BOR....good pedal, is yours noisy with an adapter?

[sixstring531]

Just got a Box of Rock, and it sounds beautimous through the BluesBreaker, but, when the power is plugged in from my SKB board, it is noisy when on. Take the adapter out, run off battery, no noise.

The same noise (low hum kind of) comes from my Choralflange, which is plugged in to the same power supply, but not my Eternity running on the same board.

Is it the power supply (I do not have the original SKB 9v adapter hooked in to the board, some offbrand thing that just happened to work from Radio Shack and is 9v) or is that normal for these pedals?

Should I buy the SKB one or am I just wasting money, as I have heard the BOR is a noisy pedal.

 

[Andy J.]

No noise in my BoR, it's the power supply. Invest in one that has isolated outs, and enjoy the BoR!

 

[sixstring531]

Would it be the adapter I am using or the SKB power supply itself?

 

[welcometoashley]

Would it be the adapter I am using or the SKB power supply itself?

try both, but it's likely the SKB power supply itself if its outputs aren't isolated....

 

[sixstring531]

I guess I need to call SKB to find out if they're isolated? Can anyone chime in here?

Again, the Eternity does not have the hum with the same power supply plugged into it.

 

[sixstring531]

Also -- and just thought of this -- I am not currently using the loop on the SKB board -- that could be the problem. Guess I won't know until I get home! uuuggh...why does work get in the way!

 

[nakleh]

I used mine with the Dunlop DC Power Brick, no noise at all.

 

[NativH]

I use the Voodoo Lab Pedal Power with zero noise from any pedal, including my BOR. Hard to beat.

 

[sixstring531]

I am glad all of your power supplies work better than mine. Thanks for the info.

 

[The Kid]

I am glad all of your power supplies work better than mine. Thanks for the info.

Awww man, I had that problem with a pedal or two in the past. The Pedal Power 2 has worked flawlessly for me though since I got it.

It's not a fun purchase paying $169 for something that doesn't do anything "cool," but it's well worth the price to get all that unwanted noise out of your signal chain.

My heart does go out to you though my friend, because I was pretty bummed the day I bit the bullet and bought mine. In the end, I'm glad I did. Try to find a used one if you can.

 

[sixstring531]

I can get a pedal power, DC BRick or Gator 8 bus (which all have good ratings) for around $100 or less, so not worried about spending money -- just want what I have to work darn it!

 

[sixstring531]

Well, went home, tried the loop on the board and it still hums. Must be the way the board is made. It's a good 8 years old and quite abused (got from a friend of mine who plays guitar in Story of the Year) so

new question:
all personal bias aside
is there much difference in the
DC BRICK
Pedal Power
Gator 8

 

[blackba]

Well, went home, tried the loop on the board and it still hums. Must be the way the board is made. It's a good 8 years old and quite abused (got from a friend of mine who plays guitar in Story of the Year) so

new question:
all personal bias aside
is there much difference in the
DC BRICK
Pedal Power
Gator 8

Get the Voodoo Labs pedal power, it has isolated outputs which will really help, especially if your pedals don't play nicely together.

Not sure about the Gator8, but the DC brick is a non-isolated output supply.

You could also try a one-spot or power-all, but some report noise from daisy chaining with those supplys. My power-all is very quiet.

 

[FAC]

Well, went home, tried the loop on the board and it still hums. Must be the way the board is made. It's a good 8 years old and quite abused (got from a friend of mine who plays guitar in Story of the Year) so

new question:
all personal bias aside
is there much difference in the
DC BRICK
Pedal Power
Gator 8

I believe the PP2+ is the only one of those with isolated outputs...in other words, the other ones are just fancy daisy chains (might as well get a onespot for a lot cheaper if you want a daisy chain)

If the problem is interaction between pedals in a daisy chain, which it sounds like it is, get the PP2+.

edit...ha ha ha, Blackba beat me to it.

 

[sixstring531]

how are those Godlyke Power chain things? Seems cheap to me -- anyone using them?

 

[Mark Robinson]

It's not the Box of Rock. You figured that out with your battery.

The singer in my band, who also plays guitar, got that SKB pedal board and had the exact same problem, which is multiple ground loops formed because so many guitar pedals tie the signal ground and the power ground both to the case. To explain, any time a signal carrying ground or shield has more than one path to ground, the two paths form a loop and that loop becomes an antenna and picks up field hum, which could be generated by all sorts of things in a given environment. So even the little transformer built into the pedalboard, has enough field strength to energize these loops. Whah pedals can pick up fields too, even when on isolated or battery power, it's a matter of proximity and orientation. My Mojo Vibe will act up in certain environments too. But not often.

Your buddy was thinking clearly when he got rid of that thing, it's not that great IMHO. It would degrade your signal even more if you were using the built in jacks etc.

Isolated power circuits as in the Pedal Power II knock this problem right out. I resisited buying one too, for similar rationale, sort of a passive upgrade etc. but lemme tell you, a lot of noise went away with that purchase and I've been able to focus on much more productive things like practice and so forth, rather than chasing hum. In hindsight it was a wonderful purchase.

 

[blackba]

how are those Godlyke Power chain things? Seems cheap to me -- anyone using them?

I have a few of them. They work well for me.

Here are a few things to keep in mind.

- You may want to run one for your loop and one for the effects in the front. Some people have reported noise issues from using the same supply to power all their pedals.
- Some pedals you may have to get a different adapater if they don't play nice. For example I run my Line 6 verbzilla on its own line6 AC/DC adapter. Same with my Akai Headrush E1. A Pedal power would be able to handle both of these effects no problem.
- Seems to be some variation in the power supplys, I read a post yesterday where the person got a noisey one-spot, then got another one a few years later and it was quiet.
- There have been some reports of reliability issues with the one-spot and poweralls, I have had one powerall go bad and it was replaced with me just covering shipping there.

In your situation I would probably still go with the voodoo labs pedal power.

 

[sixstring531]

That's what I'm thinking and exactly what my wife wouldn't want to hear