Power for Empress Echosystem, Deco and Whammy

stickyfiddle

I have an Echosystem on the way, hopefully to reach me before the weekend. I'm sorting out a new board and trying to work out what power supply I need. Can anyone who has one tell me how they're powering it? 

The manual says 9V, 300mA, but does that need to be isolated or does it play nice with others? I'm looking at Gigrig stuff because I like the neatness in terms of cable lengths, but i'm not clear on the Echosystem's needs. 

This page (http://assets.empresseffects.com/power.html) suggests it's ok with most PSUs but the note under the DC Brick option says that causes noise since outputs are "not sufficiently isolated', so I assume a simple Distributor would be insufficient, as I'm assuming that's essentially a daisychain in a box.

I know the Whammy needs a high-current isolated out, and the Deco I think is ok without isolation (it's certainly fine on a daisy chain with some dirts and a phaser), but real-world experiences would be appreciated.

If I'm right that the ES needs isolation as well then I'm looking at a PP2+, I think, but that's less neat as would need a daisychain for at least a couple of pedals.

GavRichList

Personally wouldn’t chain the empress. The Superdelay didn’t like it, and I’m sure this’ll be the same. Generally chaining digital delays is something I’d try and avoid at all costs. 

stickyfiddle

GavRichList said:

Personally wouldn’t chain the empress. The Superdelay didn’t like it, and I’m sure this’ll be the same. Generally chaining digital delays is something I’d try and avoid at all costs. 

Yeah, I know that's the correct answer really. I'm just keen not to spend shitloads on power supplies if I don't have to. It's like insurance - you don't feel the benefit compared with buying a new shiny thing!

GavRichList

Agreed. Hated buying good power supplies, and good patch cables... but it makes such a difference. Have a look at the cioks stuff - swear by mine. 

english_bob

The new One Spot Pro supplies look to be well specced and reasonably priced. 

stickyfiddle

english_bob said:

The new One Spot Pro supplies look to be well specced and reasonably priced. 

I hadn’t seen those before. They look brilliant. Genuinely a do-all option. Not super cheap but potentially a perfect all-in-one solution

stickyfiddle

Right, I can't easily get the OneSpot in the UAE, but the place I'll get the board from also sells Cioks, so the DC10 should fit the bill. That said, we're then into gigrig prices, with potentially less flexibility. Gah!

Octafish

What about one of these ? Has isolated 9v outputs plus 12 and 18 volt  They've recently changed the design and it's now even more compact and includes a daisy chain to use from one of the 9v outputs so you can have up to 10. 

Octafish

GavRichList said:

Personally wouldn’t chain the empress. The Superdelay didn’t like it, and I’m sure this’ll be the same. Generally chaining digital delays is something I’d try and avoid at all costs. 

I know daisy chains can be problematic, but I have used the DD3, DD500 and Flashback 4x with the Diago daisy chain and had no problems.

dindude

I would def isolate it. The 4-way isolator from GR won't kick out enough (from memory) so you'll need a more specialised GR product to isolate it. I like GigRig stuff (I have a QMX on my board) and I have used the distributor and like the cable neatness of it, BUT, whenever I've costed out a full GR system it just doesn't make sense.

I've been using Cioks for years and they are brilliant. Although I'm about to move over to a Walrus Audio power supply, just because it suits present needs.

One word of caution - whenever I've been "on the edge" of power consumption, for example. a pedal rated at 250ma and a power supply outlet also rated at 250ma - it's never ended well - I guess due to tolerances on either side, best to have a little bit of headroom.

stickyfiddle

dindude said:

I would def isolate it. The 4-way isolator from GR won't kick out enough (from memory) so you'll need a more specialised GR product to isolate it. I like GigRig stuff (I have a QMX on my board) and I have used the distributor and like the cable neatness of it, BUT, whenever I've costed out a full GR system it just doesn't make sense.

I've been using Cioks for years and they are brilliant. Although I'm about to move over to a Walrus Audio power supply, just because it suits present needs.

One word of caution - whenever I've been "on the edge" of power consumption, for example. a pedal rated at 250ma and a power supply outlet also rated at 250ma - it's never ended well - I guess due to tolerances on either side, best to have a little bit of headroom.

Yeah, that's all sensible and in line with my understanding! From what I can glean online, the Whammy needs 265mA, the Deco needs 250mA and the Empress 300mA, so ideally I'd run each of those off a separate isolated output of 400mA or higher. From GigRig that would mean a Generator, 2 Distributors (or 1 plus an Isolator) AND 2x high current adaptors, which is getting into silly money. 

From current options (including working out shipping from Europe vs paying a little extra for something here but no shipping cost) I think the DC10 is the best bet. That'll mount neatly under a PT2 and need minimal daisychaining.

dindude

the DC10 will do it, albeit with a few quirks which I've never understood, i.e. the 400ma isolated sections have two outlets a piece, so if fully used then they pedals will be isolated in pairs (not individually) and at least one these pedals per section needs to be able to run on 12v or 15v. Then you'd need to combine the two 200ma outlets to get your third high power requirement.

Edit: and if you want real power, go for a Strymon Zuma - could probably charge your Tesla whilst your at it!

stickyfiddle

Bingo! The Zuma is actually only 15 quid more than the DC10 in my local. Might be worth it for the sake of future-proofing...