A question to those with huge boards / tech geniuses.

therose789

I would maybe have a look at the CAE mc403. I have never owned one and from what i gather these are big heifers of psu's but work really well.  

http://www.jimdunlop.com/product/mc403-power-system

Expensive but gives you a tonne of options for power and if i'm right it should power your whammy too. I guess it would be cheaper than buying two separate psus if it fulfils your needs! . 

Have you considered using some kind of looper or switcher pedal? Like a gig rig g2 or something similar? Might help reduce noise? but it does take up a lot of pedal real estate!

GavRichList

I hate the idea of the switching systems. However I've priced the Gig Rig Modular stuff and it comes out at £346. CHEAP. Ciokolate is more or less the same though. Only issue is that GigRig can't power a whammy. Can't get my head round that at all.

pmg

What kind of switching system do you require?  Programmable ones are expensive, non-programmable less-so.  Depends on how much tap dancing you want/can do

GavRichList

I don't want the switches at all - perfectly happy to tap dance on the pedals themselves. I just want them powered with as few plugs and as little noise as is possible.

pmg

As someone mentioned earlier it is quite a chain of pedals so you would be better off isolating them power wise and also only engaging the pedals in the chain when on.  Using a true bypass strip would help with this.  

As mentioned earlier in the thread your starting point should be to try and identify the source by checking your pedals and cables methodically.  Start one pedal at a time (guitar, pedal, amp). After trying all one at a time build longer chains to identify the issue.  Eventually you will find the problem pedals/cables.  

Its a long, slow process but it might save you a lot of money.

GavRichList

GigRig Modular System + requisite Lava Cables = £525.

LOLOLOLOLOL

meltedbuzzbox

GavHaus said:

I hate the idea of the switching systems. However I've priced the Gig Rig Modular stuff and it comes out at £346. CHEAP. Ciokolate is more or less the same though. Only issue is that GigRig can't power a whammy. Can't get my head round that at all.

No more Rage against the machine covers then?

GavRichList

War Of The Worlds mate. Get it right.

mike_l

You do a cover of War of the Worlds in a style of Rage Agaisnt the Machine? Cool

GavRichList

Always, and with interpretative dance too.

pmg

I a PP2+.  you can also get true bypass switchers with isolated power for a reasonable price

nickb_boy

As above you could check out the MXR MC403. You can even then run one of the DC bricks off an output from it to power some of your dirt that doesn't need isolated supplies.
If you know anyone traveling over from the US you could them to pick one up from Amazon for $200 to save some money as they work on switchable voltage!

Stay away from ebay though, cos the next cheap one to come up is mine

ChrisMusic

A good testing strategy is "successive approximation".  Isolate one half of your board, including the power supplies, so there is only that half connected in any way.  *Anything else is not switched on (EMR interference source elimination that way) or connected in any way.*  Then test the other half.  If the issues persist, then break it down into halving and isolating again, and so on.

That is a comparatively quick way of identifying where the problem lays.

However it is not always that simple, PSU loading, interference between effects and proximity problems, or ground issues can cloud what may seem simple solutions.  The more issues of PSU isolation, cable routing and problematic effects you can sort, the easier trouble shooting will become, and the more robust your board will be in hostile environments too.

Isolating some of those pedals with a switch looper of some sort may well help achieve a cleaner signal and better tone, but I quite understand your desire to practice the tarantella if you like.

Corvus

@GavHaus, if your Whammy power wart is away from the board it's a non-issue but as per steamabacus, my power block and Blackstar AC wart were separated under the board by a divider. But when moved to the same side there was much humming... and again when I clipped the cable close to another one, and again by closeness to a certain pedal.
Did wonder if some sort of shielding of the cable might help but HT Dual's off the board anyway and the Whammy wart lives away from it.

DesVegas

OOOOOO LAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!

GavRichList

Out of curiosity at this point, is there any guarantee that buying the whole GigRig and Lava shooting match would solve it? I'm assuming it would, but I am a bit of a div...

GavRichList

@billkat - will try moving it to a different plug socket entirely, just to rule it out

pmg

GavHaus said:

Out of curiosity at this point, is there any guarantee that buying the whole GigRig and Lava shooting match would solve it? I'm assuming it would, but I am a bit of a div...

Probably, yes but a huge outlay.

GavRichList

Knew a girl like that once

thisisguitar

Cabling and powering my board cost over £500. Much like buying decent stands, you'll hate spending the cash initially, but once you have them you'll forget about the cost and just enjoy knowing it all works properly :-)