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How should I power my pedals?

Kegzy05Kegzy05 Posts: 93
edited January 2008 in Musicians and Gearheads
Hey all

Just wondering whether anyone had any ideas on how I should power my new pedal board. Whether i daisy chain or should I look into one of those dc bricks? I heard a bit about a adapter called the "1 spot" that seems like a good idea too.
My pedals are:-

Ibanez Keeley modded Ts-9
Boss Od-3 Overdrive
Boss Keeley modded Ds-1
Boss Ac-3 Acoustic simulator
Dunlop 535Q wah
Ernie Ball 6166 mono volume
Boss Cs-3 Compression
MXR 10 band Eq
Electro Harm Big Muff
Dunlop Jimi Hendrix Fuzz Wah
Fender Blender
Line 6 Verbzilla Reverb

I also am getting an eventide modfactor and eventide timefactor but i believe they come with their own power supply..
"I dont question, our existence
I just question, our modern needs"
Post edited by Unknown User on

Comments

  • DiRtyFranK38DiRtyFranK38 Posts: 3,131
    not too long ago this was my dilema. i had a fairly small pedalboard powered by daisy chains and as i gained alooot more pedals i wondered. well i have a pretty heafty pedalboard now and it is powered by a 1 spot and daisy chains. cheapest and best way to go. you conserve space and save money.
    2006: Hartford
    2008: MSG 1, Hartford, Mansfield 2, Ed Solo NYC 1
    2009: London (O2), Philly 1, 2, 3, & 4
    2010: Hartford, Boston, MSG 1 & 2
    2011: Ed Solo Hartford
    2012: Philly (MIA Fest)
    2013: Worcester 2, Brooklyn 1 & 2, Hartford
  • Stone Is GodStone Is God Posts: 1,331
    I have the '1-Spot' and it works for me.
    I'll ride the wave where it takes me.
  • Pacomc79Pacomc79 Posts: 9,404
    I bought a daisy chain from Godlyke (Power All) Formerly called Switchmode Power when I bought it.

    One issue with daisy chains is how finiky your power source is and how particular you are about noise. They can potentially be noisy though I have never had an issue with mine at all and you can help fix that with a good power strip with EMI/RFI protection. It's still not as good as Isolation but it's not 150 bucks either.

    I like mine a lot. I actually bought an extension for it so I could power more, though you do need to be careful about how much current draw you need as well.

    Do buy the extensions, It'll save you some cable spaghetti frustration if you get the daisy chain and still fit everything on the board. It will come with one extension and several adaptors as well (I assume the same is true of One Spot) for pedals like older MXR which use mini plug, battery clips and also the green 9VAC to power the Line 6 type stuff. Also they have a new 18-24V adaptor extension called the power pump to power 18V pedals and for over powering OD's that can handle or benifit from more power.

    you're going to come off cheaper with the daisy chains and for the Vast Majority of us this is a Great Solution. The best possible sources I know of are the Voodoo Labs PP2's but they are very expensive.

    I hope that helps.

    http://www.voodoolab.com/pedalpower_2.htm

    http://www.godlyke.com/shopping/pgm-more_information.php?id=164&thiscat=16&frompage=Online_Store&page_num=1&=SID

    http://www.visualsound.net/1spot.htm
    My Girlfriend said to me..."How many guitars do you need?" and I replied...."How many pairs of shoes do you need?" She got really quiet.
  • xtremehardy388xtremehardy388 Posts: 2,759
    Stone Is God wrote:
    I have the '1-Spot' and it works for me.
    +1
    Grand Rapids '04, Detroit '06
    JEFF HARDY AND JEFF AMENT USED TO LOOK THE SAME
    "Pearl Jam always eases my mind and fires me up at the same time.”-Jeff Hardy
  • ianvomsaalianvomsaal Posts: 1,224
    Yup - Just get youself a couple 1-Spots or Godlyke Adaptors and call it a day.
    I power almost my entire board with two 1-Spots (and I have a HUGE board).
    Cheers . . .

    - Ian
    ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫
    <b><font color="red">CONTACT ME HERE</font>: www.myspace.com/ianvomsaal</b>
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  • xtremehardy388xtremehardy388 Posts: 2,759
    I power mine with THREE One-Spots and they've yet to fail me. Just buy the power supplies and he daisy chains and you'll be set.
    Grand Rapids '04, Detroit '06
    JEFF HARDY AND JEFF AMENT USED TO LOOK THE SAME
    "Pearl Jam always eases my mind and fires me up at the same time.”-Jeff Hardy
  • Pacomc79Pacomc79 Posts: 9,404
    xtremehardy388 wrote:
    I power mine with THREE One-Spots and they've yet to fail me. Just buy the power supplies and he daisy chains and you'll be set.


    Three? That's Gigante.
    My Girlfriend said to me..."How many guitars do you need?" and I replied...."How many pairs of shoes do you need?" She got really quiet.
  • mccreadyisgodmccreadyisgod Posts: 6,395
    I know it's not the CHEAP way to get power, but I heartily recommend the Voodoo Labs Pedal Power 2. You can get Y-cables or use a daisy-chain from any other mfg (like the Boss chain) to power multiple pedals off one output (the PP2 has 8 outs). It also features outputs that meet the requirements of the bigger Line 6 pedals (although that doesn't affect you).

    I power all of my digital pedals on their own output, and have some of my analog pedals daisied together, and it works just fine.

    The advantage of the PP2 is transformer-isolated voltage-regulated power. It can protect your pedals from surges and dirty power, and also isolate each pedal from the others to keep the noise down. If you have really good power everywhere you play, and your guitar is pretty noiseless, this isn't an issue, but if you run into bad power it's amazing how much less noise there is in your rig.

    That said, everyone I know just runs their pedals off a daisy chain supplied by their Boss TU-2 tuners, and they seem okay with that.
    ...and if you don't like it, you can suck on an egg.
  • NovawindNovawind Posts: 836
    My board runs on one 1spot, a Dunlop 18v for the MXR Chorus, and a Boss PSA for the DD-20 alone.

    Does anyone know if there's any danger in attaching daisy chains to each other. I have a 1spot connected to a daisy chain (5 plugs) and on the last plug i have it connected to another daisy chain, so 4 plugs + 5 plugs = 9 9v plugs, 1 18v supply, and 1 9v 200mA Boss wart for the DD-20. All this cost me way less than a PP2.
    If idle hands are the devil's workshop, he must not be very productive.

    7/9/06 LA 1
    7/10/06 LA 2
    10/21/06 Bridge 1
  • brain of cbrain of c Posts: 5,213
    go nuclear
    d'oh!!!!!!

    http://www.myspace.com/brain_of_c
  • xtremehardy388xtremehardy388 Posts: 2,759
    Novawind wrote:
    My board runs on one 1spot, a Dunlop 18v for the MXR Chorus, and a Boss PSA for the DD-20 alone.

    Does anyone know if there's any danger in attaching daisy chains to each other. I have a 1spot connected to a daisy chain (5 plugs) and on the last plug i have it connected to another daisy chain, so 4 plugs + 5 plugs = 9 9v plugs, 1 18v supply, and 1 9v 200mA Boss wart for the DD-20. All this cost me way less than a PP2.
    I blew one daisy chain doing something like that. I used a 1 spot to power two different chains(10 plugs-five for each one). I don't recommend it.
    Grand Rapids '04, Detroit '06
    JEFF HARDY AND JEFF AMENT USED TO LOOK THE SAME
    "Pearl Jam always eases my mind and fires me up at the same time.”-Jeff Hardy
  • xtremehardy388xtremehardy388 Posts: 2,759
    Pacomc79 wrote:
    Three? That's Gigante.
    http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t263/xtremehardy388/DSCN3438.jpg

    That's the closest picture to my current board. the order is different now and I don't have the behringer Acoustic sim but I added the TR-2 and the DD-6
    Grand Rapids '04, Detroit '06
    JEFF HARDY AND JEFF AMENT USED TO LOOK THE SAME
    "Pearl Jam always eases my mind and fires me up at the same time.”-Jeff Hardy
  • NovawindNovawind Posts: 836
    xtremehardy388 wrote:
    I blew one daisy chain doing something like that. I used a 1 spot to power two different chains(10 plugs-five for each one). I don't recommend it.

    Well as far as amperes go I know that the pedals I have on the daisy chains (wah, dynacomp, OCD, TS9, DS-1, Sonic Stomp) combined are way less than the 1700 mA rating that the 1spot has. But as we all know, YMMV.

    You blew the daisy chain? But the 1spot and pedal were fine? Interesting, what happened? Did the connection just start smokin' or something?
    If idle hands are the devil's workshop, he must not be very productive.

    7/9/06 LA 1
    7/10/06 LA 2
    10/21/06 Bridge 1
  • Kegzy05Kegzy05 Posts: 93
    Good good thanks guys appreciate it. I figured that a few of those adapters would be the best for me. I think the "Godlyke" apadter is the australian version.. From what I hear its exactly the same as the 1 spot.

    Do you guys with lots of pedals all daisy chained up ever get much unwanted noise?? And do you run ALL of your pedals with the 2 or 3 one spots? I was under the impression that certain pedals wouldnt work well with a daisy chain.. Or perhaps thats just because of a different connection.

    I know that the big muff and line 6 verbzilla need to be run off their own power source apparently. Not sure about the others but..
    "I dont question, our existence
    I just question, our modern needs"
  • DiRtyFranK38DiRtyFranK38 Posts: 3,131
    Kegzy05 wrote:
    Good good thanks guys appreciate it. I figured that a few of those adapters would be the best for me. I think the "Godlyke" apadter is the australian version.. From what I hear its exactly the same as the 1 spot.

    Do you guys with lots of pedals all daisy chained up ever get much unwanted noise?? And do you run ALL of your pedals with the 2 or 3 one spots? I was under the impression that certain pedals wouldnt work well with a daisy chain.. Or perhaps thats just because of a different connection.

    I know that the big muff and line 6 verbzilla need to be run off their own power source apparently. Not sure about the others but..

    i never get unwanted noise. you just have to order your pedals in a good way in your chain. there are plenty of threads on that. that helped me out before too. i have around 12 pedals give or take. one 1spot powers my whole board.
    2006: Hartford
    2008: MSG 1, Hartford, Mansfield 2, Ed Solo NYC 1
    2009: London (O2), Philly 1, 2, 3, & 4
    2010: Hartford, Boston, MSG 1 & 2
    2011: Ed Solo Hartford
    2012: Philly (MIA Fest)
    2013: Worcester 2, Brooklyn 1 & 2, Hartford
  • Pacomc79Pacomc79 Posts: 9,404
    Kegzy05 wrote:
    Good good thanks guys appreciate it. I figured that a few of those adapters would be the best for me. I think the "Godlyke" apadter is the australian version.. From what I hear its exactly the same as the 1 spot.

    Do you guys with lots of pedals all daisy chained up ever get much unwanted noise?? And do you run ALL of your pedals with the 2 or 3 one spots? I was under the impression that certain pedals wouldnt work well with a daisy chain.. Or perhaps thats just because of a different connection.

    I know that the big muff and line 6 verbzilla need to be run off their own power source apparently. Not sure about the others but..


    The one spot says you are not supposed to run the 9VAC pedals from it but Godlyke does make the Line 6 adaptor cable you can probably use with it, they are essentially the same unit just made by different corporations. I use mine with my Power All on my DL4 and I've never had an issue.
    My Girlfriend said to me..."How many guitars do you need?" and I replied...."How many pairs of shoes do you need?" She got really quiet.
  • xtremehardy388xtremehardy388 Posts: 2,759
    Novawind wrote:
    Well as far as amperes go I know that the pedals I have on the daisy chains (wah, dynacomp, OCD, TS9, DS-1, Sonic Stomp) combined are way less than the 1700 mA rating that the 1spot has. But as we all know, YMMV.

    You blew the daisy chain? But the 1spot and pedal were fine? Interesting, what happened? Did the connection just start smokin' or something?
    The chain wouldn't work(the blown one). It just crackled a lot and I think it might have shorted my old DS-1 out. I still use the DS-1 and it's working fine. I just bought my second(at the time) 1-Spot and another daisy chain
    Grand Rapids '04, Detroit '06
    JEFF HARDY AND JEFF AMENT USED TO LOOK THE SAME
    "Pearl Jam always eases my mind and fires me up at the same time.”-Jeff Hardy
  • Kegzy05Kegzy05 Posts: 93
    DiRtyFranK38 wrote:
    i never get unwanted noise. you just have to order your pedals in a good way in your chain. there are plenty of threads on that. that helped me out before too. i have around 12 pedals give or take. one 1spot powers my whole board.
    how do you power 12 pedals with one 1 spot.. Doesnt it come with just a five way daisy chain? And you cant string daisys together??
    "I dont question, our existence
    I just question, our modern needs"
  • NovawindNovawind Posts: 836
    They do make daisy chains with 8 plugs these days, and who knows, maybe you could find 10 as well.
    If idle hands are the devil's workshop, he must not be very productive.

    7/9/06 LA 1
    7/10/06 LA 2
    10/21/06 Bridge 1
  • xtremehardy388xtremehardy388 Posts: 2,759
    Novawind wrote:
    They do make daisy chains with 8 plugs these days, and who knows, maybe you could find 10 as well.
    I have I have close to 20 on mine :)
    Grand Rapids '04, Detroit '06
    JEFF HARDY AND JEFF AMENT USED TO LOOK THE SAME
    "Pearl Jam always eases my mind and fires me up at the same time.”-Jeff Hardy
  • Pacomc79Pacomc79 Posts: 9,404
    Kegzy05 wrote:
    how do you power 12 pedals with one 1 spot.. Doesnt it come with just a five way daisy chain? And you cant string daisys together??


    extension daisy chains. They also make 3 or 4 inch plug extensions to help you keep everything organized.
    My Girlfriend said to me..."How many guitars do you need?" and I replied...."How many pairs of shoes do you need?" She got really quiet.
  • Mike_Muse_RageMike_Muse_Rage Posts: 677
    I use this: http://www.diago.co.uk/pedal-power/pedal-power/overview.html
    Great power supply, great service too. And they also offer a list of alternatives: http://www.diago.co.uk/pedal-power/alternatives/
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