I can tell you from experience that occasionally some specific pedals will make noise in my setup, in particular my MXR Poly Blue. It makes a particular sound when running it with the daisy chain powered by the One Spot. Because it's just one pedal, an isolated power supply makes less sense then just running it on a seperate 9v adapter that came with the pedal but an isolated power supply would work the same in theory. However, I own about 40 pedals and when running five or six pedals from a single One Spot, this is the only pedal I've ever had a problem with. Interestingly enough, I have had problems with noisy power supplies when running other power supplies than the One Spot with a daisy chain but switching those out for a One Spot completely or almost completely removes all the noise. So the power supply that you use with a daisy chain actually does matter.
@@kristenvespera4835 Ihave a One Spot and haven't noticed any problems. But I'm interested in trying to figure out why the problem sometimes appears separate from there just being a problem with a single pedal that then bleeds through the signal chain, not the power chain.
@UncleDansVintageVinyl Alot of times if all of the pedals that you are using are the same brand in the same series you can get by with a One-Spot and a daisy chain. Generally, pedals in the same series will be using the same buffers and for whatever reasons they play nice together. The decision on which power method that you use should depend in part on how prestigious the board is that you are working on. In other words, if you are about to hit the road for a 5 month tour of North and South America, by all means use an isolated supply. Don't be cheap or you will regret it. If it is just your bedroom setup or for a secondary practice amp, you may want to try a One-Spot first to potentially save some money. If you try it and you have noise, you will need an isolated power supply anyway. Chaining different kinds of pedals, different brands or series of pedals, or chaining old and new pedals will likely result in noise. Also, chaining analog with digital pedals will most likely be noisy. In fact, some digital pedals won't mix with anything. Some really old pedals are like that also. It's a cost of $25 that may save you $100 or you may eat that $25 if it doesn't work out. If you have any of the situations that I mentioned above, you will most likely need an isolated power supply anyway.
I realize this video is engagement farming, but my message to all budding guitar players/pedal enthusiasts: if you have multiple pedals and need a power supply, just try a high mA daisy chain like the 1spot or powerall before investing in an expensive isolated power supply. I used a daisy chain for years with all types and brands of pedals and didn't experience any problems. I felt pressured by marketing to upgrade to a more expensive supply where every output is isolated and... it sounds the same.
this. I’d say a one spot is good enough for most use cases, and is beyond better than using batteries. The only reason im an advocate for isolated PSUs is security. When any part of the one spot daisy chain breaks or fails, every plug after breaks too.
For sure, I feel like these sorta vids are geared more towards studio sound. Lemme tell you that gigging is soo much easier with a daisy chain, especially if you're not using many pedals to begin with. I switched to a daisy chain so I can fit all my pedals into an old briefcase I turned into a gigging board
It's simple, really. The maker of One Spot explained it. If you have regular 9V pedals (like Boss), you can daisy chain them without issues, and those that require more power, you isolate. That's what I've been doing for years. My EQD pedals have their own adapters (2 of them).
And power consuming pedals usually can be powered by switching power supply, because they are digital and power noise not affect to them. Better to use each switching power supply to each pedal. And analog pedals can be plugged via daisy chain with one linear power supply with transformator inside.
I just run a helix now. But back when I had a normal pedalboard/amp setup, I ran it off of a daisy chain for years. I put off buying a mounted, isolated power supply for a long time before finally getting one. But I instantly noticed a huge difference. Mostly in how quiet everything was when I wasn’t playing. But something people don’t talk about as much is how much cleaner it makes everything. Also getting a longer IEC cable is nice for when the power at the venue isn’t close to where you want the board to be. It’s worth the investment imo
It really depends on the specific combination of pedals and number I'd pedals you're using. There are many cases where something like a One Spot works perfectly fine with little to no noise. There are sometimes when certain pedals will cause noise when daisy chained with certain other pedals and then it my be necessary to run an isolated power source but in no way do you need isolated power in 100% of situations.
I had a 1spot for my first board, it was fine until I had an auto-wah… and then a strange swishy sound went all over everything. I sold that auto-wah, but kept the 1spot because isolated power was EXPENSIVE back then. I have the voodoo labs one with the 2 extra voltage outputs as my Jackson Audio Blossom compressor is happier running at 18V. Also note that every one of these will have a maximum limit of millamps (mA) it can power. You’d have to have many power hungry pedals to hit that limit most of the time (the 1spot was like 2500mA), but it’s something to be aware of.
I would love a breakdown of power supplies. I’m at a point where I have enough pedals that investing in a power supply sounds like a good idea… but I don’t want to spend a crap ton of money just to find out I got the wrong impedance or something dumb like that
You can run all of your pedals off a single power supply, but you may have to use some 1/4 inch audio patch cables that are earthed at one end only to avoid ground loops. Ground loops cause the noise.
I had a One Spot and then I upgraded to an isolated power supply and I could definitely hear a difference. My pedals sounded so much more clear. Especially my fuzz. It’s a great investment.
I dig JHS & enjoy all your videos especially the videos on the history & origins of pedals. I get what you're saying & it makes sense. I have used two 1spots to power my pedalboard with 8-10 pedals on it for several years, playing anywhere from 2-5 gigs a week with no issues. Even when I turn them all on. none of my pedals are more than 5 years old. I plug those 1spots, (along with my amp or amp sim pedal) into a voltage regulated power conditioner. maybe that helps?🤔 I've thought about upgrading to a board mounted power supply, but they're expensive
Ive got one board powered with an isolated supply, and another thats daisy chained. I get no unwanted noise from the daisy chain. Im not saying there isnt something to what josh is saying, but just that its not a hard rule 🤷♂️
I've used the same OneSpot for two deacdes and *never* had an issue with it. Recorded three albums with my old band, and worked as a session guitarist off an on for three years. Literally *never* had an issue people try to claim happens. I've also *never* heard an expensive PSU "clean" up a board's sound. Im gonna have to keep using my reasonably priced PSU instead of paying five times as much for something that does effectively nothing different.
To echo other comments; if a pedalboard is a new thing and you have up to 6 pedals, give the 1 Spot a try. I use it for my at home board where I just have 5 pedals (including digital delay and reverb) and it works without any noise. For my big board that has a Line 6 HX Stomp on it, I use an isolated power supply (a $100 Sanjune from Amazon that is quiet) but for a few pedals, 1 Spot may work fine for you.
I don’t get why all new pedals don’t just come stock with a high end rechargeable battery. They could literally make them wirelessly charge or wireless power with magnets on a special pedal board. And they could technically even set it up so you don’t need to use patch cables anymore. The audio signal could be wireless too.
I dont think my TRex psu is isolated like it says on the box. I still get issues like noise. Also can audibly hear the transformer whining in the room at high pitch.
Not to knock the One Spot ..I've not noticed any issues. But I'm only running my MLA peacock w a BAD MONKEY MAN. DAMN. I thought you were close helping us get 3 bills a pop outta those classics. On another note. I read where Digitech DOD hired Tom Cram and his old team back. Hell yes!! What were they thinking in the first place man. 😮
Lol, today my silicon fuzz face clone arrived, I wanted to test it against germanium one, hooked them both with daisy chain and the noise even if volume was at 0 was horrible :D but I dont care. Run both at the same time and the sound was just on another level. I was wondering if someone already made some kind of King of Tone but instead of two overdrives, it will be two fuzzes.
Need is a strong word. I recently isolated all my noisy pedals and my now my daisy chain is quiet. I will say digital pedals don't like daisy chain like behringer dd400 but my boss dd8 is fine. U can find pedals that work silently daisy chained. That being said I don't oppose isolated power but NEED is misleading.
I've used those with relative success. Even the full 8 pedals mixed up analog and digital. However, some pedals just don't like it, so I don't use it for those pedals. :) problem solved.
#Showmethescience like @truetonefx did in their video on the 1spot. There is no one size fits all solution to powering pedals. Isolated power is expensive and can cost prohibitive. The 1spot is a high-quality solution from a stand-up company for players on a budget and we could do a lot worse.
I can explain it better. The longer the cord is the more electro magnetic interference it picks up. I can give you a Big 3 3 million dollar Fk up. First there was a certain manufacturer of cables for RJ45 cat 6, then they picked up a company that specialized in database per port assignments for small deployments like one 24 to 48 port switch. Then this company got greedy and pulled us along. They came in for their Dog and Pony salesmanship show one HOT saleswoman and a bunch of not listening hickeerbillies. First thing I did was break the tab off their supplied cable like wtf is this cheap shit in 1 second it was underwhelming and embarrassing. So they sign a 3 million dollar deal for databases with micro switches in patch panels that let you know everytime a cable is plugged or unplugged from a switch. Datacenters use layer 3 routing switches and layer 2 lan switches. Layer 2 talks servers (and between servers and datacenters) then to layer 3 switches before being routed by layer 3 elsewhere. So those Databases that kept track of cables were small in cross connect patch panels talking to servers. Now all those databases and patch panels also talked to each other in and between cabinets via a bus. 21 databases and perhaps 7 to 14 patch panels per cabinet (all talking to each cabinet database) in the biggest datacenter now a bus acts like an antenna on a transistor radio picking up noise the longer the bus is the worse the interruptions in communications are. And it picks up interference from fluorescent lighting, power cables, oh and the last cabinet a planner put right next to a PDU (big cabinet full of circuit breakers) and I am like who the hell came up with this? It is going to be useless!!!! Like you! There was no where else to put it! So this is why you need isolated power, every line makes the interference signal longer and louder on your power cable and cuts into your tone.
I’ve never had any noise from a One Spot. This is a myth which is why he’s just holding it at doesn’t demonstrate it. Nobody’s perfect. Maybe if you had a noisy pedal in the chain but I’ve never had that issue and get compliments on my noise free sound all the time.I’ve even used multiple One Spots with daisy chains. I mean, a bit of noise is cool but I don’t have any unless I turn up the gain and volume super high which happens regardless.
