What exactly are Furmans for?

[Proco]

Let's say I decide to buy an 11R... should I get a Furman too? I see them in almost any rack gig and I know nothing about theirs models or which exactly is their purpose.

If someone can educate me on that I'd be very thankful

 

[burningyen]

They ensure proper power levels, clean noise out of the power signal and provide surge protection. Seems like a no-brainer.

 

[Proco]

But, like, all of them? Any specific model recommendation?

Thanks

 

[guitarnet70]

It depends what else you'll have in the rack, how many units it needs to feed..... If you have only the 11R and maybe a wireless then the small one is enough (M-10 EX)

 

[jdolll]

Most of them are really just rackmounted surge protected powerstrips. Unless you're spending a couple hundred bucks it's not regulating anything.

 

[Proco]

Well it'd be the 11R and a wireless unit yeah, nothing lese as I'm planning to go DI to the PA so no poweramp or any other multiFX, pretty simple.

Do you guys think it's worth it to go for one of the expensive full-featured ones? I mean, yeah, they regulate the power current if I'm not mistaken, but that is useful when? just when the power shut down all the sudden?

 

[rsm]

The old ones had pretty colored lights. My newest one has a nice blue digital number readout.

I have the power conditioners, PL-Plus or something models. Cleans the power supply, tells you the current level, provides convenient power to rack units and will sacrifice itself before my more expensive gear gets fried....or so I hope. I'd rather lose a $200 easy-to-replace furman than my rack gear at $400 and up per unit, some of my rack units are hard to find these days in good condition if at all.

 

[Proco]

PL series, good to know

Well it's gonna be either the 11R or an AxeFX Std if I find one for reasonable price here in Europe and a Line6 G90 wireless system which is a little pricey but gets a lot of rave so why not, and because of the Z-Input or whatever on the 11R a wireless system with a "real cable" sound should be better.. I guess...

 

[rsm]

PL series, good to know

Well it's gonna be either the 11R or an AxeFX Std if I find one for reasonable price here in Europe and a Line6 G90 wireless system which is a little pricey but gets a lot of rave so why not, and because of the Z-Input or whatever on the 11R a wireless system with a "real cable" sound should be better.. I guess...

I have a Furman power conditioner in each of my racks, since back in the day. For an Axe-Fx you may want to consider a voltage regulator...costs alot more but could be worth considering.

Here are a few pics of them, PL-Plus II Series II (colored lights) and PL-Plus DMC (digital readout):

 

[Proco]

What good would a voltage regulator make to the Axe (and I guess any other multiFX/preamp)?

 

[Artoo]

I think it depends on where you live as we don't get surges or brown outs here in the UK. I will happily be told otherwise though.

 

[Proco]

Well I live in Barcelona right now but in a month I'll be moving back to London for good, so... yeah, let's say London (I kinda live between both cities tho).

 

[coderKen]

What good would a voltage regulator make to the Axe (and I guess any other multiFX/preamp)?

Well, for one thing, the more stable you can make your power supply, the easier it is on your equipment. If you're dropping the cash on an axe-fx (still expensive even if you get a great deal....), it would make sense to take the best care of you can and reguating the power it gets is part of that.

 

[Proco]

So... sorry if it seems a little lazy on my side but, could you guys tell me which model/s from Furman lineup? I mean... they have like 4 times the same ones with different names on it, I can't tell the difference :S I'm really interested, it's the first time I'll own rack gear (it's always been amp plus pedals) and although it'll be a simple, minimalistic one I wanna do it right... specially since it won't be cheap (I'll need a rack case and a MIDI foot controller too).

 

[Guitar Vilain]

Here's my take on this: unless you gig at places with really ****** AC power, I'd just get a lightweight 2 space case for the 11R and be done with it (that's what I did BTW). The reasons are simple, you can get a power strip with line filter and surge protection for a lot cheaper than the Furmans, and it will fit nicely at the back of the case. The power conditioning series is more expensive and quite heavy, and since the power supply on the 11R is self-regulated from 100V to 240V conditioning in this case is pretty much useless.

 

[dspellman]

They ensure proper power levels, clean noise out of the power signal and provide surge protection. Seems like a no-brainer.

They don't necessarily do all that. If your voltage is low, your voltage is low with or without a power conditioner. They don't bump the power level up to where it should be They provide some RFI noise filtration, but don't clean noise completely out of the power signal, and while they do provide some minimal surge protection, a big surge will still get through to your gear.

The Carvin AC-120 is a nice unit that's less expensive (around $129 at the moment) than the Furman, does most of the same things. Even has a pair of pretty pull-out lights so that you can see what's going on with the rest of the rack. http://www.carvinguitars.com/products/single.php?product=AC120S&cid=61

One of the nice things it does (as do some of the other units by other manufacturers as well) is allow you to turn on your gear sequentially with a delay (usually there are choices of the time of the delay), one after the other, so that you aren't inducing a surge by turning everything on at once. So you watch the pretty blue lights as it powers up first one socket, then another, then another. When they're all lit, you play.

What I've found is the best power conditioning (and I think absolutely necessary if you're going to be playing on the back of a flat bed fed by a generator for one of those outdoor hot rod meet or flea market kind of things) is to buy the biggest UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply, the ones that back up the big computer servers) you can find with the biggest baddest battery they have and hook it up to your most vital and temperamental gear. What happens with the good ones is that they're essentially battery chargers. They take whatever crap voltage is handed them and they charge the big old lead acid battery. Then on the other side of things there's a gizmo that outputs pretty and very clean regulated voltage. Some do this, some don't. Find one that does. It will weigh a lot and will save your gear. What's funny about it is that when (not if) the generator inevitably trips a breaker, you and the drummer are still making noise while everyone else is looking at their gear for a couple of seconds trying to figure out why it's not making music. The battery will allow you a few minutes (in my case, an hour or more) of power until it dies.

 

[Guitar Vilain]

They don't necessarily do all that. If your voltage is low, your voltage is low with or without a power conditioner. They don't bump the power level up to where it should be They provide some RFI noise filtration, but don't clean noise completely out of the power signal, and while they do provide some minimal surge protection, a big surge will still get through to your gear.

Yes they do, but only the regulator line models. I own a Furman AR-1215 which is a voltage regulator - it has a multi-stage toroidal transformer and switching electronics inside (yes I looked and it's quite a nice engineering feat), that's why it's kinda heavy. It outputs constant 120V while fed with voltages from 97 to 141V coming from the power outlet, but like I've said since the power supply in the 11R takes 100 - 240V it's pretty much useless for this particular application.

However the one thing it does that line filters won't do is effectively protect your gear in the event of a severe power surge because of its "extreme over/under voltage shutdown" feature. The only possibility for a surge of such a magnitude that I know of would be exposed and unprotected power lines being struck by lightning.

 

[MoPho]

^ I did quite a bit of research on this before settling on the 1215 and reading dspellman's input was extremely insightful. Look him up and you'll see the guy knows his sh*t. The 1215 is equivalent in weight to a Rocktron Velocity 300 for those who have lugged that around. HEAVY. Kinda hard to find, but I'd buy it again over the glorified powerstrips most people install in their racks.

 

[frquent flyer]

I have a furman PF 1800 power conditioner purchased from AMS. It seems to do a good job in controlling noisey interference.I bought a "blem" unit and saved $100,paying just $289.

 

[DigitalTube]

Let's say I decide to buy an 11R... should I get a Furman too? I see them in almost any rack gig and I know nothing about theirs models or which exactly is their purpose.

If someone can educate me on that I'd be very thankful

Not sure if you need one or not, but I believe it's worth having one in your rack, they're heavy, I use the Furman AR-15 Voltage Regulator.
About 5 years ago I had the Furman in my rack, and while doing a gig in Australia it completely fried!!!! don't know what happened, but at the time it was powering a Boogie Triaxis and a TC G- Force, and they weren't damaged at all, so now even with the Axe FX I still use it, just hate the extra weight it adds to my rack..
Also we've had gigs where the keyboards were going crazy shutting off etc, and plugging into the Furman solved it.