Why most pedals these days do not come with power adapter?

B

Bushy

Inspired
I'm just getting back into pedals and seems like none come with a power adapter. If I were to chain these pedals onto a pedal board, is the pedal board the only thing that gets powered? I'm trying to figure out how to do this. I'm assuming each pedal does not require individual power adapter right?

So I guess I could use the power adapter that came with my korg microkorg synth to power the pedal? I think they all require 9v.
 
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So 1 power supply to power the entire board? The patch cables are what supplies the power to each pedals then?

There was a thread somewhere talking about how each pedal should run on individual power supply to give them the power they actually should be powered by instead of through patch cables. I'm paraphrasing what I think was said but something like this might be what's being implied to be used:

RockBoard Power Block Pedalboard DC Multi-Power Supply | Musician's Friend
https://www.musiciansfriend.com/amp...-power-block-pedalboard-dc-multi-power-supply

This one requires no power supply and goes directly into amp:

One Control Junction Box | Sweetwater
https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/OCJB--one-control-junction-box

Not sure how that's possible I'm not an electrician lol. Interesting product. I'm trying to figure out if the concept is similar to the concept of the effects loop...
 
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Bushy said:
RockBoard Power Block Pedalboard DC Multi-Power Supply | Musician's Friend
https://www.musiciansfriend.com/amp...-power-block-pedalboard-dc-multi-power-supply
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Something like that is what you would need.

There are others such as the Dunlop DC Brick and Voodoo Labs Pedal Power, both of which are great.
Bushy said:
This one requires no power supply and goes directly into amp:

One Control Junction Box | Sweetwater
https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/OCJB--one-control-junction-box

Not sure how that's possible I'm not an electrician lol. Interesting product. I'm trying to figure out if the concept is similar to the concept of the effects loop...
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That is for routing guitar signal, not providing power... It's a "passive" circuit so doesn't need power.
 
Does the one control junction box actually work how I described it? It seems like that was how its intended use was described? I'm not sure if they're implying that the guitar amp is the power source for the pedals?

Look at this diagram here:





unix-guy said:
That is for routing guitar signal, not providing power... It's a "passive" circuit so doesn't need power.
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The One Control is passive and does not supply any power. All it does is to place the guitar input and pedalboard output in the same location/box.
 
Pedals need power and signal. They are separate. The devices you showed are for the signal part.

Each pedal needs a connection for power as well. There are power “bricks” that take one plug from the wall/strip, then distribute multiple power lines out specifically for pedals. Power does not come from the audio cable.

Also in many industries, if the unit can run on batteries, then a power supply is not included. Very common.
 
When I was using pedals, I had a hard time finding ones that were quiet--it was a crap shoot. I even had a Boss power adapter that I could only use with an Ibanez pedal.

Voodoo Labs builds adapters with isolated power. I used the ISO 5--great product, super quiet. They make different size boxes depending on how many pedals you need to power.
 
Pedals are generally noisy right? Since it's not digital?

Dyersbrew said:
When I was using pedals, I had a hard time finding ones that were quiet--it was a crap shoot. I even had a Boss power adapter that I could only use with an Ibanez pedal.

Voodoo Labs builds adapters with isolated power. I used the ISO 5--great product, super quiet. They make different size boxes depending on how many pedals you need to power.
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Bushy said:
Pedals are generally noisy right? Since it's not digital?
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In my experience, no. If the pedal does not generate noise when it's on battery, it should not do it with an adapter. Of course, anything you put in your signal chain can add noise to your signal--and it can compound to be hellacious, especially at high volumes.

I used a noise suppressor for a while that would create a horrible hum (the irony) with a particular power adapter. I ended up running it with batteries until I found the Voodoo Labs boxes.
 
Dyersbrew said:
In my experience, no. If the pedal does not generate noise when it's on battery, it should not do it with an adapter. Of course, anything you put in your signal chain can add noise to your signal--and it can compound to be hellacious, especially at high volumes.

I used a noise suppressor for a while that would create a horrible hum (the irony) with a particular power adapter. I ended up running it with batteries until I found the Voodoo Labs boxes.
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I found one particular wall wart that generated bad noise if the guitar was within a radius of a couple feet.
 
The best noise free power supply I've ever used is hands down the Strymon offerings. I've been struggling to find clean, noiseless and reliable power. Strymon has the solution. I like the way the system works via 24volts DC for the main feed then gets converted to what ever voltage your pedal needs. I paired the Strymon Ojai with a PedalSnake. It is heaven.
 
Geoff Pratt said:
The best noise free power supply I've ever used is hands down the Strymon offerings. I've been struggling to find clean, noiseless and reliable power. Strymon has the solution. I like the way the system works via 24volts DC for the main feed then gets converted to what ever voltage your pedal needs. I paired the Strymon Ojai with a PedalSnake. It is heaven.
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I used to use both the Dunlop DC Brick and the Voodoo Labs Pedal Power via a PedalSnake (and also in a rack drawer). I never got any noise from either one.

If you do, it's almost certainly from the pedals that are connected. That's why the Pedal Power has isolated outputs - each output is an isolated circuit and should not pass noise to other pedals. Others that have a common ground could.

Edit:

Just a comment that the PedalSnake was one of the best gear choices I ever made when I was running a traditional rig.
 
I wouldn't be able to use that. I need two outputs that deliver 300mA. Looks like the Harley Benton is only capable of 120mA.
 
unix-guy said:
I used to use both the Dunlop DC Brick and the Voodoo Labs Pedal Power via a PedalSnake (and also in a rack drawer). I never got any noise from either one.

If you do, it's almost certainly from the pedals that are connected. That's why the Pedal Power has isolated outputs - each output is an isolated circuit and should not pass noise to other pedals. Others that have a common ground could.

Edit:

Just a comment that the PedalSnake was one of the best gear choices I ever made when I was running a traditional rig.
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I love the PedalSnake. I'm using it with the AXE FX III and FC-6 along with a Beat Buddy and looper in an effect loop running on the 4 cable method. Very easy to modify a PedalSnake channel for XLR. It's very clean. Just the one cable to the pedalboard and that one cable handles the DC power for pedals, the effects loop, the FC-6 connection to AXE and MIDI changes from the AXE back to the pedalboard (looper and Beat Buddy). Easy setup too!
 
Bushy said:
Is that the cheapest around? The JP-01 is cheaper but I think it's an older edition.

I knew nothing about connecting several pedals in sync; I thought only 1 pedal needed power and the patch cables powered the rest of the connected pedals. And I thought the pedalboard powered the pedals too. I guess some pedalboard do?
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Unless you want to add noise then I wouldn't go for "the cheapest around"...

However, I can say that I had decent results with the OneSpot:

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/1Spot9v--truetone-1-spot-slim-9v-dc-adapter

That's $20... Plus you'll need a multi plug cable:

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/1SpotMC8--truetone-1-spot-multi-plug-8-cable

So under $35 to power 8 pedals.
 
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