Guitar pedal power supply to replace wall warts?

[klettermann]

Most of us have too many annoying wall warts hanging around. Many also say they inject RF into the system, make eletrical noise, hum etc etc., I just learned what a guitar pedal power supply is and found this THIS THING. Musicians generally hate noise and apparently like these things. There are zillions of similar devices, but this looks particularly suited to our uses. Has anybody used anything like this and did it make any difference? I have one on the way and will try to detect any measurable audio effects. I'll post if I do. To be clear, I'm not seeking inaudible improvements in postulated phlogiston mediated quantized audiometric or such stuff. Maybe just some teeny improvement in room floor noise. We'll see, Cheers,

 

[GD Fan]

I have the Cioks SOL model (because any hope of getting better at guitar means I'm S.O.L.) and I love it. Slim but solid construction, voltage switching capability, etc. Should fit under almost any pedalboard.

In terms of noise, I haven't noticed that it's any worse than the individual plugs. Maybe it is better but I wasn't that attentive to the matter. Really cleaned up the pedalboard setup to have just this unit and not all those individual plugs.

 

[Ropeburn]

Disregard anything regarding "audible improvement", the big and hardly overstatable (is that a word?) benefit is practicality.

And it's huge, easily worth the 200-300 moneys price point. So much musical gear of whatever kind runs on 9-12V DC, usually with its own hassley, ugly wallwart. If you've ever run a small to medium home, project or even professional studio, you'll know the whole power question is one big pile of bullshit you have to deal with, involving lengthy and numerous power strips and distributors. You've probably dreamt about building a big fat power supply with a dozen or two outputs, switchable in voltage, to power everything. One big transformer, a few regulators, a good handful or two of fat caps, and you're finally done once and for all

Everyone half educated can theoretically build it, far from rocket science, but it's quite the project. Labour, parts, proper execution: certainly doable, but neither easy nor cheap.

This thing solves it, at least to a degree. At least for pedals. Make it a bit bigger, maybe a dozen outputs, 1-1.5A each, and you got the endgame solution, even if you're selling it for 400-500. This one is already more than halfway there. Great thingie and easily worth the money if it delivers what it promises!

 

[unmutual]

These pedal power supplies typically are rated for 1-1.5A in total and 100-250 mA per output, not 1-1.5A each for a dozen outputs. Also they are usually center negative, which may not match the requirements of other devices than guitar effects pedals.

 

[Ropeburn]

These pedal power supplies typically are rated for 1-1.5A in total and 100-250 mA per output, not 1-1.5A each for a dozen outputs. Also they are usually center negative, which may not match the requirements of other devices than guitar effects pedals.

There's more than pedals in a studio or live situation. All kinds of gear wants 9-12V DC, 1.5A per output is still kinda on the low side. Which is why I'm saying a one fits all solution must be beefy and is therefore a bit costly, more than 200 certainly. Of course it would include switchable polarity.

 

[GD Fan]

Check the specs, each is 660mA at 9V. Per plug. The OP included a link to the Sweetwater page.

 

[klettermann]

So I got the Cioks DC7. It's actually pretty impressive. This eliminated about 5 wall warts (DAC, ethernet switch, MiniDSP box, MiniDSP dongle, something else too). There are 7 adjustable voltage outputs , 660ma at 12v, plus USB. 660ma not enough? The outlets can be paralleled. I used 3 for about 2a for my DAC. The RCA outputs are a great feature IMO, allowing for easy extenders, Y connection etc. Get some of those adapter things and you do whatever you want.

So how does it work? Were the wall warts injecting deadly interference into my power lines? Were they modulating or polluting the delicate ethernet bits and jittering everything? Or something even worse? Maybe I was even being deprived of blacker blacks and dulled sprinkles! I like measurements, but what to measure? And, depending what's measured , is it audible anyway? Nobody seems to have much of protocol for this stuff, so I just took a blunt axe to it: can I detect any change in audible room noise making it through the system after replacing wall warts?


1. All electronics on using wall warts
Note the bend in the HF noise. Also, the 8k spike is some mysterious, intermittent effect that I can't localize, but should be ignored.

2. All electronics on using DC7. Note smooth bend at 7kHz.

So, does look like the DC7 actually IS doing something to the room noise floor at the high end. Is this the blacker blacks? I have no idea. In my highly subjective, uncontrolled listening test I couldn't hear any differeence whatever. I guess this shouldn't be too surprising since whatever we're looking at is orders of magnitude below anything that might be playing, even playing at low levels. So is this worth the $$$ and trouble? Well, I got rid of a bunch of PITA wall warts, improved system engineering, and the whole affair now let's me sleep better. YMMV. Cheers,