Powering effects, especially the EHX Nano Muff.

bhass · #1 06-07-2009, 03:17 PM

I've got an uncontrollable urge to buy more pedals. I bought the EHX Stereo Memory Man, and now a few days later I have the Nano Muff, POG and Boss Bass EQ on order (after months of sound-clip-listening though).

I currently power the SMMWH with the adapter it came with, however I'm pretty sure it can be put on a one-spot or something similar because it is 9V, and because other people told me it can

The Nano Muff can't be 'daisy-chained'. Is that not a British term or am I just stupid? because I have no idea what that means. I presume that means I can't put it on a one-spot and will have to use a Voodoo Labs Pedal Power or something similar.

I also don't know about powering the Boss and the POG. I had a look at the Pedal Power and

about the price. Just

!

I'm an idiot, please be patient. I've searched for weeks on TB and Google but no luck. How can I power all of these pedals? The cheapest way possible preferably. I hate batteries.

Thanks.

bongomania · #2 06-07-2009, 03:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bhass

I currently power the SMMWH with the adapter it came with, however I'm pretty sure it can be put on a one-spot or something similar because it is 9V, and because other people told me it can

The Nano Muff can't be 'daisy-chained'. Is that not a British term or am I just stupid? because I have no idea what that means. I presume that means I can't put it on a one-spot and will have to use a Voodoo Labs Pedal Power or something similar.

There's more than just voltage to consider. You also have to take into account amperage draw and polarity, not to mention the peculiarities of certain pedals that "should" work with a given power supply but interact badly with other pedals on the same supply tap.

"Daisy chain" means one power tap goes to one pedal, then to the next, then to the next. It's actually an old British term. The problem with power daisy chains is that pedals which have different polarity, high amperage consumption, or any finickyness about what else is sharing the "ground plane" (shared earth, common wire), will not work properly, and may even cause the entire chain to act "broken".

This does mean you have to isolate those pedals from the power tap used by any other "more normal" pedals. You can either use a separate wall wart, or buy a supply that has isolated outlets like the PPII or BBE Supacharger.

**DosiYanarchy** · #3 06-07-2009, 03:27 PM

Well the SMM is daisychain/one-spot-able, but it was noisy when i did it, also my Micropog suffers when im at practice (due to power issues there, its fine at home), and its all because of the MA output of my chosen power supply: the Trex Fueltank jr. It just doesnt provide enough juice to run some of my more hungry pedals.

A regular one-spot/daisychain should give u any hassles as far as the pog and sMMh go (urm, im assuming a micropog, coz i dont know about the regular one)

alot of the EHX stuff cant be daisy-chained....but i have been turned onto these (but havent actually tried them yet):

http://www.effectpowersupplies.com/v...tery-110-p.asp

basically it gives an isolated power supply, and should enable non-chainable pedals it to run from a daisy-chain.

obviously it probably costs about the same as a nano-muff. But might be the difference between you using a single daisy chain, and getting another power supply on your board.

bhass · #4 06-07-2009, 03:36 PM

Thanks for the quick responses.

Quote:

alot of the EHX stuff cant be daisy-chained....but i have been turned onto these (but havent actually tried them yet):

http://www.effectpowersupplies.com/v...tery-110-p.asp

They look really good, however I don't really understand how they work. I understand that I can put the DC connector where the adapter usually goes, but what actually is the 'virtual battery'?

Thanks

bongomania · #5 06-07-2009, 04:20 PM

I would guess it contains a small transformer. Just a guess though.

bhass · #6 06-08-2009, 12:54 AM

So what do I connect what to, and how would I use it? I don't understand what I would do with it.

bongomania · #7 06-08-2009, 01:08 AM

Errr... It says on the site what you do with it. AC adapter/brick/daisy chain --> virtual battery --> battery snap inside pedal.

bhass · #8 06-08-2009, 01:16 AM

OH! So I can use a 1 spot and connect it to the virtual battery and my other pedals? Which then connects to the pedal I want?

bongomania · #9 06-08-2009, 01:21 AM

Right, the virtual battery would go between the 1 Spot and the one "special needs" pedal.

bhass · #10 06-08-2009, 10:14 AM

Thanks for having the patience to explain it to me. I'll be buying one of them, and daisy chaining the POG, BOSS & SMMWH.

Cheers everyone!

bhass · #11 06-11-2009, 03:14 PM

Quote:

This does mean you have to isolate those pedals from the power tap used by any other "more normal" pedals. You can either use a separate wall wart

Just another question. I presume daisy chaining also means using more than one EHX adapter (for the special needs pedal and the SMMWH) and connecting them to one of these:

Which means I would have both of these pedals running from the same adapter above, but using different plugs into the adapter.
So I will have the EHX Nano Muff and the EHX SMMWH both with their own adapter connecting into one of these.
This wouldn't work would it?

JanusZarate · #12 06-11-2009, 03:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bhass

Just another question. I presume daisy chaining also means using more than one EHX adapter (for the special needs pedal and the SMMWH) and connecting them to one of these:

Which means I would have both of these pedals running from the same adapter above, but using different plugs into the adapter.
So I will have the EHX Nano Muff and the EHX SMMWH both with their own adapter connecting into one of these.
This wouldn't work would it?

That's not an adapter - that's a power strip. Nor is what you've described daisy-chaining.

But yes, that'll work just fine. The problem exists AFTER the wall wart, not before. If the "problem" pedal is on its own wall wart, then it doesn't matter if the wall warts share a power strip. The problem pedal's ground is already isolated by placing it on its own supply. So, problem solved.

Note that the Nano Muff has a "positive ground" design. It can be daisy-chained with other positive ground pedals, but most pedals aren't that type (hence, the daisy-chaining problem).

Supplies like the Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2+ are essentially the equivalent of 8 independent wall warts plugged into a power strip (although the PP2+ has more features than that).

bhass · #13 06-11-2009, 03:31 PM

Thanks for your help.

Quote:

Note that the Nano Muff has a "positive ground" design. It can be daisy-chained with other positive ground pedals, but most pedals aren't that type (hence, the daisy-chaining problem).

Is the SMMWH a "positive ground" design?

Have patience with me, I'm an idiot.

JanusZarate · #14 06-11-2009, 03:42 PM

If you're asking the questions, you are brighter than you think. The idiot is the one who tries it on his own, can't get it to work, and thinks the pedal is defective.

No, the SMMH is not. Most of EHX's current line will work fine when daisy-chained. Among their 9VDC pedals, I'm only aware of a small number of exceptions (Nano Muff, Nano Clone, Bass Blogger... there might be one or two more I'm forgetting). Now, their 18VDC+ pedals are something else... but their voltage needs alone usually scratch out the daisy chain option anyway.

If you're ever in doubt, just remember that if it works on a 9VDC Boss-style power supply, it most likely will work fine on a daisy chain unless otherwise noted. There are always a few exceptions, but most people don't run into them often. Everything else is up in the air.

bhass · #15 06-11-2009, 03:45 PM

Ok thanks for all the help, that's solved that for me.