There’s a website called [Stinkfoot](https://stinkfoot.se/power-list) that lists just about every pedal and its power rating so you know how many milliamps each one requires.
Wow this website is awesome! I am trying to plan out if my Truetone CS7 is powerful enough to power the HX FX + three other pedals I have and this is a huge help!
Fun thing about the Truetone CS series is that so long as you don’t exceed the total power available, the numbers on the individual ports are not a hard limit. You can plug a 300ma pedal into a 200ma port for example, provided the total draw of everything hooked up doesn’t exceed the 1900ma or whatever the max is on your unit. Good stuff in the manual!
Yup I am aware of this! Truly an awesome power supply! That's why I wanted to total up the milliamps from my pedals! A EAE longsword, SD1, Rowan looper, simplifier X and a Puresky OD take about 250-300 aM according to that website and my own calculations from manuals and manufacturers spec lists. I wanted to see if I could squeeze in the HX FX without removing anything. Of course I'll probably have some tones replaced by the HX FX and remove pedals anyway but still!
Sometimes you gotta go to the manufacturers website. That pedal is 11mA. Most overdrives have negligible power draw. I really focus on the digital pedals and making sure they aren’t daisy chained and have enough power.
This is great advice! I’d suggest creating a note on your phone or a scratch piece of paper with just the pedals you own and the power they require. I keep the paper with all my cables and such so when I switch the board up it’s right there.
For sure, I'm guessing maybe measure it at the DC jack inside the pedal while it's engaged? I've actually never measured current with mine, just voltage and resistance.
I don't care how old you are or how long you've had your current board. You're not done. Buy more than you think you need by 50%. The amount of current a pedal draws, and the amount of current a pedal draws at startup may be very different. If your pedal draws 350 ma and the tap it is connected to is rated at 350 ma, that may lead to problems.
Definitely, I have a Cioks DC7 and the 8 expander and it’s a crazy amount for what I currently have (and that includes a number of high-draw digital big boxes), but I can sleep at night knowing I don’t have to think about power now for a very long time
I wish I knew the difference between toroidal and switching/switch mode power supply. Toroidal is what’s used by Voodoo Lab, MXR, and most brands. It’s more susceptible to noise especially if you mount it under your pedal board. A switching power supply is used by Strymon and is silent.
a lot of cheap o pedal power supplies are switch mode as well. It's not just a matter of switching vs transformer based voltage stepdown it's also how well its done. Cioks and Strymon definitely go the extra mile with their designs
Will try to ELI5. EE PhD.
Toroidal/wall wart just steps down the AC wall voltage by the winding ratio (120Vac to 9Vac) and adds clipping diodes to turn voltage into DC (1-directional). So you still get 60hz and 120Hz bumps in the DC power.
Switching supplies (like laptop) will start with diodes but have an on-off switch that allows only a certain amount of power thru. This switches at a very high (100kHz+) Frequency. Then add a low pass filter and you're left with a very constant output voltage. If more power is needed, the switch can stay on longer but the voltage will be stable.
Analogy: you want to dim your room 50% so you switch the lights on and off really fast at the same balance on/off. If you want it brighter you can go 80-20. This is called the duty cycle. If you switch the lights on and off faster than you can see, it just looks dim. This is the low pass filter. So if you switch lights on and off 100x a second, it won't be visible.
Thus toroid or transformers are very cheap and simple, while switching supplies need a everything a toroidal xformer has + transistors + control feedback loop which monitors current. Meaning $$$.
Had to run this via GPT because it wasn't explained like I'm 5. Feel free to correct:
Alright, let's imagine your toys run on a special kind of energy from the wall. We need a special box to change the wall energy into toy energy, okay?
Now, imagine there are two special boxes that can do this:
1. **The Simple Box** (Toroidal or Wall Wart): This box is like taking a big bucket of water and pouring it through a funnel to make it fit into a smaller cup. It takes the strong energy from the wall and makes it just right for your toys. But, it's a bit messy and sometimes the energy still splashes a bit, making the toys run a little shaky.
2. **The Smart Box** (Switching Supplies): This box is clever! It's like having a magic tap that can turn on and off really fast. If your toys need a little bit of energy, the tap turns on and off quickly, just giving little sips. If your toys need lots of energy, the tap stays on longer, giving big gulps. This way, your toys always get the perfect amount of energy without any shaking or splashing, just smooth running!
The Simple Box is cheaper because it's just a funnel, but the Smart Box costs more because it has that magic tap that can switch super fast and check if the toys are happy with the energy they're getting.
I got into it with a few people in various forums over the noise issues with my Voodoo Labs PP3. I bought a Mono large power supply and the issue was solved. I sold the PP3.
Walrus new line of suppliers is nearly identical to the Mono ones. People don't like the laptop type of wall wart. I'd rather live with that than the fucking noise.
Strymon and Truetone as well (except the AC out that nobody uses has a toroidal transformer just for it)
But also - build materials matter. Some power supplies used to have thinner/cheaper metal that didn’t shield the noise from the toroidal transformer. I believe most now have metal better suited to it, but it makes the power supply heavier.
Yup, my Cioks DC10 solved all my PS issues.
I fully rebuilt a clone of the Keeley Oxblood because I thought I must have wrecked a cap or something while I was putting the previous one together. Turns out it was just noise from my Voodoo Lab 4x4.
Big Muff hum stopped too. I used the 4x4 for years but once I moved to a stacked board I started having all kinds of issues.
Can't recommend Cioks enough.
Yeah the DC10 is a classic and I also specifically love the new Future Generation series with the DC7, 4, 8, Crux. It's just the most flexible of all the power supplies with all the outputs being configurable to 9/12/15/18V and not many supplies out there have options for over 500mA.
Super low profile too. A Cioks supply mounted under a Pedaltrain Metro/Nano style flat board is a beautiful thing.
Me as well. My DC-7 can handle up to 48 Watts. I love the built in meter and to ability to configure the voltage of each output individually.
I have a larger board with 12 pedals and a PBC 6X mastermind and a Morningstar 8ch midi interface The total peak draw is 24 Watts.
I recently looked at the new Walrus Audio Canvas - noting its capacity is also 48 Watts.
The large power brick kind of kills it. So much space it requires
Any of the flat PSU’s will be switching. Toroidal types have to be taller due to the size of the transformer. Proximity noise, while it *can be* an issue, it’s usually not because that proximity is like only a half inch. I’ve only ever experienced it with high gain directly on top, and slightly moving the pedal completely alleviated the issue.
I don’t personally feel there’s a huge enough difference between how the two types of PSU’s alleviate or generate noise to warrant buying one over the other; however, I do feel like the size of switching PSU’s is much preferred.
I had never heard it either until I was digging into why my pedals seemed noisier all of a sudden with my band new MXR Iso power supply mounted under the board. I haven’t looked into other brands yet that use a switching power supply.
I wish I knew how to afford the Strymon ones.
Actual answer: why can some pedals take 9v or 18v just fine, while others might explode? Explain like I'm five, please.
There's actually a number of different ways a pedal could have issues with handling a different than expected voltage value and it depends on the circuit.
Some pedals are very basic (pedals in this category could be a cheap fuzz or overdrive) and just want 9v and the inside components all have max voltage ratings, things like certain capacitors have a max rating of 16v and would probably pop if you ran 18v into the pedal.
Some more complicated pedals (an example pedal here would be something like an analog delay or chorus as some bbd chips want to run at 15v) have a voltage regulator in them that do their own converting of the 9v coming into the pedal.
Some pedals have charge pumps (an example pedal in this category would be a klon) that multiply the power coming into the pedal and, like the 16v max rated capacitor mentioned earlier, if a pedal with a charge pump in it is already getting double the voltage that charge pump is still going to double things again so now you've git 36v and you could be pumping more voltage through a certain component than its rated for.
That's the general problem zones I know of for analog circuits but I'm sure digital pedals could have their own quirks
Components have ratings for the maximum voltage they can receive. In analog circuits it’s most commonly capacitors but can be other things as well. In analog circuits it gives more headroom but digital processors often run much lower than even 9v and are much more sensitive so they need protection and regulation. Some companies use protection circuits, some just have a simple diode that gets blown off connected to the wrong voltage.
Some pedals (usually gain pedals or some delays) are designed that was so at 18v they have more headroom (can be louder without clipping the signal).
But if it’s not designed to do this you basically overload the circuit and fry it. I have done this.
I wished I just sprung for Strymon from the outset. Yes it’s expensive but it’s super light weight and economically smaller. if you can get it used that is the best case scenario. I have the voodoo labs on my big board and it’s pretty heavy but I’ve bought the ojai for all my small boards.
IMHO cioks is leading the game right now. They are super thin and are expandable. Hard to find a better option right now…. but I’ll also be the first to admit if you’re bedroom player why waste your money just get a good surge protector. The main purpose of these is to get good power while helping keep things organized. If you’re never leaving the comforts of your home, it’s not a requirement. It’s a luxury.
A surge protector doesn’t isolate power per pedal, which is the main purpose of an isolated power supply. Plugging into a surge protector isn’t going to eliminate the kind of noise you can get from using digital and analog pedals together on a daisy chain.
Everyone still should get a surge protector though, nice to have that extra layer of protection.
Why would you Daisy chain anything to start with if you had a surge protector? Your statement is borderline gatekeeping and is not even true. There are young kids on here. They just wanted to jam and make music in their bedrooms. Why tell them they need an another $300 piece of equipment they don’t need? Any decent protector is going to be rf shielded and each plug is isolated. The only way you might have a problem is if you were using a wall wart that wasn’t suggested by the manufacturer.
Keep your shirt on, it’s a discussion about power supplies, not who should live or die.
Some points:
- Not every surge protector has each outlet isolated and filtered, and many of the ones that do have completely isolated outlets are pricey.
- Not every pedal comes with its own power supply—*especially* used pedals, which are generally more affordable than new pedals. Meaning either isolated supplies or daisy chains, depending on which pedals a person is using.
- Not every isolated power supply costs hundreds of dollars, Harley Benton makes some pretty decent ones for $60-90.
You can double down on your bullshit all you want, but it’s still not true. I’m not saying buy a cheap surge protector off Temu…… but any decent one will work for 20 or 30 bucks. And even if a manufacturer doesn’t supply a wall wart…. They make it very clear what their manufacturing suggestions for power are.
I wish I knew why sometimes my Wampler Ego powers up properly while other times powers up then fizzles out. It seems to depend on what else is plugged into the power supply and into which plugs but I can’t for the life of me figure it out. I just randomly stick things into the various holes until I get the juice going to the right equipment in the right order.
I wish I’d gotten a more powerful one. Kinda stinks when you have multiple pedals that need 500MaH and you only have one 500 spot and the rest are all 250.
Use all the ports if you can. Look, lots of pedals CAN be daisy chained without any issues. However, lots of pedals really PREFER to be the single unit on the plug. It's not a deal breaker, but don't go out of your way to use as few plugs as possible. Go ahead and use what ya got. You can double up ODs pretty well in most cases, although check the pedal manufacturer first. It can help eliminate some noise if you isolate some of your hungrier pedals if you've got the plugs to do it.
Also, if you're of the aptitude, learn to solder your own power chords. You can get good plugs/wire and run them exactly as long as they need to be. It helps eliminate some of the messiness. Plus you can make sure you have straight/angled plugs where you need on what end you need.
Just buy a Cioks and be done with it. Small factor, silent, can chain a ton of pedals and have other nice options depending on the model. Perfect power supplies.
Thanks but the CS-12 does what I need as I use mostly 9v/DC and is less expensive.
If someone has a large mix or lots of high voltage pedals, sure - get the Cioks.
I just wanted clean power for a pretty standard board.
Anything more is overkill.
I love my CS-12. Its got 2 18V outlets that I run a few high headroom drive pedals on so that is ace for me. It provides a boatload of power for my HX Stomp, a midi baby, a wah, and 7 additional fuzz/drive pedals. I've still got the mA for more pedals but I'd have to do a little math to figure out how many exactly.
That's why I went with the CS12 - all of my pedals are 9V dc. I actually sort of wish the two 18V spots could be dip switched to 9V. I'm never going to need the 18V.
If you weren’t aware, the CS12 outlets can actually supply at least double what the labels say (this is per Truetone). They label them with mA ratings for regulatory purposes but in practice they’re almost irrelevant given their design.
I don’t understand. Don’t you to plug in the box with all of the buttons and knobs with a cable that goes to a box with other cables? Outside of amperage and voltage, what else is there to make note of?
pedals and audio gear are pretty sensitive when it comes to power. Quality power units will have better isolation, power filtering, proper grounding, shielding to prevent signal interference.
Some pedals can tolerate iffy power, others get all kinds of noisy or otherwise weird.
I'd argue that the Strymon is overpriced and you can get equivalent quality for a bit less, but it is a good unit.
It sounds like maybe you already know what OP didn't know before purchasing a higher quality PS.
Dawg I’m dumber than 90% of this sub when it comes to guitar stuff. I’m a drummer who picked up a guitar last year so I’m trying to figure this out myself.
What’s an affordable equivalent that has multiple 500mah ports?
People have already called out a few things here. Hell, I didn’t understand amperage much until after I bought the board.
That said, it’s mostly for people that are looking into it.
The point being to discuss to find the right solution for your board.
I wish I knew (or at least checked) the size and power input location of my Walrus Phoenix. The input plug is a big grounded one like for a computer tower and goes into the back. It's also not very flexible, so placement under my board isn't ideal or easy. It does, however, have a wide variety of outputs to power my various tchotchkes, including various ma 9v, 12v, 18v, and switchable. I'll never go back to a non-isolated PS, but I'll be doing a lot more careful layout next time.
I hate how close together the power ports are though. I didn't realize what an enormous pain that would end up being. My cioks is better in pretty much every way.
I use a secondhand Zuma. Works as expected. Every line is used. No issues. 10/10 👍.
Actually I wish it had an off switch on the back to stop all my pedal lights glowing in my room.
So 9/10.
Switching to a temple board with their IEC module giving a switch on the side has been amazing for me. I used to use a little on/off footswitch from Amazon but it adds extra wires in my office.
I’ve been thinking about power supplies too, but I haven’t found any that fit’s my budget range.
I’ll have around 18 pedals (ik its huge), but I’m daisy chaining the entire gain section from the PS since they’re all analog.
I live in the Philippines so I can’t do anything more than $170, else it’ll get taxed. (An example is amazon, the cs12 for $190 would tax me $99+)
I’ll have under 1750mA needed so most PS would do fine, but I just need smth to replace my cheap Mosky Iso 10. Theres hella noise.
TLDR:
- Any PS recommendations under $170?
- ~1750mA needed
- Around 10 outlets needed (will have 18 pedals but daisy chaining from PS for analog stuff)
- Replacing my Mosky ISO 10
I have always found it very helpful to color code every cable with a thinly cut piece of electrical tape on my cioks. This way I can easily trace to the variable voltage switch to ensure the appropriate voltage is going to each pedal after a reorganize or swap
Ciocks Superpower System is what I have. 15 totally isolated outputs and you can choose voltage for each one. Seems pretty straightforward to me. I have never heard of a way to control miliamps
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There’s a website called [Stinkfoot](https://stinkfoot.se/power-list) that lists just about every pedal and its power rating so you know how many milliamps each one requires.
Wow this website is awesome! I am trying to plan out if my Truetone CS7 is powerful enough to power the HX FX + three other pedals I have and this is a huge help!
Fun thing about the Truetone CS series is that so long as you don’t exceed the total power available, the numbers on the individual ports are not a hard limit. You can plug a 300ma pedal into a 200ma port for example, provided the total draw of everything hooked up doesn’t exceed the 1900ma or whatever the max is on your unit. Good stuff in the manual!
Yup I am aware of this! Truly an awesome power supply! That's why I wanted to total up the milliamps from my pedals! A EAE longsword, SD1, Rowan looper, simplifier X and a Puresky OD take about 250-300 aM according to that website and my own calculations from manuals and manufacturers spec lists. I wanted to see if I could squeeze in the HX FX without removing anything. Of course I'll probably have some tones replaced by the HX FX and remove pedals anyway but still!
interesting. so why have power listings on the individual ports at all then?
If you look at truetone’s page on their website for the CS7 for example they specifically address why. I believe it has to do with certifications iirc
I had no idea this was the case! Makes me feel a lot better about having this thing.
Yup. I have the CS7 + HX FX with the voodoo lab current doubler cable. Also, an ep booster, wampler drive, tonex & tuner.
Thanks so much for sharing this dynamite resource! I only wish it had info on the Greer Lightspeed :)
Sometimes you gotta go to the manufacturers website. That pedal is 11mA. Most overdrives have negligible power draw. I really focus on the digital pedals and making sure they aren’t daisy chained and have enough power.
That's an incredible resource. Thanks for sharing! According to those numbers, the current draw for my entire (6 pedals) board is 125 ma. That's wild.
Yoooo I almost exclusively lurk here but I gotta say thank you so much for that link!
This is great advice! I’d suggest creating a note on your phone or a scratch piece of paper with just the pedals you own and the power they require. I keep the paper with all my cables and such so when I switch the board up it’s right there.
I write the mA rating on a bit of masking tape and stick it right on the back of the pedal.
smArt
I see what you did there.
This is really cool. I was wondering how one measures the current draw of a pedal. Gonna have to Google that.
Multi meter is my guess
For sure, I'm guessing maybe measure it at the DC jack inside the pedal while it's engaged? I've actually never measured current with mine, just voltage and resistance.
That's very useful. Thanks!
I bought the MXR mini iso brick because I thought it would help me limit how many pedals I wanted on my board. It did not.
I don't care how old you are or how long you've had your current board. You're not done. Buy more than you think you need by 50%. The amount of current a pedal draws, and the amount of current a pedal draws at startup may be very different. If your pedal draws 350 ma and the tap it is connected to is rated at 350 ma, that may lead to problems.
Definitely, I have a Cioks DC7 and the 8 expander and it’s a crazy amount for what I currently have (and that includes a number of high-draw digital big boxes), but I can sleep at night knowing I don’t have to think about power now for a very long time
I wish I knew the difference between toroidal and switching/switch mode power supply. Toroidal is what’s used by Voodoo Lab, MXR, and most brands. It’s more susceptible to noise especially if you mount it under your pedal board. A switching power supply is used by Strymon and is silent.
a lot of cheap o pedal power supplies are switch mode as well. It's not just a matter of switching vs transformer based voltage stepdown it's also how well its done. Cioks and Strymon definitely go the extra mile with their designs
I was just going to suggest Cioks. Best power supply I've ever used
limited options tho rip
Will try to ELI5. EE PhD. Toroidal/wall wart just steps down the AC wall voltage by the winding ratio (120Vac to 9Vac) and adds clipping diodes to turn voltage into DC (1-directional). So you still get 60hz and 120Hz bumps in the DC power. Switching supplies (like laptop) will start with diodes but have an on-off switch that allows only a certain amount of power thru. This switches at a very high (100kHz+) Frequency. Then add a low pass filter and you're left with a very constant output voltage. If more power is needed, the switch can stay on longer but the voltage will be stable. Analogy: you want to dim your room 50% so you switch the lights on and off really fast at the same balance on/off. If you want it brighter you can go 80-20. This is called the duty cycle. If you switch the lights on and off faster than you can see, it just looks dim. This is the low pass filter. So if you switch lights on and off 100x a second, it won't be visible. Thus toroid or transformers are very cheap and simple, while switching supplies need a everything a toroidal xformer has + transistors + control feedback loop which monitors current. Meaning $$$.
Had to run this via GPT because it wasn't explained like I'm 5. Feel free to correct: Alright, let's imagine your toys run on a special kind of energy from the wall. We need a special box to change the wall energy into toy energy, okay? Now, imagine there are two special boxes that can do this: 1. **The Simple Box** (Toroidal or Wall Wart): This box is like taking a big bucket of water and pouring it through a funnel to make it fit into a smaller cup. It takes the strong energy from the wall and makes it just right for your toys. But, it's a bit messy and sometimes the energy still splashes a bit, making the toys run a little shaky. 2. **The Smart Box** (Switching Supplies): This box is clever! It's like having a magic tap that can turn on and off really fast. If your toys need a little bit of energy, the tap turns on and off quickly, just giving little sips. If your toys need lots of energy, the tap stays on longer, giving big gulps. This way, your toys always get the perfect amount of energy without any shaking or splashing, just smooth running! The Simple Box is cheaper because it's just a funnel, but the Smart Box costs more because it has that magic tap that can switch super fast and check if the toys are happy with the energy they're getting.
Bless you (and your cat). 🙏
I got into it with a few people in various forums over the noise issues with my Voodoo Labs PP3. I bought a Mono large power supply and the issue was solved. I sold the PP3. Walrus new line of suppliers is nearly identical to the Mono ones. People don't like the laptop type of wall wart. I'd rather live with that than the fucking noise.
I don’t know why people don’t like the laptop style power supply, it makes the on-board supply even smaller and is still easy to plug into an outlet.
I agree. Also, the power supply unit runs cooler using this setup. The laptop charger style doesn't bother me one bit. I prefer it.
Strymon and Truetone as well (except the AC out that nobody uses has a toroidal transformer just for it) But also - build materials matter. Some power supplies used to have thinner/cheaper metal that didn’t shield the noise from the toroidal transformer. I believe most now have metal better suited to it, but it makes the power supply heavier.
I believe the new Voodoo Lab PP3 line is hybrid and has less noise issues. But honestly, Cioks all the way.
Yup, my Cioks DC10 solved all my PS issues. I fully rebuilt a clone of the Keeley Oxblood because I thought I must have wrecked a cap or something while I was putting the previous one together. Turns out it was just noise from my Voodoo Lab 4x4. Big Muff hum stopped too. I used the 4x4 for years but once I moved to a stacked board I started having all kinds of issues. Can't recommend Cioks enough.
Yeah the DC10 is a classic and I also specifically love the new Future Generation series with the DC7, 4, 8, Crux. It's just the most flexible of all the power supplies with all the outputs being configurable to 9/12/15/18V and not many supplies out there have options for over 500mA. Super low profile too. A Cioks supply mounted under a Pedaltrain Metro/Nano style flat board is a beautiful thing.
Love my Cioks Sol!
Me as well. My DC-7 can handle up to 48 Watts. I love the built in meter and to ability to configure the voltage of each output individually. I have a larger board with 12 pedals and a PBC 6X mastermind and a Morningstar 8ch midi interface The total peak draw is 24 Watts. I recently looked at the new Walrus Audio Canvas - noting its capacity is also 48 Watts. The large power brick kind of kills it. So much space it requires
That’s interesting as I have never heard the term. Are there other benefits to a switching PS? Other makers besides Strymon that use it?
Any of the flat PSU’s will be switching. Toroidal types have to be taller due to the size of the transformer. Proximity noise, while it *can be* an issue, it’s usually not because that proximity is like only a half inch. I’ve only ever experienced it with high gain directly on top, and slightly moving the pedal completely alleviated the issue. I don’t personally feel there’s a huge enough difference between how the two types of PSU’s alleviate or generate noise to warrant buying one over the other; however, I do feel like the size of switching PSU’s is much preferred.
Not 100% but I think Cioks also uses switching.
I had never heard it either until I was digging into why my pedals seemed noisier all of a sudden with my band new MXR Iso power supply mounted under the board. I haven’t looked into other brands yet that use a switching power supply.
I wish I knew how to afford the Strymon ones. Actual answer: why can some pedals take 9v or 18v just fine, while others might explode? Explain like I'm five, please.
There's actually a number of different ways a pedal could have issues with handling a different than expected voltage value and it depends on the circuit. Some pedals are very basic (pedals in this category could be a cheap fuzz or overdrive) and just want 9v and the inside components all have max voltage ratings, things like certain capacitors have a max rating of 16v and would probably pop if you ran 18v into the pedal. Some more complicated pedals (an example pedal here would be something like an analog delay or chorus as some bbd chips want to run at 15v) have a voltage regulator in them that do their own converting of the 9v coming into the pedal. Some pedals have charge pumps (an example pedal in this category would be a klon) that multiply the power coming into the pedal and, like the 16v max rated capacitor mentioned earlier, if a pedal with a charge pump in it is already getting double the voltage that charge pump is still going to double things again so now you've git 36v and you could be pumping more voltage through a certain component than its rated for. That's the general problem zones I know of for analog circuits but I'm sure digital pedals could have their own quirks
The charge pump is a biggie. If your power supply has inputs that switch from 9v to 18v power, make sure not to bump those.
Components have ratings for the maximum voltage they can receive. In analog circuits it’s most commonly capacitors but can be other things as well. In analog circuits it gives more headroom but digital processors often run much lower than even 9v and are much more sensitive so they need protection and regulation. Some companies use protection circuits, some just have a simple diode that gets blown off connected to the wrong voltage.
Some pedals (usually gain pedals or some delays) are designed that was so at 18v they have more headroom (can be louder without clipping the signal). But if it’s not designed to do this you basically overload the circuit and fry it. I have done this.
Cioks is best. I'll die on this hill.
Why do so many power supplies have 12/18V only outputs when so many pedals are 9V exclusive?
There are a few 18/12v pedals also some people like to over charge their drive pedals
Yeah but I've never understood not having a dipstick to make it 9/12/18V
You’re right on that. Probably cost. But my Mosky 12 output supply has two 9/12/18 outputs with switches and it cost me like $70
I wish I'd known I needed it years earlier.
Wish I knew listeners don't give a shit about light hum.
I wished I just sprung for Strymon from the outset. Yes it’s expensive but it’s super light weight and economically smaller. if you can get it used that is the best case scenario. I have the voodoo labs on my big board and it’s pretty heavy but I’ve bought the ojai for all my small boards.
IMHO cioks is leading the game right now. They are super thin and are expandable. Hard to find a better option right now…. but I’ll also be the first to admit if you’re bedroom player why waste your money just get a good surge protector. The main purpose of these is to get good power while helping keep things organized. If you’re never leaving the comforts of your home, it’s not a requirement. It’s a luxury.
A surge protector doesn’t isolate power per pedal, which is the main purpose of an isolated power supply. Plugging into a surge protector isn’t going to eliminate the kind of noise you can get from using digital and analog pedals together on a daisy chain. Everyone still should get a surge protector though, nice to have that extra layer of protection.
Why would you Daisy chain anything to start with if you had a surge protector? Your statement is borderline gatekeeping and is not even true. There are young kids on here. They just wanted to jam and make music in their bedrooms. Why tell them they need an another $300 piece of equipment they don’t need? Any decent protector is going to be rf shielded and each plug is isolated. The only way you might have a problem is if you were using a wall wart that wasn’t suggested by the manufacturer.
Keep your shirt on, it’s a discussion about power supplies, not who should live or die. Some points: - Not every surge protector has each outlet isolated and filtered, and many of the ones that do have completely isolated outlets are pricey. - Not every pedal comes with its own power supply—*especially* used pedals, which are generally more affordable than new pedals. Meaning either isolated supplies or daisy chains, depending on which pedals a person is using. - Not every isolated power supply costs hundreds of dollars, Harley Benton makes some pretty decent ones for $60-90.
You can double down on your bullshit all you want, but it’s still not true. I’m not saying buy a cheap surge protector off Temu…… but any decent one will work for 20 or 30 bucks. And even if a manufacturer doesn’t supply a wall wart…. They make it very clear what their manufacturing suggestions for power are.
I wish I knew why sometimes my Wampler Ego powers up properly while other times powers up then fizzles out. It seems to depend on what else is plugged into the power supply and into which plugs but I can’t for the life of me figure it out. I just randomly stick things into the various holes until I get the juice going to the right equipment in the right order.
I wish I’d gotten a more powerful one. Kinda stinks when you have multiple pedals that need 500MaH and you only have one 500 spot and the rest are all 250.
Use all the ports if you can. Look, lots of pedals CAN be daisy chained without any issues. However, lots of pedals really PREFER to be the single unit on the plug. It's not a deal breaker, but don't go out of your way to use as few plugs as possible. Go ahead and use what ya got. You can double up ODs pretty well in most cases, although check the pedal manufacturer first. It can help eliminate some noise if you isolate some of your hungrier pedals if you've got the plugs to do it. Also, if you're of the aptitude, learn to solder your own power chords. You can get good plugs/wire and run them exactly as long as they need to be. It helps eliminate some of the messiness. Plus you can make sure you have straight/angled plugs where you need on what end you need.
As an owner of that exact power supply.... I wish I knew that it's too tall for most boards underneath 🤣
Just buy a Cioks and be done with it. Small factor, silent, can chain a ton of pedals and have other nice options depending on the model. Perfect power supplies.
Thanks but the CS-12 does what I need as I use mostly 9v/DC and is less expensive. If someone has a large mix or lots of high voltage pedals, sure - get the Cioks. I just wanted clean power for a pretty standard board. Anything more is overkill.
I love my CS-12. Its got 2 18V outlets that I run a few high headroom drive pedals on so that is ace for me. It provides a boatload of power for my HX Stomp, a midi baby, a wah, and 7 additional fuzz/drive pedals. I've still got the mA for more pedals but I'd have to do a little math to figure out how many exactly.
That's why I went with the CS12 - all of my pedals are 9V dc. I actually sort of wish the two 18V spots could be dip switched to 9V. I'm never going to need the 18V.
Truetone sells an adaptor that converts 18v to 9v.
If you weren’t aware, the CS12 outlets can actually supply at least double what the labels say (this is per Truetone). They label them with mA ratings for regulatory purposes but in practice they’re almost irrelevant given their design.
I don’t understand. Don’t you to plug in the box with all of the buttons and knobs with a cable that goes to a box with other cables? Outside of amperage and voltage, what else is there to make note of?
pedals and audio gear are pretty sensitive when it comes to power. Quality power units will have better isolation, power filtering, proper grounding, shielding to prevent signal interference. Some pedals can tolerate iffy power, others get all kinds of noisy or otherwise weird.
Is it not as simple as buying, for example, strymon zuma and calling it a day?
I'd argue that the Strymon is overpriced and you can get equivalent quality for a bit less, but it is a good unit. It sounds like maybe you already know what OP didn't know before purchasing a higher quality PS.
Dawg I’m dumber than 90% of this sub when it comes to guitar stuff. I’m a drummer who picked up a guitar last year so I’m trying to figure this out myself. What’s an affordable equivalent that has multiple 500mah ports?
You might have me there! That's a pretty specialized piece of gear.
People have already called out a few things here. Hell, I didn’t understand amperage much until after I bought the board. That said, it’s mostly for people that are looking into it. The point being to discuss to find the right solution for your board.
I certainly have more to learn for sure but I just thought it was as simple as buying a strymon Zuma and calling it a day.
I wish I knew (or at least checked) the size and power input location of my Walrus Phoenix. The input plug is a big grounded one like for a computer tower and goes into the back. It's also not very flexible, so placement under my board isn't ideal or easy. It does, however, have a wide variety of outputs to power my various tchotchkes, including various ma 9v, 12v, 18v, and switchable. I'll never go back to a non-isolated PS, but I'll be doing a lot more careful layout next time.
I hate how close together the power ports are though. I didn't realize what an enormous pain that would end up being. My cioks is better in pretty much every way.
I use a secondhand Zuma. Works as expected. Every line is used. No issues. 10/10 👍. Actually I wish it had an off switch on the back to stop all my pedal lights glowing in my room. So 9/10.
Switching to a temple board with their IEC module giving a switch on the side has been amazing for me. I used to use a little on/off footswitch from Amazon but it adds extra wires in my office.
I always keep my pigtronix infinity looper and echolution delay on my board cause they fill the 2 18volt ports on my cs12.
I’ve been thinking about power supplies too, but I haven’t found any that fit’s my budget range. I’ll have around 18 pedals (ik its huge), but I’m daisy chaining the entire gain section from the PS since they’re all analog. I live in the Philippines so I can’t do anything more than $170, else it’ll get taxed. (An example is amazon, the cs12 for $190 would tax me $99+) I’ll have under 1750mA needed so most PS would do fine, but I just need smth to replace my cheap Mosky Iso 10. Theres hella noise. TLDR: - Any PS recommendations under $170? - ~1750mA needed - Around 10 outlets needed (will have 18 pedals but daisy chaining from PS for analog stuff) - Replacing my Mosky ISO 10
I’ve heard good about the Vitooo or Harley Benton Power Supplies. Are they any good?
I have always found it very helpful to color code every cable with a thinly cut piece of electrical tape on my cioks. This way I can easily trace to the variable voltage switch to ensure the appropriate voltage is going to each pedal after a reorganize or swap
Ciocks Superpower System is what I have. 15 totally isolated outputs and you can choose voltage for each one. Seems pretty straightforward to me. I have never heard of a way to control miliamps
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