Power supply for small Boss board

Flanging_Fred

I have one of those little Boss BSB-30 pedal cases with 3 pedals in it; a PH1r phaser, BD2 blues Driver an a DM2W delay.  It's a great little setup which I use for jams and as a back up to my main pedalboard, should it go pear shaped at a gig.

Anyway, Id like a tiny power supply that can power the three pedals, but is small enough so it can fit in the top corner of the box when it's shut.  I tried a Daisy chain with the Roland 9v 500mA that came with my micro cube, but there was tons of noise, especially with the bd2 on with some gain. I also tried with an old Zoom power supply with the same result. I was a bit surprised at this as all the pedals are analog, but that's what's happening.

So does anyone have any recommendations (other than using batteries, which I'm currently doing) on power.  I'm thinking a One Spot might work but I'm concerned about doing the Daisy chain thing given my experience so far.

Flanging_Fred

Here's the board before I swapped in the bd2

robinbowes

Personally, I'd buy a small switching supply that is physically suitable and a GigRig Isolator which will ensure you have no noise issues.

R.

simonk

How about one of these:

http://www.hotroxuk.com/warwick-rockboard-power-lt-xl.html?utm_source=GoogleBase&utm_medium=organic&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIhaWp7f3n3gIV1oXVCh0Z3Qm5EAkYAiABEgJDFfD_BwE

HAL9000

Voodoo Lab X4 has four isolated 9v outs, and will just about fit into your palm. 

Flanging_Fred

Thanks for the suggestions chaps. Some things there to look at and consider.

steamabacus

robinbowes said:

Personally, I'd buy a small switching supply that is physically suitable and a GigRig Isolator which will ensure you have no noise issues.

R.

One issue with this approach is that the PH-1r takes ACA power and so will be underpowered on an isolated 9V supply. The pedal could be modded to PSA power of course (it's a fairly simple mod).

I had exactly this issue with a Boss BF-2 on my small board. I was getting noise when daisy chained (interference between the BF-2 and a TC Alter Ego) and so went down the GigRig isolator route, which really is an excellent compact unit. But, of course, that meant modding the BF-2 (which just involved a jumper wire across two of the wire connections onto the circuit board).

ACA/PSA info here ... http://stinkfoot.se/archives/726

TimmyO

steamabacus said:

robinbowes said:

Personally, I'd buy a small switching supply that is physically suitable and a GigRig Isolator which will ensure you have no noise issues.

R.

One issue with this approach is that the PH-1r takes ACA power and so will be underpowered on an isolated 9V supply. The pedal could be modded to PSA power of course (it's a fairly simple mod).

I had exactly this issue with a Boss BF-2 on my small board. I was getting noise when daisy chained (interference between the BF-2 and a TC Alter Ego) and so went down the GigRig isolator route, which really is an excellent compact unit. But, of course, that meant modding the BF-2 (which just involved a jumper wire across two of the wire connections onto the circuit board).

ACA/PSA info here ... http://stinkfoot.se/archives/726

yep with those the simplest thing is to daisy chain them with a 'proper' 9v pedal and you're sorted 

steamabacus

TimmyO said:

steamabacus said:

robinbowes said:

Personally, I'd buy a small switching supply that is physically suitable and a GigRig Isolator which will ensure you have no noise issues.

R.

One issue with this approach is that the PH-1r takes ACA power and so will be underpowered on an isolated 9V supply. The pedal could be modded to PSA power of course (it's a fairly simple mod).

I had exactly this issue with a Boss BF-2 on my small board. I was getting noise when daisy chained (interference between the BF-2 and a TC Alter Ego) and so went down the GigRig isolator route, which really is an excellent compact unit. But, of course, that meant modding the BF-2 (which just involved a jumper wire across two of the wire connections onto the circuit board).

ACA/PSA info here ... http://stinkfoot.se/archives/726

yep with those the simplest thing is to daisy chain them with a 'proper' 9v pedal and you're sorted 

Then we're back to square one with the original post, where there is noise on the common ground.

Any isolated solution will need a 12V option for the PH-1r or for the PH-1r to be modded.

Alternatively, you could experiment with the PH-1r sharing a daisy chain with one of pedals and the third on an isolated supply (I suspect that the PH-1r and DM-2w sharing a common ground will be the main culprit)

robinbowes

steamabacus said:

robinbowes said:

Personally, I'd buy a small switching supply that is physically suitable and a GigRig Isolator which will ensure you have no noise issues.

R.

One issue with this approach is that the PH-1r takes ACA power and so will be underpowered on an isolated 9V supply. The pedal could be modded to PSA power of course (it's a fairly simple mod).

I had exactly this issue with a Boss BF-2 on my small board. I was getting noise when daisy chained (interference between the BF-2 and a TC Alter Ego) and so went down the GigRig isolator route, which really is an excellent compact unit. But, of course, that meant modding the BF-2 (which just involved a jumper wire across two of the wire connections onto the circuit board).

ACA/PSA info here ... http://stinkfoot.se/archives/726

In that case, I'd add a Gigrig ACA AOK adapter, either directly from the raw power or possibly from the Isolator (current requirement should be low enough to work).

Although, that rather bumps the price up, when a simple mod of the pedal would fix this issue.

R.

TTBZ

That new Dunlop/MXR mini one looks great. Might be worth a look.

ICBM

Boss PSA-240. It's purposely designed to do the job.

clarkefan

500ma is plenty for that setup, why is there noise in the first place?  Have you tried each pedal individually with known good cables to see if one of them, or a dodgy patch lead, is causing the noise rather than the PSU?

Personally I'd rather use a daisy chain than modify a PH-1r (and I do), what you're doing should be fine.  A 1-Spot would also be fine, maybe even overkill.

If you need all that Gigrig gubbins for such a simple setup then something is wrong somewhere.

Flanging_Fred

ICBM said:

Boss PSA-240. It's purposely designed to do the job.

I had considered this but from the pictures, it looks like a bit of chunky fella.  I assumed it wouldn’t fit in the box. 

Flanging_Fred

clarkefan said:

500ma is plenty for that setup, why is there noise in the first place?  Have you tried each pedal individually with known good cables to see if one of them, or a dodgy patch lead, is causing the noise rather than the PSU?

Personally I'd rather use a daisy chain than modify a PH-1r (and I do), what you're doing should be fine.  A 1-Spot would also be fine, maybe even overkill.

If you need all that Gigrig gubbins for such a simple setup then something is wrong somewhere.

Not sure why it’s so noisy either. It might be the daisy chain cable but I doubt it. The patch cables are from ne I think.

ICBM

Flanging_Fred said:

ICBM said:

Boss PSA-240. It's purposely designed to do the job.

I had considered this but from the pictures, it looks like a bit of chunky fella.  I assumed it wouldn’t fit in the box. 

Mine does .

Flanging_Fred

ICBM said:

Flanging_Fred said:

ICBM said:

Boss PSA-240. It's purposely designed to do the job.

I had considered this but from the pictures, it looks like a bit of chunky fella.  I assumed it wouldn’t fit in the box. 

Mine does .

Well, then it’s probably fine then 

breakthemachinefx

T-REX do some nice ones, there is a small junior and a chameleon which handles multiple voltages. Both built to last, had the chameleon on the board here for years.

zepp76

It's pricey but the Strymon Ojai is a great power supply.

Maynehead

I swapped my PSA-240 which came with my BCB-60 for a PSA-230, which is smaller, lighter, plus has 500mA max current compared to 200mA of the PSA-240.

Both powered 6 pedals through a daisy chain no problem.

ICBM

Maynehead said:

I swapped my PSA-240 which came with my BCB-60 for a PSA-230, which is smaller, lighter, plus has 500mA max current compared to 200mA of the PSA-240.

Do you notice any increase in noise? I have with some of the new switch-mode (the smaller and lighter) ones. The older PSA-240 is transformer-based.