Power corrupts, how do I achieve absolute power?

Legionreturns

I've slowly been building a board that works for me. Having bought another pedal today, I'm now in the position where I have to choose to extend my power options. I can either fix short term by picking up an extension 9v cable and using the through power socket on my tuner, or I can scrap the whole deal and finally get a block. Currently I'm just using a stagg plug with a 5 way lead. 

I don't want to spend a fortune, but I'm absolutely certain there will be more pedals to come. 

Help me Obi w... No, I think I need the dark side Go! 

Winny_Pooh

Spend the money. My whole rig was so much quieter once I bought a pedal power 2

Legionreturns

Yeah... I'm not gonna spend the best part of two hundred notes on power at this stage, I'm still wearing L plates. Are any of the cheaper bricks decent enough for a beginner? I've got noise gate covered...

guitarfishbay

Winny_Pooh said:

Spend the money. My whole rig was so much quieter once I bought a pedal power 2

They're great.

Honestly I'm not sure if it's still the best option but I'm unlikely to ever need something else so it doesn't matter to me.

Get something that'll last you and call it quits. 

equalsql

Check out the Harley Benton junior pedal psu. 5 proper isolated outputs at a crazy good price.
https://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_powerplant_junior.htm

guitarfishbay

equalsql said:

Check out the Harley Benton junior pedal psu. 5 proper isolated outputs at a crazy good price.
https://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_powerplant_junior.htm

I have one.

For whatever reason it is not as quiet as my PP2+

Legionreturns

Ideally I'd need something that can power probably 6 or 7 9v and my voicelive which I think is 18

Placidcasual79

I think I've been in a similar situation to you - been playing live now for 3 years and my gear slowly grows and grows

I bought a smaller amp. Ended up buying a bigger one. I bought a cheap guitar. Ended up buying a better one. I bought a smaller board. Ended up buying a bigger one. I bought a smaller power supply. Ended up needing two.

Moral of the story is it sounds like your going to end up needing a decent power supply so you might as well save your self the time and trouble and fork out for one. 

If your determined not to spend I would just say that I bought a cheap Dr tone power supply and it was sh*t. After engaging some of my more 'power hungry' pedals I'd loose signal all together fir a good few seconds......

in the end I bought a second pedal power junior - and neither have let me down 

Wazmeister

The harsh lessons ive learnt is that power supply is critical, and at times temperamental, and hence - spend as much as you need too. Once only.

UnclePsychosis

Are you going to gig and/or record? 

Because if the answer is no then you don't need a fancy supply---daisy chain off a good 9V unit like a oneSpot or Godlyke and then just get an adaptor or separate PSU for anything weird. 

If you're recording then the above may work, depending on your precise pedal setup (digital pedals tend to be noisier than analogue if you daisy chain them). 

If you're gigging then probably worth getting something decent and isolated: you don't need to spend two hundred notes to get there though. 

The default answer to power questions in guitar forums is "spend lots of money on a PSU" but it's not always necessary. 

(to be honest the answer to most questions here is spend lots of money :-D) 

sgosden

I'd agree that power is worth spending the money on. Its annoying spending your hard earned cash on something that isn't 'fun' like a pedal or guitar, but by the time you've bought a few different cheap supplies and realised they're no good, you'd have been better just using that money towards a decent one.

Legionreturns

My current cheap arse 5 way daisy chain causes me no noise issues at all... I'm also poor. It's not like it's even a decision. Couldn't afford a £200 power supply even if I wanted one haha

builttospill

Burkey Flatliner SIX Junior! It has six fully isolated and very quiet outlets, can run at either 9-12 volts at 100mA each. Only downside is you wouldn't be able to power Strymon stuff with it. It's a brilliant piece of kit. I happen to run two of them on my Pedal Train Classic it'll cost you about £80-90 quid inc shipping from holland. 

sgosden

look out for second hand stuff, doesn't have to be £200 new things

underdog

equalsql said:

Check out the Harley Benton junior pedal psu. 5 proper isolated outputs at a crazy good price.
https://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_powerplant_junior.htm

Exactly what I was going to say, mine is quite and powers lots of pedals when you combine the 5 outputs and Daisy chaining.

It's also small so mine lives velcroed to the underside of my pedal board and wired to and iec socket.

crunchman

I'd spend the money on something good.  Get something with isolated outputs where a couple of them are capable of at least 300mA, ideally 400mA.  That way if you ever want something with high power consumption you are covered.  That's not necessarily just Strymon. It's also things like the Line 6 M5.

For 18V it depends on how much current draw the pedal has.  For low draw, a Diago voltage doubler on one output will do the trick.  If it's high draw you can chain two outputs together with a voltage doubler cable as long as you have a supply with isolated outputs.

I use a Decibel 11 Hot Stone Deluxe which would cover your needs now and into the future.  It's £159 new.  There are other good options.  The Cioks stuff has a very good reputation.

normula1

+1 on the Hot Stone Deluxe. They're great

Legionreturns

Ok I've done lots of Google / eBay / reverb*   / Thomman searches and have been thoroughly gripped by a combination of apathy and indecision. So I'm going to do nothing until some mysterious force solves this problem for me. Or I might just pick up the through cable and run off the tuner for now and screw buying more pedals. I can't afford an expensive one new, nobody seems to be doing used ones for anything reasonable this side of the pond and apparently the cheaper ones are all crap. 

*(which seems almost entirely pointless unless you're American. Why doesn't anyone here use it?) 

underdog

Legionreturns said:

Ok I've done lots of Google / eBay / reverb*   / Thomman searches and have been thoroughly gripped by a combination of apathy and indecision. So I'm going to do nothing until some mysterious force solves this problem for me. Or I might just pick up the through cable and run off the tuner for now and screw buying more pedals. I can't afford an expensive one new, nobody seems to be doing used ones for anything reasonable this side of the pond and apparently the cheaper ones are all crap. 

*(which seems almost entirely pointless unless you're American. Why doesn't anyone here use it?) 

I've bought a few things off reverb this past couple of months (amp, wah, tuner etc) I think the UK users are growing by the day.

english_bob

Someone here recently bought a Vitoos DC8 power supply- prices seem to have gone up recently but it's still pretty cheap and apparently works well. It's not fully isolated- the two higher current outputs are isolated, but the others aren't. 

Gadget

+1 for the Voodoo Labs Pedal Power series

Expensive maybe, but I've had my first one well over a decade (!) and it's still going strong on my board.