stewblack Posted March 11, 2020 Share Posted March 11, 2020 I have an interesting problem. We're all familiar with the high mosquito whine digital pedals can produce when sharing a daisy chained power supply. Usually a simple fix - give it its own psu. I set up a small board to separate my 'always on' from the main board. Line 6 G75, MS-60B, Sweet Baby, Digitech Ricochet (not actually always on, just used as a pitch shift on one tune). I got the noise which I traced to the MS-60B. Here's the thing. Nothing fixed it. Power Bank USB, USB 3 pin plug, USB socket in the 4 gang, 9V PSU - still the noise. In the end I resorted to batteries and it works. So I have a solution but don't understand why none of the other less faffy things didn't work. Any ideas? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teebs Posted March 11, 2020 Share Posted March 11, 2020 22 minutes ago, stewblack said: I have an interesting problem. We're all familiar with the high mosquito whine digital pedals can produce when sharing a daisy chained power supply. Usually a simple fix - give it its own psu. I set up a small board to separate my 'always on' from the main board. Line 6 G75, MS-60B, Sweet Baby, Digitech Ricochet (not actually always on, just used as a pitch shift on one tune). I got the noise which I traced to the MS-60B. Here's the thing. Nothing fixed it. Power Bank USB, USB 3 pin plug, USB socket in the 4 gang, 9V PSU - still the noise. In the end I resorted to batteries and it works. So I have a solution but don't understand why none of the other less faffy things didn't work. Any ideas? Sorry Stew, I thought that this was a thread about @Skinnyman! Maybe this article might help work out your problem: https://www.premierguitar.com/articles/Pedal_Troubleshooting_and_Maintenance_101_Part_3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rushbo Posted March 11, 2020 Share Posted March 11, 2020 Could it be due to the amount of mA the Zoom needs? Typically, they need 500mA which is more than most pedals (I think...) Have you tried it with a dedicated Zoom PSU? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stewblack Posted March 11, 2020 Author Share Posted March 11, 2020 2 hours ago, rushbo said: Could it be due to the amount of mA the Zoom needs? Typically, they need 500mA which is more than most pedals (I think...) Have you tried it with a dedicated Zoom PSU? I don't have a zoom psu. I have tried it with several different types. Some quality brands others no name. All produce the noise. Its weird. Doesn't create a problem on my main board Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
songofthewind Posted March 11, 2020 Share Posted March 11, 2020 I find Zoom pedals to be finicky. I think Rushbo may be right, and you should give it a good 500mA right up the jacksy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rushbo Posted March 11, 2020 Share Posted March 11, 2020 If you're using a power brick, it might be worth getting one of those clever connecting strands which combines two outputs into one, doubling the amount of mA the pedal gets. Songofthewind is right - Zoom pedals tend to prefer their own PSUs to anything else as both he and I have found to our cost! Then again, it might be something else entirely... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stewblack Posted March 11, 2020 Author Share Posted March 11, 2020 Yes I have given its own psu. All of them over 500. It's a head scratcher Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJ567 Posted March 11, 2020 Share Posted March 11, 2020 My guess is that the problem isnt actually the zoom. Tracing noise issues like this to one particular pedal can be very misleading. It may look like the zoom is the cause, but it's actually (e.g.) the digitech introducing the whine but only under certain random conditions, like when the zoom plus another pedal is engaged (I'm making it up but you get the point). So a head scratcher like this is probably not any one pedal, but a combination. Had my fingers burned on this more than once! One sure fire way to solve it is to isolate each and every pedal...! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stewblack Posted March 11, 2020 Author Share Posted March 11, 2020 (edited) 9 minutes ago, AJ567 said: My guess is that the problem isnt actually the zoom. Tracing noise issues like this to one particular pedal can be very misleading. It may look like the zoom is the cause, but it's actually (e.g.) the digitech introducing the whine but only under certain random conditions, like when the zoom plus another pedal is engaged (I'm making it up but you get the point). So a head scratcher like this is probably not any one pedal, but a combination. Had my fingers burned on this more than once! One sure fire way to solve it is to isolate each and every pedal...! I hear you. Though I tried multiple combinations I suspect you are 100% on the money. Thinking just how many possible configurations there are I probably only scratched the surface! Edited March 11, 2020 by stewblack 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stewblack Posted March 11, 2020 Author Share Posted March 11, 2020 1 hour ago, AJ567 said: One sure fire way to solve it is to isolate each and every pedal...! Yep. That fixed it. Now I just need to buy a couiple dozen more power supplies!!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ratman Posted March 11, 2020 Share Posted March 11, 2020 How about something like a Truetone, Coiks or Strymon. All proper isolated supplies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stewblack Posted March 11, 2020 Author Share Posted March 11, 2020 29 minutes ago, ratman said: How about something like a Truetone, Coiks or Strymon. All proper isolated supplies. Might end up going that way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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