Power Supplies vs 1Spots...am I a sucker?

[laxu]

Looking at the specs of that Voodoo Lab Power Plus 2, for the money its specs are decidedly unimpressive. For $50 more you could have had the CIOKS DC7 which has 7x 660 mA @ 9V output.

The Voodoo Lab could power at best two of my Strymons with its 250 mA outputs and everything else would require doubler cables.

I can't think of any other reason it was recommended to you other than the usual "I own this thing and it works for me" we all tend to recommend.

 

[pipelineaudio]

OF COURSE WOOD MAKES A DIFFERENCE TO TONE.

I rest my case

 

[pipelineaudio]

Looking at the specs of that Voodoo Lab Power Plus 2, for the money its specs are decidedly unimpressive. For $50 more you could have had the CIOKS DC7 which has 7x 660 mA @ 9V output.

The Voodoo Lab could power at best two of my Strymons with its 250 mA outputs and everything else would require doubler cables.

I can't think of any other reason it was recommended to you other than the usual "I own this thing and it works for me" we all tend to recommend.

This seems to be before the cioks, but honestly, if the one spot works, and is smaller and WAY lighter, I think I'm just going to go back to the reality based community, ignore the pedal experts, add up the current draw needed, and plan appropriately

 

[likitlikeyoulikeit]

Never found anything better than my skb pedal board...with the included Furman SP-8. 20 years on, still kicking ass and quiet. 3 outlets 8 taps ...plus a stereo patch bay with stereo FX loops.......such a value. Plus it travels amazing!

 

[pipelineaudio]

If sharing a one spot between pedals ends up making one of them noisy that isn't noisy on a one spot by itself, can I just add another one spot? Put the problem pedal on its own and then put the rest of the stuff on the other one? Is that less likely to have issues than a single Cioks supply?

 

[pipelineaudio]

Never found anything better than my skb pedal board...with the included Furman SP-8. 20 years on, still kicking ass and quiet. 3 outlets 8 taps ...plus a stereo patch bay with stereo FX loops.......such a value. Plus it travels amazing!

I have one sitting upstairs! I found it on facebook marketplace attached to some mic stands I wanted to buy. Its not the right size for my setup but I hate to see it unused. Why did SKB stop making them?

 

[likitlikeyoulikeit]

I have one sitting upstairs! I found it on facebook marketplace attached to some mic stands I wanted to buy. Its not the right size for my setup but I hate to see it unused. Why did SKB stop making them?

Not really sure ....such an amazing piece of kit. I would have to spend a lot of cash to replace mine.

Plus if you find the manual, there are some switching tricks with the switch board... really cool.

 

[SillyOctpuss]

If sharing a one spot between pedals ends up making one of them noisy that isn't noisy on a one spot by itself, can I just add another one spot? Put the problem pedal on its own and then put the rest of the stuff on the other one? Is that less likely to have issues than a single Cioks supply?

it really depends on the specific pedals. Any digital pedals will often need to be isolated on their own, certainly from analogue pedals anyway or you can pick up a lot of noise but if you only have one pedal causing an issue then yeah add another one. I can't see a single cioks dc7 having any issues unless your board is very complex.

 

[laxu]

If sharing a one spot between pedals ends up making one of them noisy that isn't noisy on a one spot by itself, can I just add another one spot? Put the problem pedal on its own and then put the rest of the stuff on the other one? Is that less likely to have issues than a single Cioks supply?

The single power supply would be far more convenient. If you don't need to connect that much stuff, try e.g the CIOKS Sol.

Just look up how many digital pedals you have, what their power draw is and then expect to connect each of them to an isolated output. With analog pedals isolated is good too, but you can get by with daisychaining them if there's not enough outputs.

 

[spawnofthesith]

One spots are fine (I have one as a backup in my gig bag even)

Implying that “power supplies are for suckers” is one of the more ludicrous displays of proud ignorance I’ve come across though


The voodoo labs is an excellent power supply, but it’s a bit past it’s prime for the current-hungry pedals of the modern era

I’d look at cioks

Or just keep using the onespot if it gets the job done

 

[paisleywookiee]

I'm a life long recording engineer, not a performer, so I defer to the players out there when it comes to gig ready guitar stuff. On pretty much overwhelming advice, I got a Voodoo Labs Power Plus 2 for my pedalboard. The 1Spot was working fine before, but it made me nervous

The Voodoo Labs one seemed ok at one show. It sucked that it needs a current doubler cable for my wireless and it doesnt have enough juice for all my devices, but I think it may have been a little less noisy than the 1Spot when used with the Tonex One.

So practicing today, my Tonex One intermittently turns off when using the expression pedal on my Helix. I could reproduce it pretty well.

So I stuck an 1Spot on it and couldn't get the problem to happen again.

The 1Spot has WAY more juice, doesn't require a doubler cable, is way lighter and smaller and hasn't made any real trouble for me (aside from possibly more noise on the Tonex One but I can't completely confirm.

Are these power supplies just for suckers?

No, they're not just for suckers. As has been mentioned, if it works, then great. But you most definitely will run into problems when you daisy chain digital pedals, especially multiples. It's not going to hurt anything (well, unless you F up the polarity) but it might sound shitty. The PP2 is a bit older of a device. If you want to go down the isolated path at some point, I'd highly recommend the PP3/PP3+. 500mA per output, very light, very reliable.

 

[pipelineaudio]

The cioks dc7 has a usb power out too! Very handy for charging my wireless devices. I have a cludged together thing on my pedalboard right now but that would really clean it up. I see cioks uses rca on the supply side, but is that really any less reliable than the molded connectors most use? I imagine the rca grabs pretty hard and not so wiggly.

 

[spawnofthesith]

The cioks dc7 has a usb power out too! Very handy for charging my wireless devices. I have a cludged together thing on my pedalboard right now but that would really clean it up. I see cioks uses rca on the supply side, but is that really any less reliable than the molded connectors most use? I imagine the rca grabs pretty hard and not so wiggly.

The dc7 is fantastic and I love the usb. I use it to power my rechargeable midi controller (it doesn’t have the best battery life so I keep it plugged in when playing)

I even have it powering my HX stomp which is great. That draws 1 amp or something ridiculous like that so I do still use a doubler with that one (as well as the adaptor they make for the stomps weird jack requirements)

 

[GuitarBilly74]

The Voodoo Labs were the first generation of this type of power supplier.
They work OK, but they're transformer-based, which can induce noise to wah, fuzz and some boost pedals, and because they use a transformer to convert power, it you're getting more/less than 120v from the outlet, that difference is passed on to the pedals as well.

The latest generation of power suppliers, like the Cioks, Strymon etc use a switching chip to make the power conversion digitally, so they can take anything from 90v to 240v from the outlet and convert to the exact 9v (or 12, 18v dependingon the tap). And not having a transformer also means there's no interference with inductors on wahs or germanium transistors.

So that's a much better choice.

With that said, if you're only powering 1 pedal or a small chain of pedals that are on the same audio path, the 1-Spot is fine.

Isolation is needed when you have multiple audio paths, for example pedals out front and in the loop, or if you're using loop switchers etc because without Isolation you will get ground loops in this situations.

But if it's just a small chain of pedals connected to each other, there is no need for isolation, it actually does nothing because since the pedals are connected to each other, there is already a common ground between them anyway.

 

[laxu]

The cioks dc7 has a usb power out too! Very handy for charging my wireless devices. I have a cludged together thing on my pedalboard right now but that would really clean it up. I see cioks uses rca on the supply side, but is that really any less reliable than the molded connectors most use? I imagine the rca grabs pretty hard and not so wiggly.

The RCA plugs stay put very well.

I use the USB to power my CME WIDI Jack for wireless MIDI.

 

[pipelineaudio]

OK, I ordered a DC7. I'll be wiring in a pair of One Spots for now. One for the Tonex One and one for the rest of the stuff: TC Sentry (which I may not actually need if I put the Tonex One on its own One Spot maybe), Shure GLXD 16+ and Mooer E7

 

[paisleywookiee]

The Voodoo Labs were the first generation of this type of power supplier.
They work OK, but they're transformer-based, which can induce noise to wah, fuzz and some boost pedals, and because they use a transformer to convert power, it you're getting more/less than 120v from the outlet, that difference is passed on to the pedals as well.

The latest generation of power suppliers, like the Cioks, Strymon etc use a switching chip to make the power conversion digitally, so they can take anything from 90v to 240v from the outlet and convert to the exact 9v (or 12, 18v dependingon the tap). And not having a transformer also means there's no interference with inductors on wahs or germanium transistors.

So that's a much better choice.

With that said, if you're only powering 1 pedal or a small chain of pedals that are on the same audio path, the 1-Spot is fine.

Isolation is needed when you have multiple audio paths, for example pedals out front and in the loop, or if you're using loop switchers etc because without Isolation you will get ground loops in this situations.

But if it's just a small chain of pedals connected to each other, there is no need for isolation, it actually does nothing because since the pedals are connected to each other, there is already a common ground between them anyway.

While accurate for the older stuff, it doesn’t apply to the PP3. That’s switching, like the Strymon, Ciocks, etc.

 

[GuitarBilly74]

While accurate for the older stuff, it doesn’t apply to the PP3. That’s switching, like the Strymon, Ciocks, etc.

That's true.

 

[yeky83]

Looking at the specs of that Voodoo Lab Power Plus 2, for the money its specs are decidedly unimpressive. For $50 more you could have had the CIOKS DC7 which has 7x 660 mA @ 9V output.

The Voodoo Lab could power at best two of my Strymons with its 250 mA outputs and everything else would require doubler cables.

I can't think of any other reason it was recommended to you other than the usual "I own this thing and it works for me" we all tend to recommend.

I already mentioned why it gets recommended, it's cus people are stuck with assumptions that hasn't been true for a decade. Voodoo Labs should just stop making those units cus they sell better ones now, but I guess they still make enough money off of misconceptions.

With that said, if you're only powering 1 pedal or a small chain of pedals that are on the same audio path, the 1-Spot is fine.

Isolation is needed when you have multiple audio paths, for example pedals out front and in the loop, or if you're using loop switchers etc because without Isolation you will get ground loops in this situations.

But if it's just a small chain of pedals connected to each other, there is no need for isolation, it actually does nothing because since the pedals are connected to each other, there is already a common ground between them anyway.

Nope, sometimes digital pedals introduce noise in simple daisy chain powered signal chains, not just in multiple audio path cases.

Here’s a demonstration:

 

[0XI0]

Are these power supplies just for suckers?

with modelers i think it's harder for dirty power to get power dirt noise actually 'into' the guitar signal, since the signal is all in dream land until it gets to the DA converters. so the fancy latest switching tech wouldn't really do anything. running analog stuff i think it's easier for wall noise to get into the actual signal, before or after modeling stuff, that's where the latest modern switching tech would shine and really filter out bad power noise between the wall and the pedals. once it's there you can't get rid of it. nobody developed balanced power yet? reference incoming wave against a pure digital sine and manhandle (frequency modulate) the 120v into a perfect sine by force on the input instead of trying to just calm it down with filters. LMFAO. "what budget?!"