Super Cheap Power Block

moogmusic · Post by **moogmusic** » Mon Feb 24, 2014 1:38 pm

On eBay

Anyone have any experience with them? They look a bit like the Joyo JP-02.

timhulio · Post by **timhulio** » Mon Feb 24, 2014 1:47 pm

They're shit. Hum like buggery.

The cheapest decent power supply is supposedly the Harley Benton Powerplant JR, although I've not bought one yet.
http://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_ ... junior.htm

Progrockabuse · Post by **Progrockabuse** » Mon Feb 24, 2014 1:52 pm

i've still not been able to ditch my old maplin power bank. the big box version with 5 outputs. everything else i've had either died or hummed/noise issues.

moogmusic · Post by **moogmusic** » Mon Feb 24, 2014 1:56 pm

The super cheap one or the JP-02? Or both?

I would probably go for the PowerPlant rather than the junior although the (shitty?) Chinese ones have an 18V out which would be useful.

Concretebadger · Post by **Concretebadger** » Mon Feb 24, 2014 1:59 pm

I've come round to the realisation that cheap power supplies are a false economy and the hassle cancels out the financial savings. They always seem to add noise to the signal or fail to deliver the current so it may be one of those "buy once, cry once" situations where you put down more cash for something reputable that you know will do the job.

BearBoy · Post by **BearBoy** » Mon Feb 24, 2014 2:09 pm

moogmusic wrote:I would probably go for the PowerPlant rather than the junior although the (shitty?) Chinese ones have an 18V out which would be useful.

According to a review on that Thomann link, you can get 18V from the Harley Benton one using an adaptor that comes with it:

You get 5x30cm, 5x60cm, 1x 2-into-1 18v doubler, and a daisy chain cable too - this makes the kit incredible thomann value for money.

moogmusic · Post by **moogmusic** » Mon Feb 24, 2014 2:49 pm

BearBoy wrote:According to a review on that Thomann link, you can get 18V from the Harley Benton one using an adaptor that comes with it:

You get 5x30cm, 5x60cm, 1x 2-into-1 18v doubler, and a daisy chain cable too - this makes the kit incredible thomann value for money.

I think that's for the Junior? I'm not sure I would have enough outputs then.

Thanks for the suggestions guys - anyone else got any experience?

BearBoy · Post by **BearBoy** » Mon Feb 24, 2014 2:56 pm

I guess you could just use one of these with any of them?

LANK

Probably best to check with someone who actually understands electrical stuff though before you burn your house down due to my shitty advice.

johnnyseven · Post by **johnnyseven** » Mon Feb 24, 2014 4:27 pm

Have Johnny Shredfreak stopped making their power supplies? I've had 2 for years, 1 to use and 1 for spare - i've never needed to use the spare though.

Bacchus · Post by **Bacchus** » Mon Feb 24, 2014 4:57 pm

johnnyseven wrote:Have Johnny Shredfreak stopped making their power supplies? I've had 2 for years, 1 to use and 1 for spare - i've never needed to use the spare though.

Same here. I found my spare last night having not known where it was for years.

timhulio · Post by **timhulio** » Mon Feb 24, 2014 5:38 pm

Bah I wish you could still get them. I lent mine to a film company who wanted to borrow some pedals (never found out what the project was anyway) and they lost it. At least they paid for it, but I'm back to using the Maplin Powerbank thing too. Actually we've got three of them now.

Bacchus · Post by **Bacchus** » Mon Feb 24, 2014 5:42 pm

timhulio wrote:At least they paid for it

Not really good enough. They were worth a lot more than the Â£6 or so they went for.

Sell you my spare for Â£35?

I thought JSF had pretty much just moved to a different site and brand, and that you could still get their products under a different name, no? Can't find that one anywhere on their website anymore.

timhulio · Post by **timhulio** » Mon Feb 24, 2014 5:53 pm

Ooh, fanks for the offer. I may grab one of the Harley Benton supplies though, just so I can see if it's something I can recommend to people. I invoiced the film company Â£60, cos I figured I'd have to replace the JSF one with the Diago daisy chain thing that's identical.

Progrockabuse · Post by **Progrockabuse** » Mon Feb 24, 2014 6:11 pm

Can you still get the older style power banks? The new ones have an extra output but don't seem as good

Bacchus · Post by **Bacchus** » Mon Feb 24, 2014 6:16 pm

timhulio wrote:Ooh, fanks for the offer.

I was joking, like. I think we might be thinking about different things. I'm talking about the cheap blocks that you daisy chained off that cost about a fiver.

NickS · Post by **NickS** » Mon Feb 24, 2014 9:38 pm

JSF changed their name, to pedalstuff.com, but they also stopped selling that particular unit, probably because the supplier changed the wall wart bit to something crap and noisy (a big disappointment on my son's birthday). These days I don't use anything that doesn't have a linear PSU, to avoid switching noise and the noise that the filters seem to couple in from the mains.
Last July's thrad
Thread on PSU noise from 2012
I have 3 or 4 linear PSUs I bought from a place at Aldermaston.

moogmusic · Post by **moogmusic** » Tue Feb 25, 2014 12:34 pm

Thanks for all the links/suggestions

"Continue the research!"

Ro S · Post by **Ro S** » Fri Jun 13, 2014 9:55 am

That Caline power brick is a bargain - exactly the same as the Joyo, which is at least twice the price.

They aren't isolated and essentially it's a fancy daisy chain, but, nevertheless, you can't expect isolated power at anything under Â£100 and they are still great value.

The higher voltage outputs are handy.

dezb1 · Post by **dezb1** » Fri Jun 13, 2014 10:30 am

Progrockabuse wrote:i've still not been able to ditch my old maplin power bank. the big box version with 5 outputs. everything else i've had either died or hummed/noise issues.

same here.

Noisy Cat · Post by **Noisy Cat** » Fri Jun 13, 2014 10:34 am

I've always just used a daisy chain â€“ with no issues.

What's the advantage of a power block?