advantages of a DC Brick

[king_xanadu]

What are the advantages of using a DC Brick [like this one] as compared to something like a one spot adapter?

[Joe Gress]

Isolated outputs will provide a more stable power supply I do believe.

[king_xanadu]

how exactly does that help?
how does an unstable power supply effect your pedals?

[fightthepower]

Originally Posted by king_xanadu

how exactly does that help?
how does an unstable power supply effect your pedals?

Power supplies like the One Spot and DC Brick do not have isolated outputs- that is to say that if one of your pedals causes hum for any reason, that it will affect the whole chain; whereas if you have something with isolated outputs like the PP2, each power output is isolated for the rest, and therefor any noisy pedals will not affect any others in the chain.

That said, I use a PP2 and a DC Brick, and rarely have any hum, if at all, with the pedals on the DC Brick, but ymmv based on your setup, power coming from where ever you're plugged in, etc.

[king_xanadu]

Originally Posted by fightthepower

Power supplies like the One Spot and DC Brick do not have isolated outputs- that is to say that if one of your pedals causes hum for any reason, that it will affect the whole chain; whereas if you have something with isolated outputs like the PP2, each power output is isolated for the rest, and therefor any noisy pedals will not affect any others in the chain.

That said, I use a PP2 and a DC Brick, and rarely have any hum, if at all, with the pedals on the DC Brick, but ymmv based on your setup, power coming from where ever you're plugged in, etc.

so how is a dc brick better than a 1spot?

[niftydog]

Not all "dc bricks" are made equal:

The Dunlop DC Brick is no better than, and not technically superior to a normal wall wart power supply like the 1-spot. It's only advantage is the 18V outputs. It does NOT have isolated outputs - it is essentially a glorified daisy chain.

Other "bricks" such as the Pedal Power 2 feature isolated outputs which have many advantages. The main two being the ability to drive pedals with different power polarity requirements, and the prevention of ground loops which cause hum.

[coreyfyfe]

Originally Posted by niftydog

The Dunlop DC Brick is no better than, and not technically superior to a normal wall wart power supply like the 1-spot. It's only advantage is the 18V outputs. It does NOT have isolated outputs - it is essentially a glorified daisy chain.

Agreed. The advantage I found of the brick over a one spot was the ability to plug in only the adapters I wanted to use instead of having the choice of 1 3 or 8 or whatever the one spot came with. The DC brick is rated to put out a total of 1000 mA, but if you read the manual it says it can only put out a max of 375 mA through the front 7 outputs, which seemed pretty low to me.

That said, I've gone through two one spots, two DC bricks, a powered pedal board, and now I'm using a voodoo labs PP2+. I haven't noticed much of any difference in terms of background noise over the course of using them. If you have the money, and the need for the isolated outputs, the PP2+ is definitely the way to go, but if you don't need the isolation or high power outputs, the DC brick would probably fit your bill just fine (and I'm not just saying that because I'm selling one). I went with the PP2+ so I could power all my little pedals plus a DD20 and Chunk OS.

[Kenny Allyn]

The other advantage to the Voodoo Lab PP2 is the SAG power taps (only an advantage if you have pedals that can use that function) it gives you the ability to lower the voltage to a given pedal kinda like a "heavy duty" old style battery that has less power output as it is used. I use this on two of my pedals the Voodoo Lab Micro Vibe at about 8.5 volts it gives the pedal a more smooth watery wash because it sends less voltage to the incandescent bulb that sends light to the photocell and my Roger Mayer Voodoo Bass fuzz at about 4.5 volts it gives it a more old school 60s vibe. The PP2 is very quiet in operation, no complaints there.

My guitar player uses the DC brick and it works well and I have a One Spot powering a second board I use, no complaints it powers all Boss and MXR pedals and works well.

...

[biggs1249]

Its not as popular but I reccomend the modtone powerstation. It has more features than the PP2+ but maybe not as well made. IT has an AC output so It can power my whammy. Sag outputs too. Higher current I believe as well.

[jumbo_steelie]

I shopped around until I found the best price for a PP2+. Until then I used a daisychain and was gonna get a brick, but after some research(on forums like this) I decided to spend the money on the voodoo lab. Not that there is a noticable difference, but there is enough to know the isolatd inputs is nice. Plus they give you some odd connectors which is slick too.

[roysloco]

Just FYI, I have this setup:

Bass -> CS3 compressor -> GEB7 eq -> CEB3 chorus -> amp/headphones/desk/whatever

With my 1-spot, I get a 'swishy' sound from my chorus (even if it's off). It's so loud it's totally unusable (even in a loud gig)!

With my brick, I get no noise ... zero ... nada ... the only downside is I have to carry everything everywhere, so the brick is a big weight I really didn't want to go back to (but I want the chorus more than I want to *not* carry my brick ;o).

Maybe a 'Fuel Tank' would be a lighter (but expensive!) option, whilst still silencing the 'swoosh' - anyone had any experience with these vs. bricks?

[OptimusPrime]

It's small, cheap and I've never had any noise problems with mine.

[Nikoubis]

This is a good read.

[king_xanadu]

Originally Posted by Nikoubis

This is a good read.

that it is
thanks for the info