Pedal board PSU leads

[Geraint Jones]

Hi guys,
I`m thinking of putting together a board {economics fore-go a new ME-70} and I've noticed my pedals all have different power in jacks . The TS10 needs a female , the others are a DOD compression and delay which look like a 2.5 mm male jack and a Dunlop cry baby . Does anyone know the spec of these leads before i go ordering up random ones and then wishing I'd splashed out on the Boss rig . BTW i`m looking to get a common power supply that can run maybe 4 effects for home use only . Diolch

[hubberjub]

On the cheap, you can pick up something like a 1Spot. There must be something like that for Europe. Around here they are only like $20-25 bucks. The chain has a series of Boss style jacks and you can purchase adapters for whatever pedals you have.

[Geraint Jones]

Cheers Hubberjub I was looking at a brick type psu, but the lead jacks from the psu are not common to each stomp box . I'm assuming the DOD pedal jacks are the same as the Boss ones , its the tubescreamer which looks like the odd one out .

[hubberjub]

If you are willing to spend more, the Brick (or BBE Supa Charger/VooDoo Labs Pedal Power etc.) are great options. The newer DOD/Digitech pedals do have the same jack as Boss pedals. Older DODs have a jack that looks more like a mini-headphone jack. I use a BBE Supa-Charger on my board, but for the price it's hard to beat the 1Spot if you just have a few pedals.

[Geraint Jones]

I`ll probably get something like a 1Spot and the DOD pedals and the crybaby are all 80's vintage with what looks like a 2.5 mm h/set type jack, the TS10 is the odd one out . I've been looking at some Diago leads but will probably have to some more digging around.

[deeaa]

1Spot is great, I have had, uh up to six or seven pedals on it no problem.

If it were me I'd mod those odd pedals to have regular power inputs.

[Geraint Jones]

Deaa I really don't want to be stripping down my cherished TS10 , I've had it for nearly 20 years . I've got a habit of taking things apart, getting distracted then wondering where the blue/red/green wire went and why I've got a slack handful of nuts and bolts left over.

[deeaa]

Yeah, I see the point...well how about buying a suitable plug that fits the pedal and just a female standard jack and solder them together to make a few 'converter' cables? Can't cost more than a dollar or two...I have made a couple that simply change the polarity (my Morley and some other pedal were different polarity than others)

[Geraint Jones]

I've emailed the fantastically named http://www.johnnyshredfreak.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=8&products_id=12
I'm hoping he'll know what I want .

[Geraint Jones]

I seem to have hit another stumbling block , the psu I've got provides -ve tipped 9V , this works fine on a TS10 and my Epi delay [which also have the boss type connectors].The DOD pedals on the other hand seem to require a +ve tip 9V supply . Now I can get a link lead that will convert tip polarity but can't run both types of pedal off a common psu so I'd need 2 of them to run the 2 pedal types . Like Deaa mentioned earlier can i open up the DOD pedals and just switch the wiring around from the power in jack . It's been a while since I've had to think about electronics but all these pedals run off a 9V battery so if I say just swap the black and red wires will that switch the polarity to what I require .

[deeaa]

I see no problem in doing exactly that. I've just soldered a short polarity swap lead together, but now that you mention it, going inside the casing would be much more convenient in the long run and does exactly the same job.

[Geraint Jones]

I've been thinking about this while i walked the dog today . If I swapped the input voltage connections around wouldn't this put 9v directly onto the pedal chassis which may not be a good idea.

[deeaa]

I've been thinking about this while i walked the dog today . If I swapped the input voltage connections around wouldn't this put 9v directly onto the pedal chassis which may not be a good idea.

IF it's an all metal jack, yeah...and may indeed be the reason it is the way it is arranged...um, is the ground then the chassis? But if it's a plastic Boss type jack it won't change a thing. Good catch though...

[DeanEVO_Dude]

I seem to have hit another stumbling block , the psu I've got provides -ve tipped 9V , this works fine on a TS10 and my Epi delay [which also have the boss type connectors].The DOD pedals on the other hand seem to require a +ve tip 9V supply . Now I can get a link lead that will convert tip polarity but can't run both types of pedal off a common psu so I'd need 2 of them to run the 2 pedal types . Like Deaa mentioned earlier can i open up the DOD pedals and just switch the wiring around from the power in jack . It's been a while since I've had to think about electronics but all these pedals run off a 9V battery so if I say just swap the black and red wires will that switch the polarity to what I require .

Hi, before you tear into the DOD pedal, are these part of the old (80s/90s USA made) FX series. Compressor - FX80(B), etc. If they are, you can get adaptors for them. The adaptors that are sold for the OneSpot system work very well, I should know, I bought some for mine - FX50, 55, 65, 80 and I have had no problems, even though the docs say "10vdc" a 9vdc adaptor (such as OneSpot) works great.

[ZMAN]

Not sure what part of Europe you are from. Do you have 220 V 50hz or 230.
I swear by a company called Furman. They have an excellent product and are very power concious. They have adaptors and have various size plugs with their boards. They also have adaptors for 230 220. They also have included plugs for wall warts that come with specific pedals. The pedals I own all have the MA ratings on them.
I would take a look at the Furman boards. They may have a solution for you.
http://www.furmansound.com/product.php?id=SPB-8

[Geraint Jones]

Hi, before you tear into the DOD pedal, are these part of the old (80s/90s USA made) FX series. Compressor - FX80(B), etc. If they are, you can get adaptors for them. The adaptors that are sold for the OneSpot system work very well, I should know, I bought some for mine - FX50, 55, 65, 80 and I have had no problems, even though the docs say "10vdc" a 9vdc adaptor (such as OneSpot) works great.

Cheers for the replies guys , Dean what sort of adaptor have you got , the psu I`ve got is similar to the 1spot and would be perfect for Boss style input jacks not the mini headset style my DOD stuff needs.As I mentioned reversing the polarity may just put the line voltage straight to chassis/earth . I knew in the long run it would have been cheaper to get an ME70. I can see me putting an order in with DVM soon !

[deeaa]

I don't think 220 or 230 makes any difference. They've slowly risen the voltage here it seems...used to be everything was 220, these days I only see 230 labels everywhere. Ten volts makes not a lot of difference to a transformer...but the frequency must be correct (50).

[DeanEVO_Dude]

I've got the Behringer version of the OneSpot. The polarity Is already taken care of by the 2.1mm to 3.5mm adaptor. Most Boss pedals and many others are a 2.1mm barrel connector, older DOD (made in USA) are a 3.5mm TS (like the size of a pair of headphones for a portable stereo).
Here is a link that I found, so that you can see what I am talking about...

http://www.massstreetmusic.com/store/show_item/2830-Visual-Sound-3-5-Millimeter-Converter

The polarity is the Tip is positive, and the Sleve is negative or ground. The adaptors for the OneSpot are wired for this already and you just plug them into the 2.1mm barrel connector on the daisy chain cable. You don't have to rewire anything. Your Crybaby Wah should (if it is a Dunlop) be a "center negative" type of barrel connector, just like the Boss pedals are. So, all you need are the requesite number of 2.1mm barrel to 3.5mm TS adaptors for your DOD pedals and a daisy chain cable with enough connectors to attach to all your pedals. You wall voltage (110v here in the US, 220v in Europe) only matters for the actual power supply that plugs into the wall, not for the individual adaptor cables or daisy chain cables to power the pedals. If you want to use individual effects, instead of the ME70, check the local guitar shop and see if they carry the OneSpot accessories.

[DeanEVO_Dude]

...but the frequency must be correct (50).

Just to make a little correction, the Frequency only matters with devices that use the 50Hz/cps or the 60Hz/cps for timing, frequency, or speed. It does not matter if the device is just converting voltage from AC to DC. So for a power adaptor for pedals won't care what the frequency is, just that the voltage is correct (the pedals don't care either, they run on DC voltage, so there is no frequency).

For example, an Amp does not care what the frequency of the power it is plugged into is, it only cares if the voltage is correct. A clock, however, does care what the frequency is, because it uses it to maintain the correct speed (it also cares that the voltage is correct as well).

[Ch0jin]

Just to make a little correction, the Frequency only matters with devices that use the 50Hz/cps or the 60Hz/cps for timing, frequency, or speed........

Spot on (pun intended.......) haha

Also


As I mentioned reversing the polarity may just put the line voltage straight to chassis/earth .

Something I found out through my own total stupidity a couple of days ago and posted HERE (http://www.thefret.net/showthread.php?t=16706) as a warning ;)