Pedal board power supplies

I use this one.

True isolation, toroidal transformers, like the big boys. But a lot cheaper. It was around $80 when it was available. They come and go on Amazon.

There is a slightly larger one with a couple more taps.

Pretty much the small one is all I really "need" because I can daisy chain the 500ma taps for more than one pedal.
Right now I have 17 pedals being powered by this because I'm in "comparing a bunch of pedals mode".
When I'm recording I usually take everything I'm not using out of the chain and only have about 7 pedals total.

The only downside I've had with this one is that there is a small fan for cooling and since I run everything on my desktop I can hear the fan, It's not annoying or anything, I just know it's on. If it were on a pedalboard on the floor it would be a non-issue.

I looked pretty hard at the Strymons when they first came out but just couldn't stomach the price, not for what I do. (which is just noodle....)
 
About two years ago I went from the original Voodoo Pedal Power2 to a Cioks DC7, and everything got a bit quieter. (In all fairness, I’d expect a current design Pedal Power unit from Voodoo would be a similar improvement.) Up until a few months ago, I was running my three Effectrode effects from their wall warts, given that they are power hogs. I bought a Cioks 8 expansion unit to power them (all 12v, 2 at 1 amp each, and 1 at 500 ma), the expansion unit being powered from the 7 also.

Much to my surprise, there was a noticeable improvement in their sound! (My assumption was that as truly well designed, and fairly expensive, pedals they would come with wall warts that were specced for the job.)

But that meant the DC7 was operating at about 90% capacity, and that made me cautious. Ciok says the 8 can be powered by any clean 24v supply that delivers at least 50 watts, so I ordered a medical grade Meanwell, and a new plug that matches the one on the Cioks. Just yesterday I got it hooked up, and was confronted by a very noticeable hum which remained even when the Meanwell was 4 or so feet (however long the cable is) away from everything. Wanting to just play guitar, I went back to using the umbilical from the DC7, and will look at the Meanwell output on my scope to see if I can figure out what the issue is.

In any case, the Cioks units are very small, each output is 9, 12, 15, or 18 v selectable, 660ma per outlet. Not including the Effectrode units, I’ve tried up to about 30 pedals at once off the Cioks, and it registered at being at under 70% of capacity. I really recommend their supplies.
 
I hadn't been considering any of the cioks supplies for irrational reasons mostly, but now I'm interested if only for @Alan W comments about them being quiet. 12 and 18v taps are a turn off though honestly

What pedals even use 12v? Who's using that?
 
Harry Klippton said:
I hadn't been considering any of the cioks supplies for irrational reasons mostly, but now I'm interested if only for @Alan W comments about them being quiet. 12 and 18v taps are a turn off though honestly

What pedals even use 12v? Who's using that?
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Off the top of my head, I know the TC Nova series required 12v, but even that's a bit dated now, I can't think of much new production stuff that's *requiring* 12v...

Of course pretty much anything that accepts 9-18v can be run at 12v and if you believe TGP (or similar) many will tell you that they like certain ODs at 12v better than 9v but that 18v is "too much headroom" or something and I guess they find it to be a nice middle ground. Personally I have never found the difference to be terribly noticeable but to teach their own...

Have to admit that new Cioks stuff is pretty appealing to me too though.
 
Harry Klippton said:
Can you elaborate on this? I'm unfamiliar
Click to expand...
Instead of the expected 5.5/2.1 barrel plugs, the outputs on the Cioks use RCA (phono) jacks. They do give you quite a decent assortment of cables Though. For me, this was not an issue, I have many more RCA plugs than barrel plugs in my supplies, so making additional cables (they are all available for purchase, and prices are fair, but, you know DIY…) hasn’t been as issue. This was a very conscious decision on their part.
 
Harry Klippton said:
I hadn't been considering any of the cioks supplies for irrational reasons mostly, but now I'm interested if only for @Alan W comments about them being quiet. 12 and 18v taps are a turn off though honestly

What pedals even use 12v? Who's using that?
Click to expand...
fd17ef56a62daab264a4274761133bed-0.gif
Sometimes, higher headroom is needed for my bass.
 
I recently bought a Cioks to expand the taps on the floor, without sucking all the "good" current from the One Spot. I use one of the taps to power the BOSS ME-80 for the bass....which I also recently repurposed a Hartke Kickback combo and a 2x12 trunk subwoofer cab that was my daughter's back when she was a teen. I yanked the Hartke head and ran it to the cab...better is better (one of my mottos)..it rattles the windows and has a decent response. I stuck a guitar speaker in the Hartke cab and use it with these little amps. I plan to build a tube preamp into a SS power amp and shove it in the empty head slot.

fr2rHWn.jpg


Anyway, it's been a solid PS thusfar, spreading milliamps of joy to all the little pedals. (y)
 
I switched from a daisy chain to a Truetone CS6 and the noise floor became much smaller. Then I upgraded to CS12 to power more pedals. Give my experience with daisy chain, I’d rather not do it again (Brooklyn probably has a lot more ground noise). If I could afford it I would also buy GigRig because I think their stuff is even quieter.

And by the way, I also thought I wanted a power supply to rule them all and never having to buy a new one, but then I realized that that’s just not a realistic expectation. I will always want to try new pedals and expand or shrink my board. So I have the CS6 mounted under a pedaltrain that I can use on the rare occasions I have a gig and I use the CS12 at home to experiment, practice and try pedals. If I joined Radiohead and needed a board with 19 pedals I would get GigRig… ;)
 
Big Monk said:
What ARE you looking for? ;)
Click to expand...
He's looking for lurv, in all the wrong places,
looking for lurv, with too many fuzz-faces
Searchin' for high-amp 9-volts
Lookin' for traces, of what he's dreaming of
Hopin to find, the right amps and current-lurver
I'll guess, the day he discovers, another wall-wart
He's lookin' fer lurv.







RADIAL 15V, 400mA — of all the toneboneheaded ideas...
Part of the reason I went with Cioks is it and the Gig-rig were the only two companies at the time I needed 15v that had 15v — Love my Radial PZed Pre, but hate the stupid power requirement. So I got the Cioks DC10.

RCA jacks at the power-brick end are wwwwayyyyyy more robust than the little barrel-jacks at the pedal end. I was dubious at first, but like Alan W said, the RCA jacks are a non-issue for me now and I can always make cables to the correct length.
 
Feral Feline said:
He's looking for lurv, in all the wrong places,
looking for lurv, with too many fuzz-faces
Searchin' for high-amp 9-volts
Lookin' for traces, of what he's dreaming of
Hopin to find, the right amps and current-lurver
I'll guess, the day he discovers, another wall-wart
He's lookin' fer lurv.







RADIAL 15V, 400mA — of all the toneboneheaded ideas...
Part of the reason I went with Cioks is it and the Gig-rig were the only two companies at the time I needed 15v that had 15v — Love my Radial PZed Pre, but hate the stupid power requirement. So I got the Cioks DC10.

RCA jacks at the power-brick end are wwwwayyyyyy more robust than the little barrel-jacks at the pedal end. I was dubious at first, but like Alan W said, the RCA jacks are a non-issue for me now and I can always make cables to the correct length.
Click to expand...
I heard that in Eddie Murphy's Buckwheat voice in my head.

Radial product got me too. Bassbone gets the "El Paso" 15v adapter. Do I hear a wishlist entry forming? Dual input bass pre amp/eq/ boost/di that runs on 9v?
 
GizzWizzKing said:
This is probably not what you're looking for but for the price I have been happy with these. I don't think I believe the isolated part 100%. Not because of any negative experience but because someone tried to explain why it wasn't isolated to me once.

Donner DP-1 Guitar Power Supply 10 Isolated DC Output for 9V/12V/18V Effect Pedal https://a.co/d/7yZMTiA
Click to expand...

That’s the one I use…plus a Donner “1 spot” knockoff daisy chain. It’s got 9, 12, and 18v available, and cost me $35 a few years ago. It’s perfectly functional for the stages i play on…the ones that appear in my head while I play…MSG…RAH…Bob’s Country Bunker…
 
Coda said:
That’s the one I use…plus a Donner “1 spot” knockoff daisy chain. It’s got 9, 12, and 18v available, and cost me $35 a few years ago. It’s perfectly functional for the stages i play on…the ones that appear in my head while I play…MSG…RAH…Bob’s Country Bunker…
Click to expand...
I'm the same...except when I look down I'm always naked and the everyone in the place is laughing. That's when I notice the drummer's hat and wink at the audience while (double) windmilling the opening power chord to the show.

What can this mean?
 
fig said:
I'm the same...except when I look down I'm always naked and the everyone in the place is laughing. That's when I notice the drummer's hat and wink at the audience while (double) windmilling the opening power chord to the show.

What can this mean?
Click to expand...
That you have a healthy relationship with your dream world?
 
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