Isolated power - Joyo ZGP

digitalscream

My pedalboard has a somewhat unusual power setup, in that I use USB power banks (the kind of batteries you can use to charge your mobile phone), so I can stay free of ground loops etc.

Annoyingly, when I added a MIDI -> TRS converter, I ended up with a lot of noise thanks to the MIDI controller being pretty noisy on the common ground with the pedals.

The simple solution is an isolator, because I didn't want to use multiple batteries on the board (I have one extra as a spare under the board, but I didn't want to have three or four batteries under there). I got in touch with GigRig about their Isolator, since it seemed perfect as a replacement for the Distributor I've got in there. They wouldn't give me any information at all and just said, "We don't advise the use of any of our products unless all the power components are from us" (paraphrased). That didn't sit right with me.

Then I discovered the Joyo ZGP, which was £11. Too good to be true, right? Nope. Works perfectly - just sit it between the Distributor and the MIDI controller, and job done. It's also tiny.

Then I compared it to the GigRig Timelord (which would also have done the job) and I'm struggling to find an upside to the TimeLord. They both handle 9V power, but the TimeLord can only handle 550mA whereas the ZGP can do up to 800mA, is a lot smaller, and is £48 cheaper.

So...yeah. If you need to isolate one pedal (or one bunch of pedals) on your board, you could do a lot worse than the Joyo ZGP.

monquixote

Excellent.

I was looking for one of those for ages.

Diago used to make one, but it was about £40 and could only do about 100mA which wasn't enough for the kind of digital pedals you probably want to use it with.

You can spend stupid amounts of money on isolated power supplies and still have issues if pedals are noisy and you don't have the cabling routed exactly right. Assuming you only have a load of analog pedals and one or two digital delays etc you can get great results just using a one spot on a daisy chain and an isolator. Much cheaper and tidier.

digitalscream

Yeah, the Diago one was also not that great, and didn't fix my problem with an Eventide Timefactor. Ended up having to buy a fully-isolated supply anyway.

The ZGP is a brilliant bit of kit, though. Highly recommended - you just can't get it on next-day delivery anywhere, even Prime.

springhead

Hey that's a top tip.  I'm going to try one on my tuner pedal, it upsets the rest of the board when engaged.

digitalscream

For what it's worth, they also do the ZGP-W, which includes a USB -> 2.1mm cable and takes 5V in and puts filtered 9V out, which does it all in the box, as opposed to having to splice and reverse the polarity of a USB -> 9V converter like I did.

NelsonP

I've got several of these. Want to put a digital and analog pedal on the same daisy chain? Just put a Joyo ZGP on one of the pedals and the noise is gone.

They work 9 times out of 10. A mate of mine runs 5 pedals on a daisy chain. He had a lot of noise so we isolated the pedal that was causing it (a Digitech Whammy), with a ZGP and now it's a quiet as a mouse.

Jalapeno

Do keep up 007 !

https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/168784/joyo-zgp-power-isolater

TTBZ

Would this work to quieten down a noisy Digitech Drop powered off a One Spot daisy chain? Sounds like it should if it did the job for @NelsonP 's mates Whammy.

monquixote

TTBZ said:

Would this work to quieten down a noisy Digitech Drop powered off a One Spot daisy chain? Sounds like it should if it did the job for @NelsonP 's mates Whammy.

I would think so

NelsonP

TTBZ said:

Would this work to quieten down a noisy Digitech Drop powered off a One Spot daisy chain? Sounds like it should if it did the job for @NelsonP 's mates Whammy.

No way to know without trying it unfortunately, but they are useful things to have lying around and pretty cheap so worth a shot.

PhilM

I've had a pair of ZGPs on my board for a couple of years now - have been great 

NelsonP

I have a Truetone CS6 and way more than 6 pedals on the board, so I've always had to daisy chain the analog ones. 

I've just added another pedal to my board, which meant that I've put a digital pedal onto the end of the daisy chain, an EHX pitchfork.  Mixing analog and digital pedals on the same daisy chain is usually a big no no. Not surprisingly, it created a slight whining noise, which was pretty irritating.

So I put a ZGP in between the daisy chain and the pitchfork and it's dead quiet again.

digitalscream

For what it's worth...I had the rig running at rehearsal on Thursday, and it was...silent (in a good way). So impressed with this little £11 stick. I have to wonder why anybody would go with the GigRig Timelord at this point, given that it's more than five times the price for the same thing, but with lower maximum current draw.

Keefy

I got one of these a few months back. All the pedals on my board are analog and share the same supply (GigRig Generator). This never caused any problems till I got a Fender Lost Highway Phaser, which 'leaked' clock noise (ticking) into my EQD Colby Fuzz Sound, even with the phaser off. I put the ZGP in line with the phaser's 9V supply and all is now quiet.

At the time the ZGP was only in stock at Kytary, so the postage cost as much as the gadget itself, but it was still worth it.

normula1

Thanks got this, I've bought one in the hope that it'll keep my Pocket Pod quiet. It really hates shared power supplies even those with allegedly isolated outputs.

springhead

I bought one to try on the strength of this and it cures the noise issue I've got on both my boards.  One of them I was having to use two psu's for, so can now ditch one thanks to this.  Second ZGP on order now, very pleased! 

NelsonP

springhead said:

I bought one to try on the strength of this and it cures the noise issue I've got on both my boards.  One of them I was having to use two psu's for, so can now ditch one thanks to this.  Second ZGP on order now, very pleased! 

Nice!