Powering 15 + pedals...?

[Tbirdbassist]

Effect haters... GTFO.


i'm realizing them ore i hang out here in the effects forum... the more pedals I buy...


I'm currently at 10 pedals, and expect to max out at about 25. But no number is set in stone here... I plan on using everything on a pedalboard which I'm building myself to fit everything. Most of the pedals are 9volt Boss style powered, the ones that aren't are more than 9 volts and have their own power supply.

Are there any power supplies that have more 8 or 9 plugs. I'd want something like a Voodoo Labs or DC Brick... but I can't say I've seen any with what I need. Are there custom power supply builders?


Or is just simpler, more efficient to use a couple "big" power units/One Spots? Thanks folks.

[OhThePeacock]

You might just have to buy 2 DC bricks if you want to power that many, I haven't seen any with that many jacks.

[Trevorus]

You could always build a custom power supply. Wouldn't be hard, and you can have any number of voltages you could want.

[waffle puzzle]

Did you say you are building your own pedal board ?

My SKB board has a built in power supply unit with room for all the 9-volters (power cords supplied), and 3 spaces for wall warts.

Many boards out there provide there own power, even for a ton of pedals (you could just get two or three boards if necessary)

[Tbirdbassist]

I'm not great with a soldering iron... but I wouldn't mind building my own. I have the ability to design one to scale, just no way to construct it myself. So if I can't, are there any custom builders that can quote me? I knew of one.. but I forget his name.

[Tbirdbassist]

Originally Posted by waffle puzzle

Did you say you are building your own pedal board ?

My SKB board has a built in power supply unit with room for all the 9-volters (power cords supplied), and 3 spaces for wall warts.

Many boards out there provide there own power, even for a ton of pedals (you could just get two or three boards if necessary)

That's the thing, who wants to lug around 3 pedalboards? The one I'm building is gonna have a lot of nifty features and integration (thread to follow with drawings).

[jucas]

I think that you can daisy chain off the voodoo labs if the current requirements aren't too big. Otherwise it'd probly be cheaper and easier to do 2 bricks or a brick plus a voodoo. Especially if they'll tuck under your board.

I don't think I've ever seen a huge supply on here for the big boards though

[niftydog]

Using a massive daisy chain would not be out of the question, but with that many pedals you're likely to run into ground loop problems. DC bricks are nothing more than glorified daisy chains - I would avoid them. The Pedal Power II is great, but as you say you'd need at least 2 to maintain the isolation between supplies for that many pedals.

I have 13 pedals on my board under construction. My previous board had 11 pedals and a custom power supply. It wasn't all that hard to build and I'd be happy to give you some advice.

My new board will also have a custom supply, but I'm getting someone else to wind the transformer for me, coz that was a biotch of a job. I designed and built 20 generic power supply circuit boards and the transformer is designed such that I'll be able to adjust the output voltage from 6-15V. Also, a few extra windings can be put in series to achieve 12-30V outputs. Yet another winding will provide 9VAC for my compressor.

So, have a search around your area to see if you can find a custom transformer winding service - the transformer is the tricky bit. You won't be able to buy a transformer with that many secondary windings off the shelf, but an alternative is to use multiple smaller transformers - but this dramatically adds to the weight.

[waffle puzzle]

Cool, I would love to have a custom built pedal board (and might someday).

I like my 3-pedal board rig because I have it set up to be able to "drop-off" and eliminate a whole board or 2 if I need to pare down and go light.

Two of my boards are small, so, easy to carry....and they all can be positioned on the floor in a nice semi-circle-ish arrangement.

Pics soon, on the pedalboard threads---I just got my custom LoopMaster (6 loops !) to act as the "master planner" and am currently re-wiring everything.

I'll "subscribe" to this thread and follow your progress---be sure to update us.

[98dvl]

See this thread:

Gator Pedal Tote + G-Bus PS = $49.99 shipped.

You can get two small pedal boards, two bags, and two power supplies for $100. You can power 16 9V pedals and up to 6 18V pedals (you could probably do more 9V pedals with a daisy chain or two, if there's not too much aperage draw)

[markjazzbassist]

buy a couple of Voodoo PP2's. In my old setup I had 2 going. Lot's o pedals and funky noises coming from everywhere.

[Swimming Bird]

I would suggest you not try to make your own power supply -- I can only foresee things going terribly, possibly involving destruction of pedals and/or electrocution.

Try to find a DC brick that has changeable amperage for each peg. The limit to daisy chaining is the amperage, not the voltage. Consider a OneSpot with daisy chain: it carries 1700mA at 9V, so it could power eight 200mA pedals (that's the amperage that Boss uses in its single pedals), with some leeway. That said, if you have a pedal that takes 400mA, you'll only be able to work about seven on the daisy chain. So get a DC brick with variable amperage or get a couple OneSpots and a power strip.

[sk8]

diago can power upto 30. Has 3000mA avaiable and you can just keep adding extensions on

[lemur821]

15+ pedals‽ Noise musicians don't even have that many.

[Lebowsky]

Originally Posted by lemur821

15+ pedals‽ Noise musicians don't even have that many.

but lots of non-noise musicians do

[TaySte_2000]

It's either gonna have to be daisy chains or 2 bricks.

If it's 2 bricks I recommend this and then a Voodoo labs because you can run it ous of the back of the voodoo and it should power some of those odder voltages you have.

[Swimming Bird]

Originally Posted by Lebowsky

but lots of non-noise musicians do

Word. Noise + ambient -- I hit 15 last week.

[TaySte_2000]

I'm currently way over 30 pedals

Plugged them all in last week off a single one spot :P

[fishtx]

Originally Posted by markjazzbassist

buy a couple of Voodoo PP2's. In my old setup I had 2 going. Lot's o pedals and funky noises coming from everywhere.

+1...If "isolated power" is important to you, then this may be your only option at the present. I have "10" pedals on my board that use 9V feeds, and what I wound up doing was plugging a "1-Spot" into the AC out on the back of my Voodoo Labs PP2+...I used the 1-spot power outs for stuff that I didn't feel really needed to be Isolated...like the looper, since the power is only for the LED, and the tuner thats in the loop.

If I need to go larger, I will probably add a second Voodoo Labs PP2+...

[niftydog]

Originally Posted by Swimming Bird

I would suggest you not try to make your own power supply... destruction of pedals and/or electrocution.

While possible, that's unlikely if he's sensible. Simple linear power supplies are NOT mysterious beasts, and there's plenty of ready built options out there for rectifying/regulating/filtering circuit boards. Order a bunch of boards and a custom transformer and you're half way there already!

Originally Posted by Swimming Bird

Try to find a DC brick that has changeable amperage for each peg.

Not sure what you're suggesting here, but current is very rarely regulated or made adjustable in this way. A device will draw only as much current as it needs and no more - it's self regulating, if you will.