of this wrong as I was not told this, I vaguely figured it out in my head about a year ago, but here goes...The tip negative design was because of the dual power capability of the pedals, battery and A/C power adapter. Because the make/break connection had to be designed into a physically moving part of the jack socket, it had to be done with the sleeve connection, because inserting a barrel plug into the jack can only move the sleeve connection. The tip must remain solidly in place. Had the industry stuck to the 1/8" phono style jack (or ear phone as it was) the make/break could have remained with the tip, as it is in a 1/4" jack that we are more familiar with. So basically, it comes down to the battery, and defeating the battery when the adapter is plugged in.
Late to the party but thanks so much for a brilliant explanation. Got my first three pedals recently and tried a daisy chain. In isolation they work great but put them all together on the chain, omg what a racket 😂. Guess I need to start saving 😊
As glib as it sounds, this is why I've always used batteries on my pedals :-/
Another really informative and helpful video fellas. Thanks so much.
Most helpful video I've ever seen in my life. Thanks, guys.
After watching this I realised my POG and new Whammy V5 were not getting enough power. Switched some connections around and it's all sorted now.
Thanks lads!
+TobyC excellent, great work Toby
I just added the Voodoo Power X4 to my setup and it resolved all my noise issues.
Answered a bunch of questions. Thanks so much.
Hi Mick. Just letting you know the 300 milliamps on the Chameleon works absolutely fine for the Timeline and other Strymons. I've used it for years with zero issues. Wouldn't people not buying the T-rex due to your comment. Love you
Glad it works for you Robert!
I found the bit on 9v vs. 18v especially helpfull! I have two pedals that are 9-18v and two 18v outputs on my power brick so have always used them as 18v, but will try them out on 9v to see which I like better. Thanks guys!
I've been running my EP booster at 18V since I bought it and Mike told me to run my chorus at 15 for the sweet spot. Still not sure I'm in love with the AM standard chorus. I hope that changes my mind. Cool episode!
Excellent Pedal Show I've ever watched. That Professor is awesome!
Dan I love the way you play and what you play on the guitar. The intro of this video is simply fantastic. Thank you.
+akuakumc ah, cheers matey
For those that don't know : a wonder, and safe mod, for EMG pickups are to run them @ 18V. Adds a ton of headroom and openness to the pickup. You can also go to 27V, but it's not much of an improvement over 18V so not really worth the extra effort.
Check it out.
I've been waiting for this episode! A friend of mind showed me the sound difference with higher voltage on my OCD and I've been experimenting on all my stomp boxes with no ill effects, but I can almost smell the burning components from people that want to push the high voltage thing a little too much!
Running about 8 pedals incl. a Boss DD500 and a TC Corona in daisy chain without any hum or noise for 6 years or so now. I have 2A of output from my power supply, so everything’s fine.
Thanks Mick and Dan - great video full of useful information especially the bit about isolation which helped me understand and fix an intermittent problem that I was experiencing with my latest pedal.
Mick, you're totally gonna make me repaint my black strat into that surf green one!
It’s sonic blue. But surf green is cool too!
Hehe yeah I wasn’t 100% on that one. Nice!!
This is one of my favorites episodes, great stuff!
Brilliant boys, just brilliant!
Great info as always. I had a huge problem with noise at one time from venue to venue till I sorted out my power supply. Hugely important.
Great video guys... Gotta say as well Dan, my Gigrig power supply has never missed a beat through lots of live shows - a wonderful product, cheers!
New to having a range of pedals......thanks to lock down and being an unsupervised adult on ebay! I got the 'VCP' elements sorted but the 'I' certainly makes a difference, my initial daisy chain approach is ok.....but definitely noisy in particular applications. Isolated supply now on the shopping list......
Thank you for this video D and M. I just put together a little mini board for rehearsals and when I don’t want to lug the huge Gator board. I daisy chained them with a one spot but one of the pedals is a Zoom MS50 multi stomp and it just got noisy as hell. For the time being I’m just going to run the Zoom with batteries but at some point when I can swing it I’m going to get something decent like an MXR DC Brick. Thank you for showing me you can’t skimp on this one. I love cheap gear but cheap power supplies will cause problems.
... and thus Mick & Dan serendipitously went on to found the now famous and much acclaimed power source VCPIdia
Hahahaha!
I once by accident powered my Joyo D-Seed digital delay with 12V instead of 9V for almost the whole 2 hour rehersal and it's still working perfectly. Guess I was lucky :)
Time and time I return and learn new things. Love it gents!!
Hey guys, I'm sure you get this every week but, great show today!! I've said this on a number of episodes but todays episode has helped me so much. As I have suffered with so many issues regarding noise and whatnot. While I have solved a lot of it, it's now great to be able to explain why it was happening. Please do keep up the great work guys. Thanks again. And have a great weekend. ....V.C.P.I. ....love it. Cheers guys. :)
This may be my favorite episode. It's a subject I absolutely love.
Yes; I am a nerd.