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AC adapter question!

E

Edenman

Aug 15, 2005
23
0
#1
This might be a very obvious question.

I currently have a Boss TU-2 pedal that I power with the boss AC adapter. Sometimes I daisy chain it to a Boss dd3 delay pedal. I recently purchased a used EBS Unichorus pedal that did not come with an adapter. According to what is states on the boss AC adapter, the AC adapter is 9.6 V. According to the EBS information I have for the EBS pedal, I should not use an adapter greater than 9.3 V. If I daisy chain the EBS pedal to the other pedals powered by the boss adapter, am I going to fry or damage the EBS pedal (or is the EBS specification being overly conservative)?

Furthermore, I checked the local guitar shops for an adapter for the EBS pedal and they could not find something that had similar specs to the EBS pedal (and I dont want to use a battery constantly) - any thoughts on where to buy an adapter?
 
#2
I should not use an adapter greater than 9.3 V.
Click to expand...
That's not exactly what they say; they say that warranty is void is the pedal is fed with more than 9.3VDC. So, since you mentioned the pedal is used, warranty is no longer of concern to you as you're not the original purchaser - and it's probably long since expired anyways.

However, I would say this; there's a huge difference between a regulated supply and an unregulated one. A regulated 9.6VDC supply will always be 9.6VDC no matter what, unless it's faulty or being overloaded. So, if that boss adapater is a regulated 9.6VDC I would think you have absolutely no worries hooking it up to your EBS.

An unregulated supplies output voltage is largely dependent on it's current loading. It can vary wildly from anything up to about 12-13VDC right down to 8VDC and anything in between depending on it's current rating and how many pedals are connected to it.

So, to be absolutely sure, measure your power supply with a voltmeter - if it's absolutely constant at 9.6VDC no matter what is connected to it, then it's regulated and you're pretty safe.

Having said all of that - I've never bothered measuring the voltage I run my EBS pedals on, I'm pretty sure the supplies are unregulated, and I've had no issues whatsoever.
 
#3
Thanks for the info -
that is a good point about the warrantee, but I still would hate to bust the pedal after only a few uses.

So what kind of AC adapter do you use?

If I dont have a voltameter, will it say on the adapter if its regulated or not?
 
#7
Thanks for all the great info -

Im not a huge fan of batteries just because I would hate to have the juice die in the middle of playing. The Boss adapter I have does not specify regulated or unregulated, but I believe the EBS specs. specify regulated (not sure what that means). Also not sure of what you mean by polarity? Sorry - Im just now getting into pedals a little so dont know much about electronics.
 
#8
Sorry, the other thing I might mention which is something Im not sure I fully understand is that the EBS says it needs 9V adapter at 15 mA (isnt that pretty low, the 15 mA?). Most of the adapters Ive seen have been like greatern than 200 mA!
Or does this not matter in turns of output and damaging the pedal?
 
#9
Edenman said:
Sorry, the other thing I might mention which is something Im not sure I fully understand is that the EBS says it needs 9V adapter at 15 mA (isnt that pretty low, the 15 mA?). Most of the adapters Ive seen have been like greatern than 200 mA!
Or does this not matter in turns of output and damaging the pedal?
Click to expand...


I use a boss adapter with one or two (daisy chained) EBS pedals, and have done it for over a year, with no problem.

You don't need to worry about mA, as long as your pedals do not want more than the adapter can supply. You'd most likely have that problem if you daisy chain a few hungry pedals together. 15 mA is low, no problem.
 
#10
If you want to be sure, go to an electronics shop and ask for a regulated 9VDC supply. That way you can be absolutely sure. That's what I meant.

Provided the mA rating of the supply is greater than that requried by the pedal, it will work and will not cause any damage.

Polarity is simply the way in which the power connector is wired. As long as a power supply works with a Boss pedal, it will work with an EBS pedal.

Note that didier and I both use a normal Boss adapter to power EBS pedals and we've had no problems. Frankly, I think the difference between 9VDC, 9.3VDC or 9.6VDC is not worth worrying about at all.

Especially considering the statement in the Unichorus manual only relates to warranty conditions. It's a weasel statement that lets them legally back out of any warranty claim they don't want to deal with.
 
#11
Cool...that makes me feel better. Do you both have the Boss PSA-120 adapter? just wondering.

I did price an EBS adapter (~$40 plus shipping).

I had a friend who was unsure how to handle it tell me to go to radio shack (but I feel like they wouldnt know what I wanted either).
 

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