Eventide power supply

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cestlamort
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Eventide power supply

Post by cestlamort » Tue May 11, 2021 11:02 am

Not sure whether this is a statement of the obvious, but after using a couple one spot daisy chains and whatever other wall warts required for years and years now, I finally ponied up for a "real" power supply (Eventide/Cioks PowerMax) and it is amazing to hear the difference. Everything sounds the same, but somehow better and there isn't any noise at all. I had assumed that using some (now) old pedals meant that I would have to deal with a little hum no matter what. But, nope: Silent.

I'd been curious about upgrading for a while (especially with the pedals that can handle different voltages) and, as we're going back into the studio shortly, I thought it'd be a good time to try it out.

The good:
Small (fits under the pedal train, exactly tucked in when using the optional bracket adapter) and pretty light
110v-240v (hellllloooooo Europe) (whenever that's a thing again)
3 x 9v; 4 x 9-18v isolated outlets
Sufficient cables (although it looks like I'd have to get more if I wanted some EXH ones etc)
Seems really solid
Diamond compressor (my new favorite comp) likes 12-18v more than 9v
The Eventide H9 seems to like 12v more than 9v (or I could be imagining that)

The bad:
no courtesy outlet for a plug (looking at you, MXR flanger)
RCA ends on the connectors
Not cheap

So, no huge revelations or the like, but I was surprised at how much of an improvement it was in sound quality and simplifying the Kabelsalat of my pedalboard. Although not cheap ($200), totally worth it especially as I'm mentally prorating over the same number of years I was using one spots (like 15 years). In other words, sometimes it's worth looking at the rocknroll infrastructure.

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Beebe
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Re: Eventide power supply

Post by Beebe » Tue May 11, 2021 12:00 pm

I've also started using an Eventide pedal power supply recently. I like that it uses an IEC plug for power. I run a relatively light 25' power cord back to the same Furman power strip my amp plugs into. I like this better than using a separate outlet for the pedals. ...this also insures the pedals are protected. And the power strip by the amp came in handy when I moved my always-on EQ pedal to the amp end to clear up space on my board. And there may be some benefits to insuring the amp and pedals are on the same circuit. So a thumbs-up from me as well.
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Re: Eventide power supply

Post by Beebe » Tue May 11, 2021 12:07 pm

cestlamort wrote:
Tue May 11, 2021 11:02 am

no courtesy outlet for a plug (looking at you, MXR flanger)
Oh and you may have found one of these already, but something like this will give you a convenient courtesy outlet:

https://www.amazon.com/Tekit-Splitter-S ... th=1&psc=1
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cestlamort
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Re: Eventide power supply

Post by cestlamort » Tue May 11, 2021 12:14 pm

Beebe wrote:
Tue May 11, 2021 12:07 pm
cestlamort wrote:
Tue May 11, 2021 11:02 am

no courtesy outlet for a plug (looking at you, MXR flanger)
Oh and you may have found one of these already, but something like this will give you a convenient courtesy outlet:

https://www.amazon.com/Tekit-Splitter-S ... th=1&psc=1
Oh, thanks. I hadn't seen that, but it makes sense and will likely work well. (For the US at least -- we'll come up with another solution for different power -- I'd been considering converting it to a boss style plug, but will maybe just take that money and buy a different/cheaper/probably not as good flanger for non-US tour stuff)

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Re: Eventide power supply

Post by fortytwo » Wed May 12, 2021 4:10 am

I have the Cioks DC 7, which is the same psu, with the 8 extension on my board, and it's great.

Sure the RCA connectors take up some more space, but I have never had one come loose, or get dirty, and therefore stopped powering the pedal, which I've had some of with the 2.1 barrel connector.
It might be a little pricey, but so is the Strymon Zuma.
It all just depends on how many pedals, and what kind you need to power, which of those 2 brands are cheapest.

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Re: Eventide power supply

Post by fuzzjunkie » Wed May 12, 2021 7:53 am

I have a PowerFactor 2 and it’s been everything I needed it to be. A courtesy outlet would have been nice, but I don’t need one for my current board.

I wonder why they changed the layout? I guess it’s easier to mount under a Pedaltrain type board with the outlets on each side?

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Re: Eventide power supply

Post by cestlamort » Wed May 12, 2021 10:05 am

fuzzjunkie wrote:
Wed May 12, 2021 7:53 am
I have a PowerFactor 2 and it’s been everything I needed it to be. A courtesy outlet would have been nice, but I don’t need one for my current board.

I wonder why they changed the layout? I guess it’s easier to mount under a Pedaltrain type board with the outlets on each side?
I think the main differences are size, some more voltage flexibility (9/12/15/18v), expandability (linking a powermini). It just barely fits in between the rails on my Pedaltrain (old school, so may have more room in the new ones. I probably didn't need the extra bracket, but that seems to work well, too)

And a USB socket for your phone. (Or mini microwave, etc.)
Last edited by cestlamort on Wed May 12, 2021 1:45 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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Re: Eventide power supply

Post by CorporateDisguise » Wed May 12, 2021 1:37 pm

I also have a Powerfactor 2 that I love. So much power, so flexible. I definitely need to pickup one of the expansion bricks, prolly the 8. I love how modular it is. I can’t say it sounds any cleaner than my old Voodoo Labs or CAE supplies, but it is certainly as good, and much more powerful. The RCA connectors rendered most of my power cables useless though, which is sort of a bummer.

Definitely don’t be afraid to daisy chain pedals off of a single outlet. Especially drive pedals.

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Re: Eventide power supply

Post by sunburster » Thu May 13, 2021 12:11 pm

I have an Eventide PowerMax and PowerMini connected under my pedaltrain classic 2 board. This gives me 11 isolated power outputs, perfect for the 11 pedals on my board. It really is worth it to buy a high-quality power supply like this, and really, for the money, no competing power supply is better.

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Re: Eventide power supply

Post by marqueemoon » Sat May 22, 2021 12:16 pm

Thinking about this for my new Pedaltrain Jr. build. I have Cioks DC 5s on two other boards and they have been rock solid. Like the OP I was pretty shocked at what a difference it made coming from my cobbled together pedal powering schemes of yore.

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