Mission Engineering USB Pedal Power Supply

[CameronJ]

I’m surprised it’s taken so long for something like this to come out to be honest - https://www.andertons.co.uk/bass-dept/bass-guitar-effects/misison-engineering-529-usb-power-supply-p-529-c-uk

 

Could be a nice solution for those who use their pedal boards on tabletops as you can run it off any USB outlet. 

[bobbass4k]

It's only been possible in recent years, USB supplies used to be (and most still are) low current, plus they operate at 5V, so when you step that up to 9V to run pedals, you effectively half the current. USB plug chargers have improved a lot in recent years, with "super-charging" technology, a lot of them just put out a tonne of power and let the phone/tablet process it.

But I fail to see the point in this really, the advantage would be powering it from a laptop, portable battery etc., but they are going to struggle to put out enough current to power more than a couple of pedals, and you'd have to work hard to convince me the filtering in the brick is enough to kill all the digital/clock noise. And you're always going to have to carry your own cable because who has an A to full size B cable with them anymore? I'm sure it works great from a high current USB wall supply, but then you may as well just have a conventional power brick for cheaper.

[CameronJ]

1 hour ago, bobbass4k said:

It's only been possible in recent years, USB supplies used to be (and most still are) low current, plus they operate at 5V, so when you step that up to 9V to run pedals, you effectively half the current. USB plug chargers have improved a lot in recent years, with "super-charging" technology, a lot of them just put out a tonne of power and let the phone/tablet process it.

But I fail to see the point in this really, the advantage would be powering it from a laptop, portable battery etc., but they are going to struggle to put out enough current to power more than a couple of pedals, and you'd have to work hard to convince me the filtering in the brick is enough to kill all the digital/clock noise. And you're always going to have to carry your own cable because who has an A to full size B cable with them anymore? I'm sure it works great from a high current USB wall supply, but then you may as well just have a conventional power brick for cheaper.

This is all very true. The performance will be limited by the quality (i.e. max current output) of whatever usb power source you plug into. Some computers only supply high current from specific ports, most android USB charger plugs supply at least 2A at 5 volts but as you say, bumping the voltage up to 9 volts will basically halve that. The standard Apple plug that comes with iPhones is notoriously underpowered so is a non starter. Therefore you’d have to carry your own plug (and, as you say, cable) in order to be sure to power your board properly. At that stage, you may as well just have a conventional pedal power supply and save yourself the hassle.