1-Spot Noise

[marnold]

Hi all,

I fired up my Jet City for what was the first time in an embarrassingly long amount of time. As soon as I cranked up the gain (as is my custom) I got a level of noise that made me concerned about the state of my amph. So I began some troubleshooting. I started by yanking out the leads to the effects loop. The noise went away. Aha! I narrowed it down to my 1-Spot. If I plug something in directly to the 1-Spot itself, everything works well and quietly. As soon as I try to use the daisy-chain thing, the noise comes back. Obviously I have a short somewhere because if I mess with the lead, the noise gets stronger or weaker and it's crackly the whole time. Also, my Digitech Hardwire delay adds its own noise if it's daisy chained, but it's as quiet as a church mouse when plugged in directly.

So here's my question: is it worth getting another daisy chain cord? Would I be better served getting some other kind of power supply? I don't really want to leave only one pedal powered at a time (where's the fun in that?). Any suggestions on a reasonably-priced but good quality power supply? My birthday is coming up in a few weeks (50, yikes) so this would be as good of a time as any.

FYI: I have four pedals plugged in at all times: my tuner, my beloved Thesis 96 (thanks again, DVM!), my Hardwire delay, and my Polara reverb. Others occasionally get put on.

[tjcurtin1]

Assuming that it used to work fine with the daisy-chain, it almost certainly means a bad cable, unless something has gone awry in one of the pedals. It happened to me that my Danelactro overdrive pedal would ONLY work noiselessly with a Danelectro power supply, so don't know if something like that could be an issue...

[marnold]

Thinking of upgrading to the 1-Spot's bigger brother, the 1-Spot Pro CS7 (http://truetone.com/cs7/).

[duhvoodooman]

The really good power supplies with individually isolated outputs start a bit north of $100 and go up from there. I'm guessing that's more than you would like to spend.

But there are some cheaper ones that work quite well, particularly if you avoid using "daisy chain" connectors and run a single pedal off each output. Here are a couple I've had good results with, and both can be had for under $40, shipping included:

Caline CP-05: 10 outputs with 7 x 9V/100ma, and one each 9V/500mA (good for digital pedals that require a lot of current), 12V/100mA and 18V/100mA. I have one of these powering part of my home pedal chain right now.

https://www.amazon.com/Caline-Guitar-Circuit-Overcurrent-Protection/dp/B01LSHMR86

Donner DP-1: Amazon sells a TON of these (740 customer reviews!), and they get generally very good feedback (average 4.3 out of 5). Looks like the same exact unit as the Caline to me, so I wouldn't be surprised if they both come off the same Chinese assembly line. I recently bought a different, more expensive Donner model for my church praise band pedal because I needed a 12V output with a higher mA current rating for my TC Electronics Nova Delay. So far, so good on that one.

https://www.amazon.com/Donner-Guitar-Supply-Isolated-Output/dp/B00WHLLDWO/ref=pd_lpo_vtph_267_bs_tr_img_1

BTW, both of these units advertise themselves as having "isolated outputs", but from what I've read, this is not the rigorous degree of electrical isolation that something like a Voodoo Lab "brick" offers, which is considerably more expensive to manufacture.

[marnold]

Both of those seem to be similar to the Joyo one. I'm guessing that they're all rebranded. My concern with those is that they are essentially fancy daisy-chaining. Yes, they are individually fused. Theoretically there should be less noise. I've got a lot of potential noise sources near my amph which concerns me. Ever since I got my amph retubed I thought it was oddly noisier than I thought it should be. I should have done some troubleshooting then. It was still quieter than it was with the Chinese tubes so that's probably why I didn't pursue it.

The CS7 is $119 (as are the comparable T-Rex and Voodoo Labs). That's a lot of cash to be sure, but if it solves the problem permanently . . . Plus when you think about how much pedals are going for these days. . . If it weren't also my birthday I probably wouldn't even have considered it.

[tjcurtin1]

Happy Birthday, Rev - hope you get what yer wishin' fer!

[marnold]

It seems like my OD pedal and the delay don't like being daisy chained together. Removing one or the other seems to get rid of the noise. My reverb pedal seems to play nicely with others.

My wife is running our washing machine in the other room. It's supposed to be one of those high efficiency ones. I get pulses of noise as the basket moves in it. And I've got a fluorescent light in my office. And my computer. And a fridge and freezer in the next room. And my furnace. Lots of potential for noise. Any further questions as to why I like noiseless single coils? :)

[duhvoodooman]

It seems like my OD pedal and the delay don't like being daisy chained together. Removing one or the other seems to get rid of the noise.
You could always run your OD2 off a 9V battery. It only draws about 5mA of current, so a typical alkaline 9V battery should last somewhere around 80 - 100 hours of use. If you pony up for one of those lithium "ultra" 9V's, you should get somewhere between 200 - 250 hours. Just remember to take the cable out of the input jack (which disconnects the battery ground) between uses. Just sayin'....

[tjcurtin1]

There ya go, Vood - sometimes the simplest answer...

Just caught a glimpse of your guitar line-up while responding... dang, I think I need another guitar - or two! ;)

[duhvoodooman]

Just caught a glimpse of your guitar line-up while responding... dang, I think I need another guitar - or two! ;)
Yeah, well....don't ask me to defend that! Electric guitars are my one vice....

[marnold]

You could always run your OD2 off a 9V battery. It only draws about 5mA of current, so a typical alkaline 9V battery should last somewhere around 80 - 100 hours of use. If you pony up for one of those lithium "ultra" 9V's, you should get somewhere between 200 - 250 hours. Just remember to take the cable out of the input jack (which disconnects the battery ground) between uses. Just sayin'....

I didn't think about that. Of course, remembering to remove the cable might be troublesome. I'm old, you know. Of course, I'm still on the first 9V in my bass. I checked it with a multimeter and its fine. Those preamps must be pretty efficient.


Electric guitars are my one vice....

That and solder fumes.

[marnold]

Just another thought. Another cheaper solution that wouldn't require messing with batteries is to get a second 1-Spot adapter. My only question would be (since I am not an electrical engineer) is this: if I plug both 1-Spots into the same extension cord am I going to have the same problem since they will share a common ground at that point? Or would the two be isolated enough? My uneducated guess is that it would be enough isolation because even with a power brick ultimately there is a common ground when you plug it in.

Of course, that wouldn't solve the problem if there is indeed a short or some other flakiness in my daisy chain. At this point I'm thinking that moving the plug around is just making noise because of the noise that's already there. It never actually cuts out.

[marnold]

Bought another 1-Spot. and 5x daisy chain. Initially when I plugged in the second 1-Spot I got a little noise. Once I plugged pedals into it that noise went away. So I've got my OD and tuner on the old one and my Polaris reverb and Hardwire delay. Thus far, no noise beyond what is produced by the amph itself and/or the pickups. Hopefully it will remain this way.

[Robert]

I still use a 1-Spot sometimes. Great in most cases and not overly expensive. Hope you're all set now, Marnold.

[marnold]

I think I will be. If I was actually was playing out anywhere, I'd definitely get something like the 1-Spot CS7, but this will do the trick for me. Previously the noise was bad enough to be intolerable.