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'regulated' power supply

cheechi

cheechi

Mar 10, 2015
1,373
1,006
sometimes I am also being serious
#1
I have a new B7K now thanks to the classifieds. On the Darkglass website they make a big deal about plugging it into a regulated power supply. Before I do anything I want to make sure I'm not going to break anything. I notice the planet waves one does actually say 'regulated power supply' and someone even put a bundle on amazon to buy the both in one item.

All of my other pedals are powered by the Invalid Link Removed Except the Compressore that has its own. None have had any issue, but this adapter says it is 'switching' and does not specify that it is 'regulated'. I assume it refers to voltage and not current regulating, as in don't overvolt it.

Am I overthinking it?
 
#2
That monoprice adapter should work but it probably will not work if you daisy chain it. Darkglass pedals like dedicated power. I use a BOSS PSA-25 and this seems to be the same (I am not near an adapter though.) I can use my B3K with a 3-way daisy chain but if I do not put the pedals in a certain order I get unwanted noise.

Just try it, if you get noise it is assuredly your power source.
 
#3
Not much into electronics, but AFAIU the term "regulated" just means in very general terms that the output isn't going to get much different than 9v. I don't think you're going to find any PSs that are made for pedals that aren't regulated. I think Darkglass just mention this because some people may think that they can simply plug any PS that is nominally specified as 9v and their pedal isn't going to work well with anything much higher or lower.

The term "switching" on your Monoprice refers to the way the power is rectified and stabilized in your PS. AFAIU switching is a cheap and light way to do this. It will give you 9v alright, but with some switching noise. The better PSs use transformers which if implemented correctly tend to introduce less noise. In any case, both designs are considered regulated.
 
#4
Any switching power supply is by nature 'regulated', so the Monoprice adapter you linked to should work fine. Most transformer power adapters however are NOT regulated. This is usually not a big deal for most pedals, however an unregulated adapter will have some change in voltage (V) depending on the load (mA) it's supplying. So it's normal for a '9 volt' unregulated power supply to put out more than 9 volts with no load on it. A regulated power supply has extra circuitry that keeps the voltage constant regardless of the load. Unless an adapter says "regulated" on it, it's probably not regulated.
 

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