Voodoo Lab

I'm just starting to acquire some pedals, and I'd like to get an idea what is reasonable to expect regarding noise before I buy a power supply.

The only adapter I happen to have at the moment is a Roland ACR-120, the older style with a transformer. When I plug it into my Barber Tone Press I get a hum unless the pedal is in bypass. When I plug it into my Hardware RV-7 I get a hiss regardless of the bypass setting. Both pedals are very quiet on battery power.

I tried running either the amp or the 9V adapter through a HumX, which is supposed to eliminate ground loop problems. With or without the HumX the noise from each pedal is the same.

The RV-7 hiss is not a big deal; I only mention it here in case it sheds some light on what is happening. The hum is more of a real problem.

I'm thinking of getting an ISO-5 or perhaps a PP2+. Should I expect either to reduce the noise I'm getting with the wall wart supply?

The Pedal Power series of power supplies should not add any noise that is not present when powering the same devices with batteries. Both the Pedal Power 2+ and the Pedal Power ISO-5 should be able to power these two pedals with no issues.

It is likely that your current power supply is not regulated and I am quite sure it lacks any filtering. Basically, it should only really be used for its intended purpose for powering whichever Roland product it came with.

The HumX will eliminate ground loop buzz when used properly, but here this is just noise from no filtering and, as mentioned before, likely no voltage regulation. Not all buzz/hiss is due to a ground loop.

Thanks, John, that makes sense. I'll pick up a PP shortly.

Pedal Power 2plus came today, and all is well in 9V land.

Now I need to see if I can find a dc jack that is long enough to mount into the cast enclosure on my Goodrich H10K.

Now I'm straying OT, but I got the jack installed on my volume pedal and now I need a longer cable to connect it to the PP2+. What is the best source for something like this?

Stringmaster wrote:Now I'm straying OT, but I got the jack installed on my volume pedal and now I need a longer cable to connect it to the PP2+. What is the best source for something like this?

http://www.voodoolab.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=1102