Power Supplies

[twin1965]

What type and brand of power supplies is everyone using? There certainly seems to be some favourites out there. Prices can vary enormously and the best psu might be beyond most peoples budgets.

What would be ideal is a psu that works on everything. i.e boosters, fuzzes, positive ground effects, modulation effetcs, delays etc. without noise or oscillation. (I know 'you pays you money....')!

I have had issues with this cheap pedal bank psu that I bough recently:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v618/larryhamster/july18012.jpg

It works fine with most fuzzes, distortions, delays (Aquaboy and multiplex) but creates terrible noise with the Stage Fright and Sharkfin that I'm 'rocking' right now. I also had a problem powering my Harbinger One with an 18V psu that I bought. I solved the problem by buying a Dunlop one. These psu's are switch mode types which seem to play havoc with some lfo based effects.

It's funny how the humble 9V battery still functions better than these 'fancy' power sources! I sometimes use batteries to test my builds before boxing.

What are you guys using on your Stage Fright and Sharkfin (or similar) builds?

Does this mean that I will end up using several psu's for different effects? Or shall I just splash-out on a very expensive power brick?

[pickdropper]

I use several different power supplies.  I have:

MXR MC403 - Huge and Expensive, but has been good so far.  Isolated outputs.  Has AC in for adding power strip.

Voodoo Labs Pedal Power+ - Isolated outputs, good quality.  Has AC input for adding power strip.

BBE Supa Charger - Similar to Pedal Power + (does have isolated outputs), but doesn't have AC input and is made in China.  Been solid so far.

1 Spot - This is a wall wart that can supply a lot of current, so a lot of people use it with the daisy chain cable, even though the outputs are not isolated.  In some situations it can be noisy, but it is inexpensive.  For what it's worth, I have used it to power my multi-effects build with a stage fright built in without a lot of noise.  I have a couple of these kicking around for powering pedals that aren't on my board.

[alanp]

I use a Godlyke Powerall, and an Ashton 9V adaptor.

I recently built a battery -> 2.1mm DC adaptor, and was highly annoyed to find my collosalus still bloody whined. Permanently in the 'bugger this' box, now.

[jimilee]

I use a Godlyke Powerall, and an Ashton 9V adaptor.

I recently built a battery -> 2.1mm DC adaptor, and was highly annoyed to find my collosalus still bloody whined. Permanently in the 'bugger this' box, now.

Have you tried it at 12v?

[aballen]

I use the aballen special.  The layout is up on diystompboxes.  It has 8 9vdc @300ma each and one 9vAC @ 1A,  all fully isolated based on the weber transformer.  Probably about $80 in parts.

[jighead81]

^ is that the kit at weber? I thought about trying that out. What enclosure did you use?

[aballen]

yeah thats the weber inside.... correction on the 9VAC, its actually 2 amps.
http://taweber.powweb.com/store/pdlxfmr.gif

some more pics.  Here is the final schematic I put together, using the LM317.


and the layout, mirrored for an etch, you would need two side by side... or stacked if you can find smaller 2200 mah caps.


stuffed board:


and yes the giant 2200 mah caps are necessary.

It was temporarily housed here, but the enclosure did not hold up well, so I put it in that hammond.



--Disclaimer
I dont really think it was a big deal to build, but most people(who are smarter than I) really try to turn you away from building something like this yourself.  Mains power can kill you, or simply blow up your equipment of done wrong.  So please don't attempt to build something like this unless you understand the risks, proper precautions, and you accept complete responsibility/liability for those risks.

[twin1965]

I made a filtered and regulated power supply many many years ago. At least if you make it yourself you know what the quality of the components are like. Yes, you do need to be careful with high voltages and I would not recommend this to someone starting out in this hobby.