Electronic engineer here. Actually, absence of this 'magnetic' bead is not the case. It's the design of a power supply itself. Cheaper, more compact, but apparently doesn't work well with every pedal. Some pedals are really whimsical ones when it comes to power supply, especially overdrives (on my experience). If you haven't thrown out it yet, try this supply with some digital pedals or analogue choruses, phasers or whatnot. Big chance that it will work just fine with them. As long as it doesn't contaminate your mains it's not completely useless. But, you know, you get what you pay for.
+Даниил Леонов (Daniel Leonov) Ferrite beads work from 10s of MHz so they don't do you any good for audible noise. The power supply probably uses a switching frequency of a few kHz which is no good for audio equipment.
+PyroShim Deffo a pwm psu, you could sample that buzz and find what frequency it switches at lol. But yeah, for audio, you want a linear regulator, not pwm
+Даниил Леонов (Daniel Leonov) yeah, I remeber when I bought a very cheap power supply for my practices on College (I study Electronics), It worked for simple cut off and saturation transistor circuits, but when I plugged in on a pedal I made, it was fucking horrible, to the point that you only hear the electric rumble, it whas horribly filtred. I decided to make my own power supply, It's big an sturdy, but it works really well, no more rumble or hi-end ripple..
+PyroShim In my expirience bigger amperage- highher frequency so if yoiu buy one of 1000mA or 1200mA you will not hear it, and even better microphones will not hear it during recording/playing live
I seriously love this guy and his reviews and opinions. Literally the way he expresses his feelings about a product or just something in general is just stone cold honest. That's Rock 'n' Roll if I have ever seen it!
"You get what you pay for" Indeed, I agree! Except for this issue I had... I used to have a lot of pedals, including a Boss MT-2. As the board got bigger, the power supply couldn't cut it anymore and needed another one. So I bought another power supply and went for the Roland PSB-230, a decent quality product from a brand I trust. When I got home and plugged it in, the MT-2 had the same "whistling" sound as the tubescreamer in this video. Only it had a slight "phaser" effect also. This was for all MT-2's and no other pedal. Or, no other pedal I got my hands on! Went back to the music store, luckily I know the guy from the store, because I explained him what whas going on. He heard it and had no idea what the problem could be. He said I could have my money back or switch the power supply if I wanted to. Took home a Stagg PSU-9V1A7R-EU. Guess what, the signal was clean. Sent an e-mail to Roland about this issue, never heard anything back from them. So this is weird, especially bacause Roland makes a lot of quality products. This power supply apparentley isn't one of those products. And worse, the cheaper Stagg power supply got the job done. Yep, Stagg beats Roland on this one :/ (Added info, I live in Belguim, Europe)
+Cristian Popa As a bassist (hear me out here)... I have 3 basses 1 Squire Pbass 5 string in standard passive Dean Markly Blue Steel MLs 2 A Spector NS 20005 EMG PU, EMG active tone control 18V, really tuned low F, A#, F, A#, D# high. Dean Markley Blue Steel 135 - 50 3 A gibson EB5 Gibson Alnico P/U, Coil taps, Aguilar Tone Pump, 18V, really low G, C, F, A#, D# high. Dean Markley Blue Steel 135 - 50. Huge Tonal variety if I wasn't tuned so damn low. To my ears, the 18v is only needed with 5 string basses that are tuned lower. This is to give more headroom. The problem was especially bad with the Spector at 9v (I love my spector). The low string would drown out any other note. The extra 9v added much more headroom and depth. I need the extra power with the Gibson because the output seemed quieter than my squire bass. Probably because of the low tuning. The gibson came passive so I added the tone pump and just went straight to 18V because why not?? It still has the coil taps. It is a very versatile instrument now. I had a friend that 18v modified his Ibanez SR???? 4 string at the same time as my Spector. We didn't really notice anything but a slightly faster response. I don't think I would bother with 18v on a guitar unless it was an low tuned 7 string or 8. I'd be worried it would increase the high end too much, or make the pickups too sensitive.
+MugenDao Here's something that would be interesting: Wire in an interrupter such that the user can switch between 9 and 18 volts with a push button. That's probably not gonna happen on this channel, but I would be interested in such a display. Also, I haven't seen it mentioned enough, but always have a mute somewhere when you plug in, or unplug an active guitar. They always POP. This pop can blow the horns in PA speakers; possible even piezo tweeters, or horns in some bass amp cabs. Personally, I just switch on my tuner to kill the signal to my amp.
+MugenDao This may be the case for some basses, but I do have a Musician Stingray HH and a Dingwall z3 which both have clear, defined, B-strings (only tune them down to A though) and both run at 9V. It likely depends more on pickup output and preamp design for the specific bass as opposed to the voltage.
Kyle Sand Absolutely. I guess I could've summarized everything by saying; If you feel you have low output or narrow bandwidth from your electronics, do the upgrade. I still feel that it is easier to hit that ceiling with extra stringed lower tuned basses than with guitars. Many 9v guitars I've heard can tend to have more pick and string noise. Some active acoustic guitars I've heard have horrendous string winding scraping noises. Like an injured cat on a chalk board.
I used to work at a computer recycling warehouse. I got to take home some 9V adapters that originally went with computer speakers. They worked pretty well and I didn't have to pay anything for them.
The Godlyke Powerall is a great unit. It's very compact, yet delivers 2000mA of Digitally regulated very clean 9vDC and it can power like 10 or more pedals with no issue. The Deluxe package with all the accessories is pretty good bang for the buck.
As a bassist (hear me out here) I have a couple pedals on a pedal board. Instead of using individual adapters or daisy chaining from a single wall wart I opted for a Voodoo Labs pedal power ISO 5. There is one major reason i did this. One of my pedals requires 18v and another 12v. So the answer in my case was clear. There are some really expensive alternatives that do neat stuff like simulate a weak battery, some have extra 110 pass throughs which is defintely convenient if you run other stuff or want to help out your gig line. I have enough head room to not worry about my AMPs (that's the sum total of mA for you other bassists). I really enjoy it. For the studio it might not be needed, but if you can demo stuff from a local shop, it would be worth looking into. I've been tempted to get another just for my home office desk to run all the phones, speakers, lamps, etc.
Hi Glen, (ham radio operator here) that is actually a ferrite bead....its meant to keep outside noise off of the cable (60&120cycle hum plus broadcast radio and other misc. noise). sounds like they did not include adequate filtering in the circuitry to eliminate the ac ripple and/or had a bad board layout which lends itself to hum due to components magnetically interacting with each other. I got tired of fighting it and went to a voodoo labs iso power.....I also run a noise gate at the end of my effects chain for extra insurance AND an electro harmonics hum-debugger first thing after the guitar(darn single coil pups)
The one spot would of been great to include in the video too, I've been using the One Spot and its been my go to power supply for my pedals. None the less, great video, loved that someone did this!
Same problem I have with the 1 Spot supply. It doesn't have a magnetic filter. Switched to a Boss like shown in this video, works like a charm. Even when using the multi plug cord that came with the 1 Spot.
ThePeacemaker10 that's what I've had running since I started back in 2009 and began using pedals. although, it is how I blew my first 3 pedals in one go trying to make things work with the DigiTech whammy. I blew an 80's model chorus, a metal muff, AND a whammy pedal all at once. $400 bucks down the drain, but it was all given to me so I didn't care at the time, I was 14. I'm on this video right now because I'm taking precautions for when I buy some new stuff in the near future. we should all take a page out of Glenn's books and use batteries when possible
Most people I know, go with the Fuel Tank or the Dunlop DC Brick, but the cables for the brick are harder to get a hold of than a leprechaun. Yesterday I learned about a cable, that you can attach to whatever power supply you may have, and it goes from one to multiple power jacks. Looked pretty easy and straight forward.
Hey Glenn. You could make your own 9 Volt battery supplies for pedals by soldering a 9volt battery clip to a guitar pedal power lead. If you really want to get fancy, you can add an on/off switch or just remember to unplug when not in use. Would be really cheap to make up a bunch of these.
I got the Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2 Plus around two years ago. You can plug in 8 Pedal-Connectors and all are separated from each other (different Cable-Types are included). Plus you can reduce voltage on two of them with a pot to get a dying-battery effect. Summed up it's a pretty expensive thing that works well, does not produce hum and probably won't break in the next 10 years.
Godlyke Powerall Kit you mentioned are the awesome. I've use the same 3 for 15 years without problems. Have one Boss as well and it's excellent as well. If anyone claims they're getting noise from these be sure not to coil the long wires and zip tie together as this will cause them to hum.
I used a dunlop power supply for a while, had 6 9v lines, and 2 18v lines that you could split. had a slash wah though so wound up using the 18v. worked really well, never had problems or background noise, cleaned up nicely in a pedal board
I use the Sanyo Pedal Juice, a big massive 2.000mAh battery that powers all my 10 pedals! NO ground issues, no noise and no need for a wall socket! Very convenient on gigs, especially if they have "dirty" power.
Great video Glen! I remember when I got my first power supply I was getting terrible hum from my ds-1 pedal so I bought the roland one it works great. I actually use a five way adapter with the roland and have no noise problems.
I have some experience with electronics, and it seems that the el-cheapo adaptor not only lacks the magnetic filter, but also works at an audible frequency. That's bad design, and it's not like SMPSes are hard to design.
+László Szerémi you want bad. Try my HP Stream 7 tablet. Not only does the internal power supply switch well within the audible range, the PCB traces for the 3.5mm jack are routed right past it with no isolation. Plug in any audio device, lovely hum....
+László Szerémi but it's hard to design cheap SMPSs w/o having to make compromises. Cheap meaning saving as much money as you can especially with the inductor.
One very important features of it that is missed out in the video is that the Power All Power adapter powers 2000mA (highest one available). Whereas, most power supply has 1700mA-1800mA for max. Hence, it can power 20 pedals with 9v 100mA and 10 pedals with 9v 200mA (or you do the math). This is one of the standout features of the power supply along with is humm canceling filter present in the cord.
The Godlyke one is pretty solid, I have had mine for like 10 years now and it still works. The only thing I don't like, if you get the delux version, you two of every interchangable end, two reverse polarity, 2 phone jack style, two 9v clips, and 2 of the ends the Line 6 pedals take(or used to take, I bought them pretty much at the same time.), but if you get standard version, you get one interchangable end for every style except I was just using a generic adapter I had around the house, but it wouldn't fit the Line 6 and the cost of a single line 6 adapter is pretty much same price. So even if you aren't using it for a full daisy chain or anything, still handy to have around. Also if you're still in school or on a budget, it's something to start with. It was hard enough paying for pedals that cost 200 bucks each roughly, then turn around look at the prebuilt pedal boards that are like 800-1200, that's a lot of money for a highschool kid.
other reviewers; "well guys Personally i dont think i would buy this because i found a few issues..." glenn reviewing;"this this is just garbage, its a peice of shit, avoid it like the plague i fucking hate it and you will too." can you please just review everything, we are tired of getting smoke blown up our asses.
I fucking love these vids. he can say like this because hes not sponsored by them and states his unfiltered opinion that happens to be right 90% of the time. If you dont like him, avoid him like the plague. ;)
+Corey Corey I hear you. But I don't mind a colored review. He displayed the humming caused by the power supply. Then heavily colored his response to product because of the humming. I don't mind that he did the extra coloring. In this case it's an earned remonstrance. Did NOBODY test this power supply? Every review is either FANBOY or HaterTroll. I've seen reviews that heavily downplay cons and over hype pros while still maintaining and air of objectivity. Just like Amazon, Newegg reviews, drop the 1 stars and 5 stars if the there's an adequate sample size and read the 2 and 4 stars. E.G. read between the lines. I would be just as pissed as Glenn if I got home with this adapter and plugged it in only to find that hiss. I'd be trying to track down a ground/lift 40hz hum before I thought to check the power adapter or pedal. (I'm a bass player, we're not super bright).
+Corey Corey It's a fucking POWER SUPPLY. It literally does one thing. What else do you expect him to say? He plugged it in, showed you the problem with it, proved that it's the cable by plugging in better ones and not getting the problem. I mean, do you need a person who's got 30 years of power supply schooling under his belt to tell you it's a piece of shit and here's why? The video clearly shows what's wrong with it. If you can't get an understanding of why it's a piece of shit, you're just dumb. Plain and simple.
I'm glad you did this test! My pedals have been extremely noisy after using my old power supply from my digital multifx unit. I'll have to go out and buy myself a better power supply. Mine is from Radioshack/The Source. Works OK but there is definitely the same type of noise added to the signal.
at home, I use a Cioks Double Jack Power supply (for 5x 9v and 2x 12v). For my main rig I use the integrated power supply of my G Labs GSC1 (for 4 effects), for my TC PolyTune, AMT WH2, TC Flashback and ISP Decimator. And a seperate Boss PSA for my Wireless Receiver Line6 Relay G50. All of these work perfectly well and noise free
I've always had very good luck with the PowerAll. In fact I always keep an extra one handy on gigs just in case. Some times I don't want to use my pedal board but still want to use a tuning pedal. Or sometimes I want to add a reverb or delay pedal into the fx loop of my amp. They're very quiet and dependable.
if you get the boss pedal tuner and the daisy chain cable, you can power multiple pedals from one psa 120s. Also, the one spot power supply is great. I use two one spot kits to power my pedal board of 20+ pedals. The one spot kit is 40 CAD at Long and Mcquade.
You don't have to give up the batteries! Inexpensive adapter cables exist that take the PP3 battery snap connector from the 9V battery and converts it to the barrel jack used on most pedals. Only downside is you'll have a battery dangling off your pedal but at least you can get the simplicity and isolation back.
sounds like it may be that the switching supply In the power supply has not been filtered properly. A ferrite bead will not filter off much in the audio range, they are normally tuned for radio frequencies in the MHZ range. The cheapest options for the designer would be to use a LC filter tuned to cut audio frequency from the DC output of the power supply. Another thing to consider is it the pedal oscillating because of a lower or higher voltage rail? You should measure the unloaded/loaded voltage of the various supplies. To see if there is a difference.
Well , you can buy the ferrite bead somewhere like radioshack but the cost of the wall adapter and bead will be equivalent to a good power supply from a good manufacturer like Stancor, these are guaranteed to work perfectly and not have ANY line noise.
Ok, what is in the larger thing at 3:26. Not the "magnetic filter". The bigger module. Does it contain a nice fat 1000mfd cap, to take out any residual hum? THAT is what the Roland product has. What's in it? As for the magnetic filter, it's a ferrite bead choke, an anti-EMI and anti-RFI measure, and can be bought as a separate item to clamp onto a cable - like 32 cents apiece in ebay if you buy 10. Probably don't need it unless you're hearing a local radio station in the background.
The other main issue with 9v power supplies is the amp or milli amp rating. it doesn't matter too much with overdrives as they use around 10ma but modulation pedal can run at 200-300ma and if your power supply is only 200ma then it won't run correctly. It should tell you on the pedal what its voltage and milliamp requirements are and just make sure your power supply is over
This is going to sound really silly, but sometimes it works miracles (and sometimes it doesnt). Try tying a knot in the power cable. A basic overhand knot, as in just make a loop and pass the end through it. Sometimes this does wonders; those metal filters are actually just a loop or knot with some shielding around them. Hope you have time to give this a try. Keep up the great vids.
I've got a Gator G-bus (came with a pedal board I bought), pretty much powers any pedal you throw at it. Was surprised with it, as I was having trouble powering my Boss DD-3 with generic crappy PSUs. The fact that you can add pedals on as you need it is also a big plus for me. Definitely get what you pay for.
I use the Boss PSA-120s to power 10 pedals....works excellent. Tried a one-spot and it introduced a 60 cycle hum. It was fine if the guitar was turned all the way down or all the way up, but anywhere in between was terrible. I usually have my volume at about 5 and turn up from there for solos. Can not do that with the one-spot. Boss PSA-120s works with no problem.
Pretty sure that power all is the Godlyke brand I got like 10 years ago. bought 3 of them. they all still work (if I can find the other 2...). recently upgraded to voodoo labs supply, but was more of a convenience/just in case measure. no complaints that I can recall. just make sure you use those caps for the unused daisy chained ends, as I've noticed touching the live contacts that aren't used can make the whole thing reset sometimes, which makes a loud pop on a 120w amp at high volume and most pedals default to ON when booted up...which can be fun
I was just in the market for a new PSU, and picked up the iSPOT, does not have the filter on the plug, and it's 0 noise, Dunlop makes a nice one too. The problem some people have is when they start daisy chaining all their pedals together using 1 PSU, sometimes 1 pedal in the circuit will cause others to be noisy. so you will need to hook up your power in a different configuration, and if that doesn't solve your problem, then you might need a separate PSU for that pedal.
I'm using a 5000 mAh battery pack from Warwick to feed 3 pedals plus a Korg Polytuner, but this last one puts so much noise in the chain even when bypassed. So the battery is now feeding the remaining pedals and the Korg has its own 9V battery.
Consider using (replacement) laptop computer power supplies with a daisy chain if you have LOTS of pedals. These are available on eBay in 9 and 18 volt models and are usually over 15 watts, (vs. 4.5 for a 500 ma. wart). They are in the $10-$20 range vs. $100-$200 for a pedal board block. They provide isolation from the line, are USUALLY are very well filtered and have the magnetic bead, (computers require clean power). The 9 volt models I have used even (accidently) had the proper size low voltage connector (and correct polariy) to plug straight into the daisy chain. That was a fortunate accident. I had planned to have to install the proper connector on them. Might take a little skill (or help) to adapt them. MAKE SURE THE POLARITY IS CORRECT OR YOU CAN BADLY DAMAGE YOUR PEDALS.
I have a fairly large board, and I recently upgraded to the voodoo labs pedal power 2. It's a rock solid unit, and I love how it doesn't have such a flimsy cable that runs from my board to an outlet. I'm sure it's impractical , pricey and unnecessary In the studio, but On a giggling pedal board accept no substitutes!
I was hoping you were going to cover the Pedal Powering Systems like the VooDoo Labs Pedal Power box, the T-Rex Fuel Tank, and similar products. I have the Godlyke Unit you have in the video, as well as a One Spot, but when you daisy chain 5 or more pedals together....let's just say you get mixed results from both. Was wondering about the more expensive "power all" type units.
I have a relatively small setup. I use a T Rex Feul Tank jr. Isolated individual grounds. No unnecessary noise. But one thing to remember about powersupplies.....if you have a noisy pedal, then you have a noisy pedal and the best powersupply ever will do nothing to help you.
one of the best decisions I ever made for my signal chain was to buy a voodoo lab pedal power 2. It was expensive but nothing beats isolated clean power.
I've always tried to avoid the wall wart-type supplies purely because I prefer to mount the supply to my board, thus keeping the supply cable static and pinned down, rather than constantly being flexed (as in live work) and getting closer to breaking every time you dig it out to power things up. From that perspective, the Diago Micropower9 is excellent - it's an inline supply (ie like a laptop PSU) with a non-captive mains cable. Just mount the whole thing on your board (or under it, if you have a Pedaltrain-alike), and plug the easily-replaceable mains cable in every time you fish it out. Mooer's supplies are also excellent - 2000mA and silent - but they have captive mains cables, which is a negative for me. I still keep one around as a spare, though.
I have PowerAll and those adapters come in hand with the disk chain...I also have the the hog power supply and daisy chain adapters, my local music store told me that it's as good or better than, boss adapters even the 5 daisy chain is more than the hogs 10pedal daisy chain, no buzz or noise..that's pretty good if you have 7 9volt pedals..the Power All will also power line 6 delay modeler and their other modeler pedals. ...so you can use different voltage pedals together on one power supply..
Good, goooooood review!!! People generally save up on these kind of things, and don't even know about the magnetic filters (EMC filters). You should even get better results using a second filter close to the outlet side of the power supply. There are filters available that you can just stick on to the power cord.
Personally I'd invest in a Pedaltrain Volto for any 9V - since it's still a battery you're still isolated from the power grid, but it's rechargeable so you don't have to look for new ones or pollute in any way. I've been using mine for over a year now, both live and in the studio - no hiss, no fuss, just remember to charge it every now and then
the one from Boss rules! i use it for my boss pedal (only pedal that is compatible with that thing) and it makes no noise and crazy good. my other pedal is multi-fx so they've got their own power supply. that one is amazing as well.
the "magnetic filter" is called a ferrite bead. They prevent high frequency noise from from the mains into the device, and also from the device back into the mains. This is usually added for FCC regulatory reasons. My personal rule of thumb: if you need a ferrite bead, then your design is shit to begin with and putting band aids on it won't make it better. Good power supplies like the PSA are regulated power supplies. unregulated power supplies are cheaper because they do not have a voltage regulator in them. they can output varying voltage and current to keep the output power constant. these output changes are create ripple voltages which create noise (usually 60 cycle hum) TL;DR: only use regulated DC power adaptors.
EE here. Those ferrite beads are there so the company can pass electrical emissions tests and put the product on the market. Probably added after the product was designed and built, but started failing emissions tests. So was added later. Not all power supplies will have those. If an adapter doesn't have it, then it probably means it was designed well right off the bat, or someone bypassed CSA/UL/CE requirements and decided to put their product on the market anyhow (Lookin at you, China).
exact same style of video but with power supply bricks. voodoo labs mxr etc. i was really disappointed when that isn't what this video was. still a grest vid keep putting out awesome content.
Other than the Boss PSA adaptors, I've generally had problems with most adaptors. So by the time I was building up a collection of pedals and taking numerous adaptors along with them to shows, it made sense for me to get a Voodoo Labs Pedal Power 2 and since then I haven't looked back. Are you familar with the brand, 'TheGigRig'? They're mainly known for their pedalboard loopers, but have quite a few different products for isolating power/flipping polarity etc across a pedalboard full of crazy sounds and noises. May be worth a look to see if they could be beneficial in a studio environment as well.
It may just have been my particular unit, but I was not impressed with the Powerall. You are correct that it doesn't add noise to the rig. But powering a single Tech 21 Liverpool pedal it sounded small and lacking dynamics. Put in a battery and it was night and day, nice full sound. Plugged in a one of those expensive ISO supplies a friend had on his board and it sounded like the battery. I have since ponied up and got the Voodoo on the used market. Not as convenient but I don't regret it. Thanks for these reviews, they are much needed. Cheers.
Hello! I will just get to the point. I used a lot of those 9v rectifires/adaptors and on the cheapest one had the same noise that you have shown. So I Tried to figure out what it was, and got it, Its actually a combination of poor quality and low amperage. And I didn't bought that adaptor in music store I bought it in hardware store. I returned that one and bought another one for the same money just with right amperage and it worked better. But I was not satisfied with it so I calculated the total amperage for all pedals and added something around 20% more (can't remeber exatly because I retired that one) But if total amperage was for example 800mA I bought the one of 1000mA (1A) and it worked just fine. I connected it to a daisy chain and to the pedals and it had absolutly zero noise. So that's the thing I think. Now I use Woodoo Lab 8-pedal power supply and becouse it came from America and I live in Serbia I needed to have a volatge transformator from 220V to 110V and if you need to do that make shure that the power of the power supply (in my case 200W) and the transformator are the same. I always recommend using a brick-like power supplies because of the practical,convinience and safety advantages (mine even have a fuse so if there are some power problems your pedals are safe) It costs a little more but I will not need another power supply ever again :) So I hope I was helpful, Glenn keep up the good work!
I have the powerall as well and it works fine. I also have a Godlyke power supply that seems to be an exact clone of the Powerall and also works fine. Decent switching power supplies are usually ok. it's the old school transformers that hum like crazy.
Had no idea that was a magnetic filter. Always assumed it was some sort of splice joint... which now that i think about it is sort of stupid. Never the less, thanks man! I have some surveying of cables to do when i get home!!!
You should check out the isolated power supplys on amazon, Richard from Airis Effects has had some good results using 12v and 18v outputs to his pedals, and Donner makes a power supply for like $40 on amazon.
I use a official Boss(Roland) PSA 120 power supply... I also have a One-spot power supply but I only use the daisy chain part, with the Boss supply, because the One-spot supply makes the buzzing noise that Glenn demonstrated... I also have the Dunlop ECB003US adapter for my Crybaby wah, if necessary, but I don't use wah much...
I know many guitar players who uses Visual Sound's 1Spot. It's nice 'cause it can feed 8 pedals with minimum noise (almost zero) and it comes with adaptor connectors as well, for pedals like the classic Proco Rat.
I'd love to see a getting your band ready for the stage video where you talk about power supplies especially in regards to protecting your gear from shitty venue power.
...Glen, can you get your hands on those power supplies that mount on the peddle board? the big cubes that have various power supply outlets. everyone and their brother makes one of those.
Going off of this one, do you think you could do a review/informative discussion about the differences of different power supplies (mainly the voodoo lab pedal power, t-rex fuel tank, and the mxr iso brick, and any others you may feel are necesarry to discuss)?
If you want a good pedal supply on the cheap(33€ + shipping) you should definitely check out PowerPlant Junior from Thomann, 5 isolated 9v outs. I power a Polytune mini, tubescreamer, crunch box, boss DD5, tri-reverb, looper pedal and a digital looper switcher pxl4, no hum whatsoever
Also keep an eye out for centre negative power supplies. Most barrel tip DC power supplies use the centre pin as positive however there are power supplies out there that use the centre pin as negative and the barrel case as positive. If you end up being stooped into buying the wrong polarity power supply, you're going to have a bad day. Go to Wikipedia and look up "Polarity symbols".
Hey Glenn, it'd be great if you could actually step it up a notch with the power supply reviews and do a multi output isolated psu such as the voodoo labs or the Mxr brick. I recently went to go and buy one, and they are a lot of money, I was baffled by the amount of products I had to choose from and spent weeks trying to work out which one would be best to do the simple task of powering 8-10 pedals. In the end I chose the MXR brick, but then found they couldn't keep up to the demand for them and everywhere was seemingly out of stock, so I ended up spending £40 more and getting the voodoo labs. Could you possibly do a fearless review on this in the future? It'd help a lot of us out! 🎸😊
I actually have the Link audio adapter and didn't get that weird tone from it in my pedal, I don't know they might just be hit or miss but at the price I got it for I really wasn't expecting much.
hey glen love this idea for a real and honest gear review. I have been looking into powering pedals and I was wondering if you could shed some light on using a power brick or daisy chain ?
hope you can do some reviews of other power supplies, such as power blocks from mxr and others similar to them. some are pretty pricey and i have not bought one myself do to that reason and also have stuck with dollor store 9volts over the years.
Electronic engineer here.
Actually, absence of this 'magnetic' bead is not the case. It's the design of a power supply itself. Cheaper, more compact, but apparently doesn't work well with every pedal. Some pedals are really whimsical ones when it comes to power supply, especially overdrives (on my experience).
If you haven't thrown out it yet, try this supply with some digital pedals or analogue choruses, phasers or whatnot. Big chance that it will work just fine with them. As long as it doesn't contaminate your mains it's not completely useless.
But, you know, you get what you pay for.
Tried it with a bunch. Its terrible.
+Даниил Леонов (Daniel Leonov) Ferrite beads work from 10s of MHz so they don't do you any good for audible noise. The power supply probably uses a switching frequency of a few kHz which is no good for audio equipment.
+PyroShim Deffo a pwm psu, you could sample that buzz and find what frequency it switches at lol. But yeah, for audio, you want a linear regulator, not pwm
+Даниил Леонов (Daniel Leonov) yeah, I remeber when I bought a very cheap power supply for my practices on College (I study Electronics), It worked for simple cut off and saturation transistor circuits, but when I plugged in on a pedal I made, it was fucking horrible, to the point that you only hear the electric rumble, it whas horribly filtred.
I decided to make my own power supply, It's big an sturdy, but it works really well, no more rumble or hi-end ripple..
+PyroShim In my expirience bigger amperage- highher frequency so if yoiu buy one of 1000mA or 1200mA you will not hear it, and even better microphones will not hear it during recording/playing live
I use a 1-spot and I daisy chain with all my pedals and it works great. I don't get any unnecessary hum or anything.
Agreed
+Danny Sands Yep.
+Danny Sands Same here, a couple of my pedals will not work with the Voodoo Power ISO 5, namely my EHX Memory Toy and Pitchfork.
+Danny Sands same, good product, not very expensive.
+Danny Sands You and I have the same name, and I too rock the 1spot.
I seriously love this guy and his reviews and opinions. Literally the way he expresses his feelings about a product or just something in general is just stone cold honest. That's Rock 'n' Roll if I have ever seen it!
"You get what you pay for"
Indeed, I agree! Except for this issue I had...
I used to have a lot of pedals, including a Boss MT-2. As the board got bigger, the power supply couldn't cut it anymore and needed another one. So I bought another power supply and went for the Roland PSB-230, a decent quality product from a brand I trust. When I got home and plugged it in, the MT-2 had the same "whistling" sound as the tubescreamer in this video. Only it had a slight "phaser" effect also. This was for all MT-2's and no other pedal. Or, no other pedal I got my hands on!
Went back to the music store, luckily I know the guy from the store, because I explained him what whas going on. He heard it and had no idea what the problem could be. He said I could have my money back or switch the power supply if I wanted to. Took home a Stagg PSU-9V1A7R-EU. Guess what, the signal was clean.
Sent an e-mail to Roland about this issue, never heard anything back from them.
So this is weird, especially bacause Roland makes a lot of quality products. This power supply apparentley isn't one of those products. And worse, the cheaper Stagg power supply got the job done. Yep, Stagg beats Roland on this one :/
(Added info, I live in Belguim, Europe)
Next up on gear review: 9v vs 18v for active pickups!
YES! He should totally do that!!!
+Cristian Popa
As a bassist (hear me out here)...
I have 3 basses
1 Squire Pbass 5 string in standard passive Dean Markly Blue Steel MLs
2 A Spector NS 20005 EMG PU, EMG active tone control 18V, really tuned low F, A#, F, A#, D# high. Dean Markley Blue Steel 135 - 50
3 A gibson EB5 Gibson Alnico P/U, Coil taps, Aguilar Tone Pump, 18V, really low G, C, F, A#, D# high. Dean Markley Blue Steel 135 - 50. Huge Tonal variety if I wasn't tuned so damn low.
To my ears, the 18v is only needed with 5 string basses that are tuned lower. This is to give more headroom. The problem was especially bad with the Spector at 9v (I love my spector). The low string would drown out any other note. The extra 9v added much more headroom and depth. I need the extra power with the Gibson because the output seemed quieter than my squire bass. Probably because of the low tuning. The gibson came passive so I added the tone pump and just went straight to 18V because why not?? It still has the coil taps. It is a very versatile instrument now.
I had a friend that 18v modified his Ibanez SR???? 4 string at the same time as my Spector. We didn't really notice anything but a slightly faster response.
I don't think I would bother with 18v on a guitar unless it was an low tuned 7 string or 8. I'd be worried it would increase the high end too much, or make the pickups too sensitive.
+MugenDao
Here's something that would be interesting:
Wire in an interrupter such that the user can switch between 9 and 18 volts with a push button. That's probably not gonna happen on this channel, but I would be interested in such a display.
Also, I haven't seen it mentioned enough, but always have a mute somewhere when you plug in, or unplug an active guitar. They always POP. This pop can blow the horns in PA speakers; possible even piezo tweeters, or horns in some bass amp cabs. Personally, I just switch on my tuner to kill the signal to my amp.
+MugenDao This may be the case for some basses, but I do have a Musician Stingray HH and a Dingwall z3 which both have clear, defined, B-strings (only tune them down to A though) and both run at 9V. It likely depends more on pickup output and preamp design for the specific bass as opposed to the voltage.
Kyle Sand Absolutely. I guess I could've summarized everything by saying; If you feel you have low output or narrow bandwidth from your electronics, do the upgrade.
I still feel that it is easier to hit that ceiling with extra stringed lower tuned basses than with guitars. Many 9v guitars I've heard can tend to have more pick and string noise. Some active acoustic guitars I've heard have horrendous string winding scraping noises. Like an injured cat on a chalk board.
I didn't know the magnet causes it to sound better. I learn something every time i watch your videos. Good stuff glenn.
I used to work at a computer recycling warehouse. I got to take home some 9V adapters that originally went with computer speakers. They worked pretty well and I didn't have to pay anything for them.
The Godlyke Powerall is a great unit. It's very compact, yet delivers 2000mA of Digitally regulated very clean 9vDC and it can power like 10 or more pedals with no issue. The Deluxe package with all the accessories is pretty good bang for the buck.
As a bassist (hear me out here) I have a couple pedals on a pedal board. Instead of using individual adapters or daisy chaining from a single wall wart I opted for a Voodoo Labs pedal power ISO 5. There is one major reason i did this. One of my pedals requires 18v and another 12v. So the answer in my case was clear. There are some really expensive alternatives that do neat stuff like simulate a weak battery, some have extra 110 pass throughs which is defintely convenient if you run other stuff or want to help out your gig line. I have enough head room to not worry about my AMPs (that's the sum total of mA for you other bassists). I really enjoy it.
For the studio it might not be needed, but if you can demo stuff from a local shop, it would be worth looking into. I've been tempted to get another just for my home office desk to run all the phones, speakers, lamps, etc.
Hi Glen, (ham radio operator here) that is actually a ferrite bead....its meant to keep outside noise off of the cable (60&120cycle hum plus broadcast radio and other misc. noise). sounds like they did not include adequate filtering in the circuitry to eliminate the ac ripple and/or had a bad board layout which lends itself to hum due to components magnetically interacting with each other.
I got tired of fighting it and went to a voodoo labs iso power.....I also run a noise gate at the end of my effects chain for extra insurance AND an electro harmonics hum-debugger first thing after the guitar(darn single coil pups)
The one spot would of been great to include in the video too, I've been using the One Spot and its been my go to power supply for my pedals. None the less, great video, loved that someone did this!
Loving these "fearless gear reviews", Love me some honesty with my gear reviews. Thanks Glenn and keep up the great work.
Same problem I have with the 1 Spot supply. It doesn't have a magnetic filter. Switched to a Boss like shown in this video, works like a charm. Even when using the multi plug cord that came with the 1 Spot.
ThePeacemaker10 that's what I've had running since I started back in 2009 and began using pedals.
although, it is how I blew my first 3 pedals in one go trying to make things work with the DigiTech whammy.
I blew an 80's model chorus, a metal muff, AND a whammy pedal all at once.
$400 bucks down the drain, but it was all given to me so I didn't care at the time, I was 14.
I'm on this video right now because I'm taking precautions for when I buy some new stuff in the near future.
we should all take a page out of Glenn's books and use batteries when possible
I actually feel better now for putting in a few more bucks to get my Power-All a while ago. Thanks Glenn!
Most people I know, go with the Fuel Tank or the Dunlop DC Brick, but the cables for the brick are harder to get a hold of than a leprechaun. Yesterday I learned about a cable, that you can attach to whatever power supply you may have, and it goes from one to multiple power jacks. Looked pretty easy and straight forward.
Hey Glenn. You could make your own 9 Volt battery supplies for pedals by soldering a 9volt battery clip to a guitar pedal power lead. If you really want to get fancy, you can add an on/off switch or just remember to unplug when not in use. Would be really cheap to make up a bunch of these.
Woah! That is the topic I've never thought of!
I recently purchased the T Rex Classic Fuel Tank for my bass board and it works awesome. No squealing and no signal issues with any of my pedals
I got the Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2 Plus around two years ago. You can plug in 8 Pedal-Connectors and all are separated from each other (different Cable-Types are included). Plus you can reduce voltage on two of them with a pot to get a dying-battery effect.
Summed up it's a pretty expensive thing that works well, does not produce hum and probably won't break in the next 10 years.
Godlyke Powerall Kit you mentioned are the awesome. I've use the same 3 for 15 years without problems. Have one Boss as well and it's excellent as well. If anyone claims they're getting noise from these be sure not to coil the long wires and zip tie together as this will cause them to hum.
I used a dunlop power supply for a while, had 6 9v lines, and 2 18v lines that you could split. had a slash wah though so wound up using the 18v. worked really well, never had problems or background noise, cleaned up nicely in a pedal board
I use the Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2+ at home and the Pedaltrain Volto for gigs. Both dead quiet and quite useful.
Has the voltos battery life doing fluff had one that lost battery life here recent.
I use the Sanyo Pedal Juice, a big massive 2.000mAh battery that powers all my 10 pedals! NO ground issues, no noise and no need for a wall socket! Very convenient on gigs, especially if they have "dirty" power.
Great video Glen! I remember when I got my first power supply I was getting terrible hum from my ds-1 pedal so I bought the roland one it works great. I actually use a five way adapter with the roland and have no noise problems.
that first adaptor makes the pedal sound like tinnitus
I have some experience with electronics, and it seems that the el-cheapo adaptor not only lacks the magnetic filter, but also works at an audible frequency. That's bad design, and it's not like SMPSes are hard to design.
+László Szerémi you want bad. Try my HP Stream 7 tablet. Not only does the internal power supply switch well within the audible range, the PCB traces for the 3.5mm jack are routed right past it with no isolation. Plug in any audio device, lovely hum....
+László Szerémi but it's hard to design cheap SMPSs w/o having to make compromises. Cheap meaning saving as much money as you can especially with the inductor.
I've enjoyed the Voodoo Lab PP2+ and ISO 5. The Xotic voltage doubler is nice for pedals that can do 18volts.
One very important features of it that is missed out in the video is that the Power All Power adapter powers 2000mA (highest one available). Whereas, most power supply has 1700mA-1800mA for max. Hence, it can power 20 pedals with 9v 100mA and 10 pedals with 9v 200mA (or you do the math).
This is one of the standout features of the power supply along with is humm canceling filter present in the cord.
The Godlyke one is pretty solid, I have had mine for like 10 years now and it still works. The only thing I don't like, if you get the delux version, you two of every interchangable end, two reverse polarity, 2 phone jack style, two 9v clips, and 2 of the ends the Line 6 pedals take(or used to take, I bought them pretty much at the same time.), but if you get standard version, you get one interchangable end for every style except I was just using a generic adapter I had around the house, but it wouldn't fit the Line 6 and the cost of a single line 6 adapter is pretty much same price. So even if you aren't using it for a full daisy chain or anything, still handy to have around. Also if you're still in school or on a budget, it's something to start with. It was hard enough paying for pedals that cost 200 bucks each roughly, then turn around look at the prebuilt pedal boards that are like 800-1200, that's a lot of money for a highschool kid.
other reviewers; "well guys Personally i dont think i would buy this because i found a few issues..."
glenn reviewing;"this this is just garbage, its a peice of shit, avoid it like the plague i fucking hate it and you will too."
can you please just review everything, we are tired of getting smoke blown up our asses.
Lmao
I fucking love these vids. he can say like this because hes not sponsored by them and states his unfiltered opinion that happens to be right 90% of the time. If you dont like him, avoid him like the plague. ;)
+Corey Corey
I hear you. But I don't mind a colored review. He displayed the humming caused by the power supply. Then heavily colored his response to product because of the humming. I don't mind that he did the extra coloring. In this case it's an earned remonstrance. Did NOBODY test this power supply?
Every review is either FANBOY or HaterTroll. I've seen reviews that heavily downplay cons and over hype pros while still maintaining and air of objectivity.
Just like Amazon, Newegg reviews, drop the 1 stars and 5 stars if the there's an adequate sample size and read the 2 and 4 stars. E.G. read between the lines.
I would be just as pissed as Glenn if I got home with this adapter and plugged it in only to find that hiss. I'd be trying to track down a ground/lift 40hz hum before I thought to check the power adapter or pedal. (I'm a bass player, we're not super bright).
+Corey Corey It's a fucking POWER SUPPLY. It literally does one thing. What else do you expect him to say? He plugged it in, showed you the problem with it, proved that it's the cable by plugging in better ones and not getting the problem. I mean, do you need a person who's got 30 years of power supply schooling under his belt to tell you it's a piece of shit and here's why? The video clearly shows what's wrong with it. If you can't get an understanding of why it's a piece of shit, you're just dumb. Plain and simple.
CrazyBadCuber are you disabled? seriously, read my post again nice and slow big fella, you can do it! :)
I'm glad you did this test! My pedals have been extremely noisy after using my old power supply from my digital multifx unit. I'll have to go out and buy myself a better power supply. Mine is from Radioshack/The Source. Works OK but there is definitely the same type of noise added to the signal.
at home, I use a Cioks Double Jack Power supply (for 5x 9v and 2x 12v). For my main rig I use the integrated power supply of my G Labs GSC1 (for 4 effects), for my TC PolyTune, AMT WH2, TC Flashback and ISP Decimator. And a seperate Boss PSA for my Wireless Receiver Line6 Relay G50. All of these work perfectly well and noise free
I've always had very good luck with the PowerAll. In fact I always keep an extra one handy on gigs just in case. Some times I don't want to use my pedal board but still want to use a tuning pedal. Or sometimes I want to add a reverb or delay pedal into the fx loop of my amp. They're very quiet and dependable.
I carry two as well because I found them to be such a great product. I use them for units that don't have battery compartments.
if you get the boss pedal tuner and the daisy chain cable, you can power multiple pedals from one psa 120s. Also, the one spot power supply is great. I use two one spot kits to power my pedal board of 20+ pedals. The one spot kit is 40 CAD at Long and Mcquade.
You don't have to give up the batteries! Inexpensive adapter cables exist that take the PP3 battery snap connector from the 9V battery and converts it to the barrel jack used on most pedals. Only downside is you'll have a battery dangling off your pedal but at least you can get the simplicity and isolation back.
sounds like it may be that the switching supply In the power supply has not been filtered properly. A ferrite bead will not filter off much in the audio range, they are normally tuned for radio frequencies in the MHZ range. The cheapest options for the designer would be to use a LC filter tuned to cut audio frequency from the DC output of the power supply. Another thing to consider is it the pedal oscillating because of a lower or higher voltage rail? You should measure the unloaded/loaded voltage of the various supplies. To see if there is a difference.
Voodoo Lab Pedal Power. I haven't had issues powering my pedals since buying it. I highly recommend! :)
I've used my MXR PowerBrick for over a year without issues. I like that it does not daisy chain but has a seperate lead for each pedal.
this is great, i would have never thought of this and it honestly helps a lot, thanks a ton glen
Well , you can buy the ferrite bead somewhere like radioshack but the cost of the wall adapter and bead will be equivalent to a good power supply from a good manufacturer like Stancor, these are guaranteed to work perfectly and not have ANY line noise.
a real great piece of gear I actually use for pedals is the SANYO PEDAL JUICE @SpectreSoundStudios you should review it!
Ok, what is in the larger thing at 3:26. Not the "magnetic filter". The bigger module. Does it contain a nice fat 1000mfd cap, to take out any residual hum? THAT is what the Roland product has. What's in it?
As for the magnetic filter, it's a ferrite bead choke, an anti-EMI and anti-RFI measure, and can be bought as a separate item to clamp onto a cable - like 32 cents apiece in ebay if you buy 10. Probably don't need it unless you're hearing a local radio station in the background.
The other main issue with 9v power supplies is the amp or milli amp rating. it doesn't matter too much with overdrives as they use around 10ma but modulation pedal can run at 200-300ma and if your power supply is only 200ma then it won't run correctly. It should tell you on the pedal what its voltage and milliamp requirements are and just make sure your power supply is over
This is going to sound really silly, but sometimes it works miracles (and sometimes it doesnt). Try tying a knot in the power cable. A basic overhand knot, as in just make a loop and pass the end through it. Sometimes this does wonders; those metal filters are actually just a loop or knot with some shielding around them.
Hope you have time to give this a try. Keep up the great vids.
Well I feel a bit better! I was worried that what I was using wasn’t that good but it turns out to be one of the better ones!
Been using the T-Rex Fuel Tank for the last few years, and it works brilliantly.
I've got a Gator G-bus (came with a pedal board I bought), pretty much powers any pedal you throw at it. Was surprised with it, as I was having trouble powering my Boss DD-3 with generic crappy PSUs. The fact that you can add pedals on as you need it is also a big plus for me. Definitely get what you pay for.
I used a Dunlop DC brick when I was running a pedal board with good results. It had outputs for 9V as well as 18V.
Sir, thank you for sharing your knowledge, experience and sense of humour. Any comments on power conditioners?
I use a Gator G-Bus 8 and it is perfect. Connect any type of pedal power, no electronic noise and compact!
I use the Boss PSA-120s to power 10 pedals....works excellent. Tried a one-spot and it introduced a 60 cycle hum. It was fine if the guitar was turned all the way down or all the way up, but anywhere in between was terrible. I usually have my volume at about 5 and turn up from there for solos. Can not do that with the one-spot. Boss PSA-120s works with no problem.
Pretty sure that power all is the Godlyke brand I got like 10 years ago. bought 3 of them. they all still work (if I can find the other 2...). recently upgraded to voodoo labs supply, but was more of a convenience/just in case measure. no complaints that I can recall. just make sure you use those caps for the unused daisy chained ends, as I've noticed touching the live contacts that aren't used can make the whole thing reset sometimes, which makes a loud pop on a 120w amp at high volume and most pedals default to ON when booted up...which can be fun
I was just in the market for a new PSU, and picked up the iSPOT, does not have the filter on the plug, and it's 0 noise, Dunlop makes a nice one too.
The problem some people have is when they start daisy chaining all their pedals together using 1 PSU, sometimes 1 pedal in the circuit will cause others to be noisy.
so you will need to hook up your power in a different configuration, and if that doesn't solve your problem, then you might need a separate PSU for that pedal.
I'm using a 5000 mAh battery pack from Warwick to feed 3 pedals plus a Korg Polytuner, but this last one puts so much noise in the chain even when bypassed. So the battery is now feeding the remaining pedals and the Korg has its own 9V battery.
I use a powerball on my custom made pedalboard... it works well and powers my od, noise gate, ten band eq and delay really well.
Consider using (replacement) laptop computer power supplies with a daisy chain if you have LOTS of pedals. These are available on eBay in 9 and 18 volt models and are usually over 15 watts, (vs. 4.5 for a 500 ma. wart). They are in the $10-$20 range vs. $100-$200 for a pedal board block.
They provide isolation from the line, are USUALLY are very well filtered and have the magnetic bead, (computers require clean power).
The 9 volt models I have used even (accidently) had the proper size low voltage connector (and correct polariy) to plug straight into the daisy chain. That was a fortunate accident. I had planned to have to install the proper connector on them.
Might take a little skill (or help) to adapt them. MAKE SURE THE POLARITY IS CORRECT OR YOU CAN BADLY DAMAGE YOUR PEDALS.
Just checked again.... all 9 volt laptop supplies are now out of stock. Sorry.... (wish I'd got a few more).
I have a fairly large board, and I recently upgraded to the voodoo labs pedal power 2. It's a rock solid unit, and I love how it doesn't have such a flimsy cable that runs from my board to an outlet. I'm sure it's impractical , pricey and unnecessary In the studio, but On a giggling pedal board accept no substitutes!
I was hoping you were going to cover the Pedal Powering Systems like the VooDoo Labs Pedal Power box, the T-Rex Fuel Tank, and similar products. I have the Godlyke Unit you have in the video, as well as a One Spot, but when you daisy chain 5 or more pedals together....let's just say you get mixed results from both. Was wondering about the more expensive "power all" type units.
I have a relatively small setup. I use a T Rex Feul Tank jr. Isolated individual grounds. No unnecessary noise. But one thing to remember about powersupplies.....if you have a noisy pedal, then you have a noisy pedal and the best powersupply ever will do nothing to help you.
one of the best decisions I ever made for my signal chain was to buy a voodoo lab pedal power 2. It was expensive but nothing beats isolated clean power.
I've always tried to avoid the wall wart-type supplies purely because I prefer to mount the supply to my board, thus keeping the supply cable static and pinned down, rather than constantly being flexed (as in live work) and getting closer to breaking every time you dig it out to power things up. From that perspective, the Diago Micropower9 is excellent - it's an inline supply (ie like a laptop PSU) with a non-captive mains cable. Just mount the whole thing on your board (or under it, if you have a Pedaltrain-alike), and plug the easily-replaceable mains cable in every time you fish it out.
Mooer's supplies are also excellent - 2000mA and silent - but they have captive mains cables, which is a negative for me. I still keep one around as a spare, though.
I have PowerAll and those adapters come in hand with the disk chain...I also have the the hog power supply and daisy chain adapters, my local music store told me that it's as good or better than, boss adapters even the 5 daisy chain is more than the hogs 10pedal daisy chain, no buzz or noise..that's pretty good if you have 7 9volt pedals..the Power All will also power line 6 delay modeler and their other modeler pedals. ...so you can use different voltage pedals together on one power supply..
I've used my PowerAll for about 8 years, and never once had an issue with it. Go get one!
Good, goooooood review!!! People generally save up on these kind of things, and don't even know about the magnetic filters (EMC filters). You should even get better results using a second filter close to the outlet side of the power supply. There are filters available that you can just stick on to the power cord.
Very useful video thanks Glenn!
Personally I'd invest in a Pedaltrain Volto for any 9V - since it's still a battery you're still isolated from the power grid, but it's rechargeable so you don't have to look for new ones or pollute in any way.
I've been using mine for over a year now, both live and in the studio - no hiss, no fuss, just remember to charge it every now and then
the one from Boss rules! i use it for my boss pedal (only pedal that is compatible with that thing) and it makes no noise and crazy good. my other pedal is multi-fx so they've got their own power supply. that one is amazing as well.
the "magnetic filter" is called a ferrite bead. They prevent high frequency noise from from the mains into the device, and also from the device back into the mains. This is usually added for FCC regulatory reasons. My personal rule of thumb: if you need a ferrite bead, then your design is shit to begin with and putting band aids on it won't make it better.
Good power supplies like the PSA are regulated power supplies. unregulated power supplies are cheaper because they do not have a voltage regulator in them. they can output varying voltage and current to keep the output power constant. these output changes are create ripple voltages which create noise (usually 60 cycle hum)
TL;DR: only use regulated DC power adaptors.
Contradictory, since the PSA also has that extra housing ("magnetic filter").
EE here. Those ferrite beads are there so the company can pass electrical emissions tests and put the product on the market. Probably added after the product was designed and built, but started failing emissions tests. So was added later. Not all power supplies will have those. If an adapter doesn't have it, then it probably means it was designed well right off the bat, or someone bypassed CSA/UL/CE requirements and decided to put their product on the market anyhow (Lookin at you, China).
I use a voodoolab pedal power 2 plus and it works wonders, it has never let me down
I also use 1 spot with daisy chain (DD6, overdrives, choruses and a vox wah) never had any noise or problem in 6 years now.
exact same style of video but with power supply bricks. voodoo labs mxr etc. i was really disappointed when that isn't what this video was. still a grest vid keep putting out awesome content.
Other than the Boss PSA adaptors, I've generally had problems with most adaptors. So by the time I was building up a collection of pedals and taking numerous adaptors along with them to shows, it made sense for me to get a Voodoo Labs Pedal Power 2 and since then I haven't looked back.
Are you familar with the brand, 'TheGigRig'? They're mainly known for their pedalboard loopers, but have quite a few different products for isolating power/flipping polarity etc across a pedalboard full of crazy sounds and noises. May be worth a look to see if they could be beneficial in a studio environment as well.
It may just have been my particular unit, but I was not impressed with the Powerall. You are correct that it doesn't add noise to the rig. But powering a single Tech 21 Liverpool pedal it sounded small and lacking dynamics. Put in a battery and it was night and day, nice full sound. Plugged in a one of those expensive ISO supplies a friend had on his board and it sounded like the battery. I have since ponied up and got the Voodoo on the used market. Not as convenient but I don't regret it. Thanks for these reviews, they are much needed. Cheers.
Hello!
I will just get to the point. I used a lot of those 9v rectifires/adaptors and on the cheapest one had the same noise that you have shown. So I Tried to figure out what it was, and got it, Its actually a combination of poor quality and low amperage. And I didn't bought that adaptor in music store I bought it in hardware store. I returned that one and bought another one for the same money just with right amperage and it worked better. But I was not satisfied with it so I calculated the total amperage for all pedals and added something around 20% more (can't remeber exatly because I retired that one) But if total amperage was for example 800mA I bought the one of 1000mA (1A) and it worked just fine. I connected it to a daisy chain and to the pedals and it had absolutly zero noise. So that's the thing I think.
Now I use Woodoo Lab 8-pedal power supply and becouse it came from America and I live in Serbia I needed to have a volatge transformator from 220V to 110V and if you need to do that make shure that the power of the power supply (in my case 200W) and the transformator are the same. I always recommend using a brick-like power supplies because of the practical,convinience and safety advantages (mine even have a fuse so if there are some power problems your pedals are safe) It costs a little more but I will not need another power supply ever again :)
So I hope I was helpful, Glenn keep up the good work!
I have the powerall as well and it works fine. I also have a Godlyke power supply that seems to be an exact clone of the Powerall and also works fine. Decent switching power supplies are usually ok. it's the old school transformers that hum like crazy.
What about a video of some do's and don'ts when putting a band together?
A bit off the main line here, but the T-Rex Fuel Tank Chameleon is just awesome! 9,12,18 volts, AC and DC, isolated channels. Check it out.
Had no idea that was a magnetic filter. Always assumed it was some sort of splice joint... which now that i think about it is sort of stupid. Never the less, thanks man! I have some surveying of cables to do when i get home!!!
You should get an osmellascope
Helps visualize the signals
You should check out the isolated power supplys on amazon, Richard from Airis Effects has had some good results using 12v and 18v outputs to his pedals, and Donner makes a power supply for like $40 on amazon.
I use a official Boss(Roland) PSA 120 power supply... I also have a One-spot power supply but I only use the daisy chain part, with the Boss supply, because the One-spot supply makes the buzzing noise that Glenn demonstrated... I also have the Dunlop ECB003US adapter for my Crybaby wah, if necessary, but I don't use wah much...
Glen, for 9volts its all about the Visual Sound 1 SPOT Combo Pack
I know many guitar players who uses Visual Sound's 1Spot. It's nice 'cause it can feed 8 pedals with minimum noise (almost zero) and it comes with adaptor connectors as well, for pedals like the classic Proco Rat.
I'd love to see a getting your band ready for the stage video where you talk about power supplies especially in regards to protecting your gear from shitty venue power.
...Glen, can you get your hands on those power supplies that mount on the peddle board? the big cubes that have various power supply outlets. everyone and their brother makes one of those.
Going off of this one, do you think you could do a review/informative discussion about the differences of different power supplies (mainly the voodoo lab pedal power, t-rex fuel tank, and the mxr iso brick, and any others you may feel are necesarry to discuss)?
If you want a good pedal supply on the cheap(33€ + shipping) you should definitely check out PowerPlant Junior from Thomann, 5 isolated 9v outs. I power a Polytune mini, tubescreamer, crunch box, boss DD5, tri-reverb, looper pedal and a digital looper switcher pxl4, no hum whatsoever
Diago Powerstation or Gig rig Generator are without question the best switch mode power solutions on the Market. Superb.
the 1 spot is my go to power supply. it can power multiple pedals and very low noise. it's $10 usd and I've been using the same one for 6 years now
Also keep an eye out for centre negative power supplies. Most barrel tip DC power supplies use the centre pin as positive however there are power supplies out there that use the centre pin as negative and the barrel case as positive.
If you end up being stooped into buying the wrong polarity power supply, you're going to have a bad day. Go to Wikipedia and look up "Polarity symbols".
It's actually carbon and zinc batteries(the electrodes).
the electrolyte is an acid in a sand-like material.
Hey Glenn, it'd be great if you could actually step it up a notch with the power supply reviews and do a multi output isolated psu such as the voodoo labs or the Mxr brick.
I recently went to go and buy one, and they are a lot of money, I was baffled by the amount of products I had to choose from and spent weeks trying to work out which one would be best to do the simple task of powering 8-10 pedals.
In the end I chose the MXR brick, but then found they couldn't keep up to the demand for them and everywhere was seemingly out of stock, so I ended up spending £40 more and getting the voodoo labs.
Could you possibly do a fearless review on this in the future? It'd help a lot of us out! 🎸😊
I've been using the 1-spot power supply and it's great
I actually have the Link audio adapter and didn't get that weird tone from it in my pedal, I don't know they might just be hit or miss but at the price I got it for I really wasn't expecting much.
Hey Glenn, any chance you can create a play list of just reviews? Keep up the great work good sir!
Yes!
hey glen love this idea for a real and honest gear review. I have been looking into powering pedals and I was wondering if you could shed some light on using a power brick or daisy chain ?
I use the MXR Power Brick. No issues with noise at all and it does 9 & 18 volt pedals, whats not to like (apart from the price)
hope you can do some reviews of other power supplies, such as power blocks from mxr and others similar to them. some are pretty pricey and i have not bought one myself do to that reason and also have stuck with dollor store 9volts over the years.
have you checked out the volto from pedaltrain? charge it then it powers your pedals without needing to be plugged in anywhere at a venue