Pedals use a lot less juice than they tell you...

[photoweborama]

I bought into the "I need a 1000+ mili amp" power supply.

I posted a Boss look switch / power supply unit that only uses a 200 ma power supply and is supposed to run up to 7 pedals.

So I decided to test the amp usage on my board with nine devices.
It only measured 184 ma at full load.

For inquiring minds, I running....

Dunlop Wah, DynaComp, Tubeulator, DS1, TS9DX, Behringer multi pedal, phase 90, Morly volume pedal, and a DD3.

 

[donh]

A proper spec for a device will tell the maximum load, which is typically the draw at power up.

Sometimes they tell max and steady-state, but that seems to be increasingly uncommon

 

[greggorypeccary]

Your old school pedals (fuzz, wah, comps, od, phase, etc.) only draw a few mA each. An analog or older digital delay, 30-50-ish.

When I downsized, I sold the VL Pedal Power and went back to a Boss 200mA w/a daisy chain. More than enough for a wah, tuner, two OD's and DD2. And no funny noises that I get from the mongo-mA digital switching power supplies that are all the rage these days.

 

[photoweborama]

I'm considering going to a 200ma, but I think with 9 pedals, it might suck more at power up or during certain peaks. If I could find a 300ma, I think that would fill the bill just fine.

I have a one spot 1000ma and also a 1200ma. Way over kill...

 

[tbader]

The great thing about some of the popular available PSUs is the power isolation. For example, the Voodoo Lab PP2+ has a toroidal transformer, which allows each output to be completely isolated from each other. This will help eliminate any noise issues with finicky-but-common pedals. In addition, some fuzzes are temperamental, and will not operate correctly when sharing a power circuit with other pedals. Having completely isolated power is usually the best fix for most pedal headaches.

Other power supply units, such as the CAE Power System, are attempting to cover every available voltage, so people no longer need to supplement their existing power setup with bulky wall-warts that belong to their EHXs, Eventides, Novas, etcetera. The voltages vary, not only to cover a wide variety of pedal voltage requirements, but also to give the option to run certain pedals, such as the Fulltone OCD, at a higher voltage for more clean headroom. The OCD at 18v sounds noticeably better to my ears, but plugging in a wall wart isn't really worth the hassle, IMO.

Some units, such as the Dunlop Juice Box, and the DC Brick, feature organized power routing to help clean up your board, by helping eliminate power strips and wall-warts. Unfortunately, these are really no more efficient than a OneSpot, because the outputs are not isolated from one another. They are basically glorified daisy chains. But that doesn't automatically make them bad units.

The OneSpot IS good, but it also depends on what you run. If you run 8 9v DC neg center pedals, you shouldn't have any noise issues. And, the total power output is more than ample to cover a plethora of pedals (they say 1 OneSpot can power up to 20 pedals). It's there, in case you need it. I don't use mine much, unless I'm setting up a smaller board for easier transport, though. Oh, and I have not experienced any noise issues with daisy chaining using it. I powered 12 analog/digital pedals with it at one point.

As mentioned above, the power draw officially stated by the manufacturer isn't always very accurate. For instance, the Eventide TimeFactor is stated to need no less than (IIRC) 1000mA to operate. This is an astoundingly high number, so various users tested their units and 300-500mA was the average draw. Some PSUs now come with 800mA outputs (which should be more than enough) for Eventide pedals, even though the stated current draw is 200mA more!

I guess Fulltone states that the Full-Drive 2 draws about 35mA, but that seems quite high, considering the type of circuit it is. I mean, the OCD is stated to only draw 7mA. That's a pretty big difference.

Anyway, either way you look at it, most production analog/digital pedals don't consume a crazy amount of power, so having a Boss wart with a daisy chain should be fine, especially if you don't hear any noise whatsoever.

At the same time, I don't consider isolated PSUs overkill, either. You never know when you will acquire that one pedal that sounds awesome, but is a total pain in the butt, because it doesn't like to play well with other pedals in the chain. I'd say having isolated outs isn't hurting anything, even if your rig is as quiet as a church mouse.

Whatever works, right?

Todd

 

[JesterR]

Hmm... Only digital pedals took a lot of juice. Typical OD is about 5-10mA, so nothing new))
Best test is trying to use battery or read the manual. Last thing is very helpful))))

On the other hand, my little EQD delay on pt2399 takes about 100mA.

 

[photoweborama]

I've been told that the Godlyke "one spot" had much better isolation than the 'One spot' that I have. I don't know if it's true, just what I've heard.

 

[tbader]

I've been told that the Godlyke "one spot" had much better isolation than the 'One spot' that I have. I don't know if it's true, just what I've heard.

The Godlyke and the OneSpot are both digital switching supplies, and the outputs cannot be isolated. The daisy chain is a cheap way to power a bunch of pedals, but each output shares the same ground, which can potentially make some chains noisy. Like I said, isolation isn't typically a necessity if you run common 9v DC neg center pedals. In my experience, every combination of pedals I own run perfectly quiet on a OneSpot.

I don't power my TC Electronic Nova effects with anything other than the wall warts they came with, however. So, my pedal array is pretty basic (I think my oddball pedal is the 12v ACA powered MIJ Boss CE-3. It does not work on an isolated 9v circuit, but runs flawlessly if I place it in a chain with another newer Boss 9v PSA-type pedal, such as my Keeley BD-2.)

By JesterR
Hmm... Only digital pedals took a lot of juice. Typical OD is about 5-10mA, so nothing new))
Best test is trying to use battery or read the manual. Last thing is very helpful))))

On the other hand, my little EQD delay on pt2399 takes about 100mA.

100mA seems a little high of a draw for a PT2399 delay, but most isolated supplies should handle that with no problem.

Some tube-based overdrives can require a crazy amount of current, such as the Kingsley Jester, which requires 1 amp (from the supplied 12v AC wall wart) to function. Wow.

Todd

 

[cacibi]

Well, there's nothing wrong with having more juice available than you need from your power supply.

On my large board - I use a Gig Rig Generator. At 5 amps...I don't have to worry about how much juice anything needs. It is also modular, so - I can buy the specific adapters I need for Eventide, Nova or other digital units - as well as 18 volt adapters to run certain pedals at higher voltages.

They also have V-batteries which are in-line isolated supplies.

It's not cheap - but the cable routing is very clean and I only plug one power cable into my board.

I would and have used smaller, daisy chain supplies for grab-and-go boards and have never had an issue. You could also use the V-batteries with something like a 1-Spot to isolate specific pedals if they are giving you problems.

Have also used the PP2 and 2+ for a long time.