[Tfug] Opine: Bricks, warts or...?

[Tim Ottinger]

On Tue, Aug 5, 2008 at 11:11 AM, Bexley Hall <bexley401 at yahoo.com> wrote:

> (reading ahead), so, the type of gear you use "on stage" tends (?)
> to all be powered from a 9V supply (perhaps as an alternative to
> 9v "transistor" batteries)?  I assume the "plugs" are the "barrel"
> type connector (like an inside out "phone" plug, of sorts?).  And,
> all the same inner+outer diameter (i.e. interchangeable)?


yeah, effects pedals tend to all be the same barrel, voltage, etc.
9v DC, and yes because of 9v battery heritage.  But nobody wants
to carry a backpack full of batteries, so there are power supplies
and daisy-chain cables.

For the *most* part they are interchangeable, but every once in
a while someone does something weird. They're not required
to be consistent, but we like it better when they are.

Is there a trade association "standard" that promotes this?

Not that I know of.


>
> Do you ever/often encounter devices that *don't* fit this standard?

Yes.  Generally for floor-model (not rack-mount) multi-effects units.
I have one that takes 12v AC and doesn't have a standard plug.  When
the power died, I started buying all 9vDC units. ;-)


>
> I'll guess each load ('effects pedal") is rather small -- maybe
> 200mA at 9V -- and just does some signal processing in the output
> from the guitar's pickup coils?  (or, do they fit into the signal
> loop further downstream)


Pretty much right.  You chain them from the guitar to the amp, and
in order to fit in AFTER the amp's gain, you may have some inserted
into the signal (amps allow line in/out or TRS insert plugs).

Wouldn't it be prudent for your *amp* manufacturer to have put
> connections for 8 9V outputs *on* the amp itself?  Or, is that
> located too far away to be practical?  (seems like it would
> almost be *free* to provide that feature)


Would sound nice to me. :-)


> > I also own a "wall wart remover" which is
> > essentially a short extension cord with an ungrounded end.
>
> Not sure what you mean by ungrounded?  I.e., two conductors
> on one end and three on the other?  What is the advantage of that?


Two conductors on each end.  Mostly for plug adapters and the like, which
are two-prong things normally.

> It does matter to me. But I'm weird.
>
> I suspect it matters to a lot of people!  That's why there
> is a market for octopi, etc.
>
>

-- 
-------------------------------------
Agile + Linux + Python+OO
http://tottinge.blogsome.com
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://tfug.org/pipermail/tfug_tfug.org/attachments/20080805/e7577998/attachment-0002.html>