Effect pedal not powering up?

El Raro · #1 12-28-2011, 05:13 AM

I got a couple new pedals to play around with for Christmas but I'm having some trouble powering one of them.

I hauled a Boss GEB-7 EQ pedal and a Bass Big Muff Pi. Initially, I had them linked together with my old Boss ME-50B (which is powered by AC adaptor). I was told that if I linked the two new pedals through the ME-50B, it would also share the power with my other pedals. This worked for a whole 15-odd minutes when I initially hooked everything up and played around with the new gear before I went out for the day. When I returned and tried to play around with my new toys again, I noticed the EQ pedal wasn't lighting up when engaging it while the Big Muff worked fine. Nothing had been touched or changed since I had left it earlier that day.

I've tried changing the order of the Big Muff and the EQ in the line so that the EQ links directly after the ME-50B (thinking that the current would be stronger) but it didn't do anything either. AT this point, I thought the pedal had carked it until I plugged the ME-50B's AC adaptor into the EQ and watched it light up just fine. At least I know its not completely dead.

Anyone have any idea what could be wrong? I have a feeling it could be the battery but I opened it up and noticed a lot of delicate circuitry and wiring that I wasn't game enough to remove incase I wrecked something or voided the warranty. In saying that, does anything mentioned sound like it would be a case of battery replacement?

Thanks for any help, guys.

Lebowsky · #2 12-28-2011, 06:21 AM

maybe you AC Adaptor doe not deliver enough power for all 3 pedals. How much mA does it deliver?

I didn't find infos quickly on the ME-50b, but it could be that it takes a lot of the needed mA's from yout power supply, and it can't "forward" enough to the other 2 pedals at the same time.

Easy way to double check: use each pedal separately, power them with your adaptor. If each of them works fine separately, you're good. It's just your power supply that does not deliver enough mA (how much it delivers should be written on it)

chokeslam512 · #3 12-28-2011, 06:30 AM

The site I saw shows 140mA... What is the current output on the AC adapter? I think that you might want to try out a one spot (1700 mA).

El Raro · #4 12-28-2011, 06:50 AM

Thanks for the suggestions, guys. Unfortunately, it doesn't help my situation much since the EQ pedal doesn't even turn on if its the only pedal linked to the Boss ME-50B. Like I mentioned, the Big Muff gets power fine when linked altogether and also with the ME-50B alone but the EQ pedal doesn't receive any power from a link unless it receives power directly from an AC adaptor.

For the record, I'm not sure what the mA is on the AC adaptor. Its a standard Boss one if I'm not mistaken. Currently at work so I can't really check atm.

Gravedigger · #5 12-28-2011, 07:10 AM

If you have the Boss PSA-100 power supply, then that is your problem, it only supplies 200mA. The ME-50B draws 140mA, Bass Big Muff draws up to 100mA, and the GEB-7 draws 16mA. So the power supply does not provide enough Amperage to run all your pedals efficiantly. I would recommend you invest in a 1-Spot by Visual Sound. They can supply up to 1700mA of current draw. I hope this helps.