• Registered: 2009-03-06
  • Posts: 135

Topic: 1 Spot power supply

Hello everyone,

I recently (three days ago) bought a one spot pedal power supply to use with my pedals at Church with our Worship Band.  Went to use it during practice this past Sunday morning.  As soon as I plug the power supply in there is an annoying hum!  Question is:  Is this coming from the power supply itself?  Or could it be a grounding problem in the outlets we have on stage?  Does anyone have any solutions?  I am powering 6 pedals.  I bought the model that says it powers 7 or more.  Now, again, The hum starts before I even plug the ends into a pedal. 

Thanks!

  • Registered: 2010-05-21
  • Posts: 121

Re: 1 Spot power supply

AC hum is one of the enemies we guitarplayers need to deal with. Welcome to the club! It could be several things.

I guess everything works when your pedals runs on battery/separate power supply? If so, try connect one pedal at a time just to eliminate that one of the pedals are causing this. Then try connecting to a different AC outlet. Some buildings have an electrisity system that makes life difficult for a musician. That's why I have power conditioner in my rig.

If you have a ground loop hum, there are different hum eliminators that can solve this. I have one from ebTech.

Good luck!


Andre'

  • Registered: 2009-03-06
  • Posts: 135

Re: 1 Spot power supply

Yes, there is no hum at all when using a battery.  Don't have any other power source.  The hum is even before any pedals are connected.

  • From: York, PA
  • Registered: 2010-08-27
  • Posts: 1,749

Re: 1 Spot power supply

You need something with isolated outputs like the voodoo lab pedal power 2 or the T Rex Fuel Tank jr or even the Iso 5. Depending on the milliamps per pedal, you can power more than one from the same output by daisy chaining. The one spot is ok but it's totally worth spending the money for something with isolated outputs.

  • Registered: 2011-06-23
  • Posts: 72

Re: 1 Spot power supply

Its ok to daisy chain overdrives or wah or tuner. Delays Chorus and things like those can't be.  It just depends on the power usage of the pedals. 

Invest in a Voodoo Lab pedal power or something of that nature.  It will save you a lot of hassle.  I haven't used a battery since I got one 12 yrs ago.

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  • From: North Carolina
  • Registered: 2008-10-26
  • Posts: 2,926

Re: 1 Spot power supply

I had a one spot and the problem is simple.  your taking a ac adapter going out to upto 9 pedals.  That wire is a 60 cycle hum magnet!!!  You can try to get on an outlet that doesn't have any power drawing from other places and that will help some, but I quit using it for good reasons.

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  • RickB
  • RickB
  • BONAMEGAMETAL
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  • From: San Diego
  • Registered: 2009-10-30
  • Posts: 12,198

Re: 1 Spot power supply

The real problem is inadequate filtering in the power supply. Wall wart type supplies are notorious for little or no filtering. The cheaper supplies could be modified, but the better solution is to buy quality.
Rick

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  • From: Ridgeland, MS
  • Registered: 2009-08-12
  • Posts: 1,248

Re: 1 Spot power supply

Get a Pedal Power 2. Worth every penny.

  • From: Detroit
  • Registered: 2006-06-02
  • Posts: 5,807

Re: 1 Spot power supply

Monster / Furman power condish makes things quieter. I have the Monster 2500 and it made a difference, plus it's better than a power strip.
http://www.monstercable.com/productdisplay.asp?pin=2141

It helped me.
Also if the church has weird lights, neon, or just a lot- it can make an amp hum or buzz.

- Nic from Detroit... posting on JB's Forum since 6-2-2006
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  • Registered: 2008-10-02
  • Posts: 373

Re: 1 Spot power supply

I now only use the one spot on one pedal its to noisy otherwise.

  • From: Frederick, MD
  • Registered: 2009-03-26
  • Posts: 107

Re: 1 Spot power supply

I use a Sanyo Pedal Juice. It is a rechargeable battery power supply. I use it to power a tuner, wah pedal, compressor pedal, Fulltone Fulldrive II, clean boost pedal, boss chorus, boss dealy, boss reverb. Has never died on me during a 3 to 4 hour gig. Usually lasts 2 or 3 two hour rehearsals. I've actually never let it die so I don't really know exactly how much longer it would last. The only down side, you do have to remember to charge it when it gets low on power. If you forget, you are done. Best thing - No A/C so NO HUM!

http://us.sanyo.com/Pedal-Juice

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  • From: North Carolina
  • Registered: 2008-10-26
  • Posts: 2,926

Re: 1 Spot power supply

For the money you can't beat it.  Especially you guys with the Bonamassa Fuzz Faces there's not ac plug on that pedal so you could use one of the extentions and put a 9 volt battery terminal on the end of it.  For $40 you can't beat that.  If your looking for something quite you could condition your power before you plug up but honestly whats cheaper spending a good $150 to $200 on a nice power supply, or spending another $100 to $200 on something that will only help with the problem.  My vote is fix the problem at its weakest link.

AD3THREE's Website

  • From: Detroit
  • Registered: 2006-06-02
  • Posts: 5,807

Re: 1 Spot power supply

AD3THREE wrote:

For the money you can't beat it.  Especially you guys with the Bonamassa Fuzz Faces there's not ac plug on that pedal so you could use one of the extentions and put a 9 volt battery terminal on the end of it.  For $40 you can't beat that.

I have both. how do you do this?
Do you pinch the cord, or did you drill a hole in the fuzzface?

I also heard that if you do this, the fuzz face doesn't like to share a one-spot or wall wart, and runs better when it's plugged into it's own power source individually.

- Nic from Detroit... posting on JB's Forum since 6-2-2006
Ask me about my handwound Great Lakes Guitar Pickups
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  • mbcl
  • BONAMETAL
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  • Registered: 2008-05-01
  • Posts: 1,491

Re: 1 Spot power supply

Not sure if you can get them in the USA but the absolute best power supply is gigrig.com. We have tested all we can find to destruction and this one holds up. Second place was pedal power 2 but not close to gigrig. The gigrig system is very neat and makes for a tidy board too.
At the very least go for isolated supplies for each pedal. Looping from one supply is not the greatest way of doing things.

Martin
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15 Reply by helrazr84 (edited by helrazr84 2011-07-05 10:38:27)

  • From: York, PA
  • Registered: 2010-08-27
  • Posts: 1,749

Re: 1 Spot power supply

NPB_EST.1979 wrote:
AD3THREE wrote:

For the money you can't beat it.  Especially you guys with the Bonamassa Fuzz Faces there's not ac plug on that pedal so you could use one of the extentions and put a 9 volt battery terminal on the end of it.  For $40 you can't beat that.

I have both. how do you do this?
Do you pinch the cord, or did you drill a hole in the fuzzface?

I also heard that if you do this, the fuzz face doesn't like to share a one-spot or wall wart, and runs better when it's plugged into it's own power source individually.

You don't want to pinch the cable.  You can use a Dremel with a small cutoff wheel attached and make a small notch [___/\___] in the metal so the cable can pass through.  If you drill a hole, you will need to make it larger than if you were to simply notch out the metal with a dremel.  This will be fine if you're using a Pedal Power 2, but yeah with a One Spot it will be noisy assuming you're powering more pedals with the same source.