help with daisy chain, power adapters blabla

[Puddle Smasher]

I'm sorry..I really need help like cause I'm building a pedal board soon.Searched around soft..I know there is 9v bla bla but there are different wattages like 200 ma blabla..idk like the power supply this and that.. I really need to know what to look out for. .anything that will spoil my pedals..anything that may screw up/make my sound better.anyone willing to share please do =)

 

[J.custom]

Most pedals out there can be powered by a 9V DC adapter, in case you were wondering, V stands for volts. Different adapters can supply different amount of current, the two that are the most common are the OneSpot and the Godlyke powerall, supplying 1200mA and 2000mA respectively.

If you're into fuzzes and stuff, gotta watch out for the polarity of the centre of the adaptor, can't remb much about this cos I'm not into fuzzes.

 

[carboxymoron]

The most common type of power required is 9V DC centre-negative. Most Boss / MXR / Digitech / other brands use this. To check whether it's centre-negative, there is sometimes a picture of two circles like this:

The current (measured in amps, A, or milliamps, mA) is how much your pedal actually consumes. Digital pedals like delays and reverbs tend to have higher current draw while simple overdrives and boosts may require very little. If you get a good adapter like the OneSpot or Godlyke, you can easily daisy chain 10 or more pedals, assuming they all run on 9v DC. The standard included Boss adapter only supplies about 200mA, which is ok if you are only powering 2 or 3 simple pedals, but the OneSpot/Godlyke are cheap and worth it.

There are also different voltages. Some pedals are designed to work at 18v, or 12v, or any other voltage for many reasons. Some can run on a range (9v-18v means you can run it at any voltage between those two and the sound may change slightly), but usually it's not interchangeable.

And lastly there's also AC vs DC. Most pedals run on DC. Some bigger ones like Digitech Whammy or Line 6 multieffects run on AC. These are also usually not interchangeable.

 

[Puddle Smasher]

Most pedals out there can be powered by a 9V DC adapter, in case you were wondering, V stands for volts. Different adapters can supply different amount of current, the two that are the most common are the OneSpot and the Godlyke powerall, supplying 1200mA and 2000mA respectively. If you're into fuzzes and stuff, gotta watch out for the polarity of the centre of the adaptor, can't remb much about this cos I'm not into fuzzes.

Thanks..so I got these pedals..9v kind..connect all to a daisy chain..in turn connect to a power suply(in this case all the one spot adaptor stuff u were saying ) and then to plug right..think I'm confused adaptor is like for one pedal wheres daisy chain to power supply to plug is for many right? Any other brands (works well ) that y'all can name? Thanks so much btw

 

[carboxymoron]

The Godlyke powerall worked better for me (very slightly less noise) while others have better luck with the OneSpot. Both are good quality products.

A daisy chain (lets say a 5-way daisy chain) has one input and 5 output. It splits the power from your adapter so you can connect more pedals.

You plug the adapter (OneSpot/Godlyke) into the wall socket. Then you connect the daisy chain to the adapter. Then you connect many pedals to the daisy chain (1 pedal to each output on the daisy chain).

 

[zesn]

I find it odd sometimes when the pedal says DC power only, and then the adaptor says it provides AC power, and then they work.

 

[carboxymoron]

Are you sure the adapter says it provides AC, or it takes AC and outputs DC?

The label might say something like INPUT: 100-240V 50/60Hz 0.35A OUTPUT: 9vDC 1200mA

Very bad idea to mix AC and DC. Some things may still power up, but will eventually fail / get damaged.

 

[zesn]

Yeah i never read properly, input AC, output DC.
Eh, didn't know wall supplies AC.
Amps uses AC or DC?

 

[Brenkoh]

A daisy chain is basically a series of connectors.
A daisy chain looks like this:

A onespot is a power adapter.
A one spot looks like this:

You connect the onespot to your daisy chain.